In the little known village of Beypore, in Kozhikode, a northern district of Kerala, live a group of master craftsmen known as khalasis. They have expertise in building large sea-going vessels with wood. Locally called as uru (dhow) these boats plied the spice route, crossing the Arabian Sea during much of the sixteenth century.

It is basically an Arabian trading vessel, which was once in great demand. Even today, it is till preferred inspite of huge transport aircrafts and huge cargo ships. The buyers of this boat are mainly from the Middle East.