The Hodi Boat Poem by Unnikrishnan Sivasankara Menon

Andaman islands,
an Indian archipelago
of three hundred islands
in the Bay of Bengal,

Known for the scenic beauty
of their mangrove forests
tropical rain forests and
virgin white-sand beaches.

Many islands in the archipelago
have unique aboriginal tribes
most of them abhor contact
with the 'civilised world'.

Nicobari tribe, however,
are skilled in building Hodi
their traditional water craft
using indigenous wood

Hodi, an outrigger canoe
commonly built and operated in
the Nicobar group of islands
by the aboriginal population

for travel from one island to another
fishing, collection and transport
of goods like coconut, tubers etc
and an occasional race organised
between villages and islands.

Each canoe is made from an older
single tree trunk of the right variety,
selection of the tree, a task arduous
for the ratio of size with length matters.

Selection of the right tree
and building it into a boat
require great skill, passed
from generations down.

It takes a few months, sure
and many hands put together
but when completed, the canoe
it is an asset to the ‘tuhet'.

That is why, the Andaman
and Nicobar Administration
India, has now proposed
geotagging of the Hodi boat.

Vocabulary:
‘tuhet': a group of families under a headman of the Nicobarese tribe