Chambakkulam Chundan, celebrated snake boat and the pride of Kerala’s Chambakkulam village in Kuttanad backwaters, paddled unfamiliar waters while being retired.

The chundan (snake boat) will rest in a museum displaying symbols of ‘speed, focus and performance excellence’ at the futuristic campus of IT services leader UST Global here.

The boat, owned by the Chambakkulam Boat Club, has famously clinched the Nehru Trophy race during 1989, 1990, 1991, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998 and 2009.

It will join a Formula 1 Virgin Racing car that UST Global has installed at its current premises in Technopark, but being moved into the new campus. Created by master craftsman Shanku Asari of Kozhimuku at a cost of Rs 55,000 in 1974, the chundan underwent an overhaul later.

The reconstructed chundan runs all of 39.6 metre in length and 69 1.75 metre in breadth. It has a depth of 0.5 metre with the rear towering to a height of about 3.35 metre.

Logistical challenge The long tapering front portion resembles a snake with its hood raised. The hull is built of planks precisely 25.3 metre in length and 15 cm wide. It can accomodate 105 oarsmen.

The chundan in peak racing form is recorded to have swept past a distance of 1.4 km in about 5 minutes.

The wooden contraption posed a huge logistical challenge to both acquirer UST Global as well as its erstwhile owner.

From the Chambakkulam waters, it was tugged by a power boat for an all-day glide over the backwaters on Monday and reached Kollam the same evening.

Here, UST Global had specially commandeered a 86-wheeled trailer from Chennai accompanied by trained workmen specialising in handling and haulage of oversized objects.

It was placed onto the trailer in a tricky operation under the careful watch of experts on Tuesday evening/night.

The operation started at 6 pm and took nearly four hours to lift the enormous boat. The long journey of the trailer with the special cargo on board started at 10 pm from Kollam. The normal speed of the hauling vehicle was 10 km/hr, the sources said.

But it accelerated in small stretches and negotiated the 70-odd-km distance to reach UST Global campus in Thiruvananthapuram by 4.30 am on Wednesday.

It has since been moved inside the building which is still a work-in-progress, and so is currently kept under wraps.

The chundan is destined to sit gracefully in the gleaming atrium. A video featuring it will be offered to the visitor to the campus.

CONDITIONAL HANDOVER Siby Jacob, President of the Boat Club, says that the boat was handed over to the company after it agreed to all conditions put forward.

They stipulate that the boat should not be taken away from the State and that it must be kept within the premises of the company.

Meanwhile, construction of a new boat is progressing at the village, he adds.

For UST Global, the proud acquisition, along with the Formula 1 car, will convey to techies how a well-integrated team working in perfect harmony can achieve desired results.

The Formula 1 car symbolises classic technology at work and performance excellence while the chundan brings into vision oarsmen pushing themselves to a focal point of glory.

The car was brought in as a part of association UST Global had with Virgin Racing. UST Global used to be the IT service partner of Virgin Racing.

The company ‘nurses dreams’ of acquiring artefacts of similar class and items of top-of-mind recall for display at the campus, sources said.

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