The art of boat making

Newspapers now publish pictures of boat haats. One such haat is located at Kuriana under Pirojpur District. It is only natural that people in the coastal areas have to depend on boats for transportation during the monsoon. For some boats are the means of livelihood. They ferry people from one place to another but those carpenters who make boats do not necessarily depend on this occupation for their livelihood.
It is usually a seasonal occupation when carpenters on their yard usually under an open shed get busy fashioning boats. It depends on the size and shape of a boat how fast they can get it ready for sale. Usually two expert carpenters work as a team with a full-time or part-time helper to assist in the task. Such a team can make a small readymade boat in three or four days but when a boat is ordered, the specification requires better attention and care.
Boats made from cheap and light timber can be shaped easily but the planks sawed from strong and seasoned timber need special care for giving the desired shape. But trees from which such planks are obtained are rare today and not many are interested to spend a large sum on making a boat. Yet these are the boats that last long and can be used for heavy duty. As for the cheap variety, they are meant for a season or two and also need frequent repair.
Naturally it is the cheap variety of boats that is in great demand. They are used for a few months and then left under water. But such boats need some maintenance in a special way. The underside of the body has to be dried and applied either with a coat of thick juice extracted from the unripe fruits called gab (diospyros pregrina), a local variety of diospyros blancoi or tar. A coat of tar is a must for the large boats on heavy duty and the coat is used on both sides.  It is because if this, those boats look black. But the small ones usually retain their near original looks because of the slight pinkish coat of gab.
Boat making as an occupation or art, though, is fast disappearing from many parts of the country. Flat plains once used to get inundated are no longer subjected to flooding. People who took boat making as an alternative livelihood are either becoming extinct or unlearning their trade. In a wide swathe of Barisal-Faridpur border area, the occupation once thrived. Two haat days in a village called Bahadurpur saw an array of boats of various shapes and sizes.
It was a sight to behold when two small boats were put one after another on a large one for carrying them to one of these haats. A village at a distance of mere three kilometre, named Ahuti Batra was the hub of boat manufacture. Other villages surrounding it also made boats but not on a scale its main centre did. Carpenters for generations took to boat designing and shaping. Sometimes they gave a special touch of their own. The best among the carpenters had their signature mark on what they produced. There was thus a healthy rivalry between and among the top boat makers.
Now the entire terrain has changed with an embankment girdling the area. Water no longer inundates the crop field or if there is any inundation, it is negligible. The use of boats is rare and few people in the area possess a boat. In the past it was unthinkable. Every farmer worth the title used to have at least two boats, if not more. There was a small one for fast moving and doing family chores. Large boats had to be reserved for carrying paddy, jute to market or bringing construction materials or timber from some distance. These boats were also used with a round shaped shed on it for paying a family visit to relatives' houses or visiting temple on the occasion of Durga Puja, witnessing boat race or attending special occasions like Dasahara.
Gone are the days when life was dependent on boats. Today vans are the main means of communication in villages there. People hire engine boats or trawlers when those prove useful and cheaper for carrying goods.