KOZHIKODE: How can a 1,000-tonne wooden vessel be launched without the support of any machinery? Call Khalasis would be the answer from those in Kozhikode.
Settled in nearby Beypore, these Khalasis have been engaging in the building and launching of dhows (wooden vessels) for the past few centuries.
They have astonished the onlookers, especially those who reach from European and Mediterranean countries to Beypore to buy dhows, with their strength and tactics.
"We don't use any machines to lift or pull wight. Instead, we depend on wooden rails, rollers, dabbers, rope and pulley," says Kunhootty, an experienced Khalasi.
The wooden pole moulded as windlass, pulleys and hawsers are used to exert leverage, he added.
The construction of a dhow will give employment for these heavyweight carriers for one to two years. Bringing huge wooden pieces and lifting it for sowing are the initial works entrusted to the Khalasis.
Manpower of Khalasis are also used for lifting the planks to the top of the vessel and launching the ship.
"We have been depending on these Khalasis for years to transport heavy wooden planks," said O P Andikkutty, master craftsman of a dhow building unit at Beypore.
Nowadays it is difficult to get sufficient number of Khalasis as many of them have started employing themselves in the construction of bridges and dams, he added.
The use of their traditional methods were put to good use during the Peruman tragedy in 1988 when the Bangalore-Kanyakumari Island Express plunged into the Ashtamudi Lake near Kollam.
The Khalasis lifted the bogies with relative ease where modern engineering technologies had failed.
"We use our own traditional songs to ease the pressure," said Basheer, 55.
Cashing in on their physical strength, skill and teamwork, Khalasis were included in the construction of Idukki dam, Feroke bridge, Vadakkumbadu bridge and the Mahanadi bridge in Orissa.
"Arabs and Europeans also employs us in their docks for helping the maintenance and repair of dhows," Kunhootty said.