KETTUVELLAM/HOUSE BOAT

A houseboat is a boat that has been designed or modified to be used primarily as a home. Some houseboats are not motorized, because they are usually moored, kept stationary at a fixed point and often tethered to land to provide utilities. However, many are capable of operation under their own power. Float house is a Canadian and U.S. term for a house on a float (raft), a rough house may be called a shanty boat.The houseboats in Kerala, south IIndia, are huge, slow-moving barges used for leisure trips. They are a reworked model of kettuvallam (in the malayalam language, Kettu means "tied with ropes", and vallammeans "boat"), which, in earlier times, were used to carry rice and spices from kuttanad to the Kochi port. Kerala houseboats were considered a convenient means of Transportation.