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Sandhya Scan swim like a fish, having taken to water as a toddler, and rowed her first country boat solo when she was just 10. But piloting a mechanised barge or a ferry is a whole new ball game. Besides, this had been a man’s world where no woman had made the cut.
Last November, Sandhya, 44, became the first woman in Kerala to qualify as a serang – or boat master – after getting a government licence to handle vessels with capacity of up to 226HP, which includes large ferry boats and even barges.
But getting the licence was not easy for Sandhya, a mother of two. Born in Thuruthummel, a small island in Maravanthuruthu village in Vaikom, in 1978, Sandhya moved to Perumbalam island after getting married to Mani B, a headload worker, in 2000. The island did not have fresh drinking water for years and Sandhya had to row for kilometres to get water for drinking and cooking.
For 15 years, she did several odd jobs, including duck farming, fishing and handpicking black clams in the backwaters. Then, she decided to do something different. First, she apprenticed on a mechanised barge that transported sand but after the government cracked down on sand mining, she decided tooperate a houseboat.
“By that time, Perumbalam was getting prominence as a tourist destination, and we decided to transform our boat into a houseboat. But when we sought the permission from the tourism department, they said the driver must have a serang’s licence. Hiring a licensed driver was unaffordable and as my husband could not lose his job, I decided to become the driver,” Sandhya said.
But to apply for a serang’s licence, she had to first obtaina lascar’s licence. “Except, to apply for a lascar’s licence, I had to have two years’ experience working on a boat. It seemed a Herculean task, but I chose to go ahead with it,” Sandhya said.
When she ventured out, she had to face all the prejudices a woman encounters in a male-dominated profession. “They told me there was no woman serang among them but the rules do not ban a woman from being one. I was allowed to work on a friend’s fishing boat for the requisiteexperience and one day while I was training, a fisherman jokingly asked my husband ‘Mani, why don’t you buy her a fishing net too?’ Similarly, during the mandatory swimming test held in Punnamada backwaters, I was the only female candidate. But when I completed the test at one go, other candidates said ‘Sister,please don’t encourage other women to follow your path. This is one of the very few professions where we don’t have to face female competition,” an amused Sandhya recalled.
Sandhya secured the lascar’s licence in 2017 in her first attempt but even then, boat owners were hesitant to employ her. Even SWTD (Kerala’s State Water Transport Department) was not ready to hire her on a daily-wage basis as they were not “ready to take the risk”.
Most of her training to become a serang was in the Vembanad backwaters – a vast expanse of seemingly idyllic backwaters that straddle the districts of Alappuzha, Kottayam and Ernakulam. But there is a high risk of collision in the waterways. She said piloting a boat safely is all about adhering to the rules and consistent use of signals using horns and light to communicate with other vessels. “For example, five or more short rapid horns signal danger, or convey that you do not understand or disagree with the other boater’s signal and request to repeat. These are very useful in narrow channels and when large barges pass by,” Sandhya said.
She finally got her licence on November 11, 2022, and enjoys piloting passenger boats the most. “At first it was a bit difficult to be familiar with the width and length of the vessel. But over time, I could do that seamlessly. We can abandon a cargo vessel if something goes wrong, but the lives of the passengers are the serang’s responsibility,” Sandhya said.
In the Vembanad backwaters, rain and wind are a deadly combination. “Docking a boat to the jetty when the water is rough is the most challenging. My instructor told me expert serangs do not need the assistance of the lascar, who ties the rope to the jetty, to steer the vessel close to the jetty. From Day 1, I have tried to master that. I have not met with any untoward incidents so far, touchwood. But I know I have to be very careful. Because if a woman makes a mistake, the impact will be much more severe than if a man was involved,” Sandhya said.
Last November, Sandhya, 44, became the first woman in Kerala to qualify as a serang – or boat master – after getting a government licence to handle vessels with capacity of up to 226HP, which includes large ferry boats and even barges.
But getting the licence was not easy for Sandhya, a mother of two. Born in Thuruthummel, a small island in Maravanthuruthu village in Vaikom, in 1978, Sandhya moved to Perumbalam island after getting married to Mani B, a headload worker, in 2000. The island did not have fresh drinking water for years and Sandhya had to row for kilometres to get water for drinking and cooking.
For 15 years, she did several odd jobs, including duck farming, fishing and handpicking black clams in the backwaters. Then, she decided to do something different. First, she apprenticed on a mechanised barge that transported sand but after the government cracked down on sand mining, she decided tooperate a houseboat.
“By that time, Perumbalam was getting prominence as a tourist destination, and we decided to transform our boat into a houseboat. But when we sought the permission from the tourism department, they said the driver must have a serang’s licence. Hiring a licensed driver was unaffordable and as my husband could not lose his job, I decided to become the driver,” Sandhya said.
But to apply for a serang’s licence, she had to first obtaina lascar’s licence. “Except, to apply for a lascar’s licence, I had to have two years’ experience working on a boat. It seemed a Herculean task, but I chose to go ahead with it,” Sandhya said.
When she ventured out, she had to face all the prejudices a woman encounters in a male-dominated profession. “They told me there was no woman serang among them but the rules do not ban a woman from being one. I was allowed to work on a friend’s fishing boat for the requisiteexperience and one day while I was training, a fisherman jokingly asked my husband ‘Mani, why don’t you buy her a fishing net too?’ Similarly, during the mandatory swimming test held in Punnamada backwaters, I was the only female candidate. But when I completed the test at one go, other candidates said ‘Sister,please don’t encourage other women to follow your path. This is one of the very few professions where we don’t have to face female competition,” an amused Sandhya recalled.
Sandhya secured the lascar’s licence in 2017 in her first attempt but even then, boat owners were hesitant to employ her. Even SWTD (Kerala’s State Water Transport Department) was not ready to hire her on a daily-wage basis as they were not “ready to take the risk”.
Most of her training to become a serang was in the Vembanad backwaters – a vast expanse of seemingly idyllic backwaters that straddle the districts of Alappuzha, Kottayam and Ernakulam. But there is a high risk of collision in the waterways. She said piloting a boat safely is all about adhering to the rules and consistent use of signals using horns and light to communicate with other vessels. “For example, five or more short rapid horns signal danger, or convey that you do not understand or disagree with the other boater’s signal and request to repeat. These are very useful in narrow channels and when large barges pass by,” Sandhya said.
She finally got her licence on November 11, 2022, and enjoys piloting passenger boats the most. “At first it was a bit difficult to be familiar with the width and length of the vessel. But over time, I could do that seamlessly. We can abandon a cargo vessel if something goes wrong, but the lives of the passengers are the serang’s responsibility,” Sandhya said.
In the Vembanad backwaters, rain and wind are a deadly combination. “Docking a boat to the jetty when the water is rough is the most challenging. My instructor told me expert serangs do not need the assistance of the lascar, who ties the rope to the jetty, to steer the vessel close to the jetty. From Day 1, I have tried to master that. I have not met with any untoward incidents so far, touchwood. But I know I have to be very careful. Because if a woman makes a mistake, the impact will be much more severe than if a man was involved,” Sandhya said.
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