These women will bring you to your knees

Since she was 16 years old, Uma Rapolu, 19, often left her Prabhadevi home in central Mumbai with hunched shoulders, often wearing mismatched stoles.

It was her way of trying to be “invisible” to the gang of boys who sat outside her building, sniggering and leering.

“The one in the green t-shirt is hotter,” one of them still said one day, referring to Rapolu.

“The boy besides him gave him a high-five and said, ‘No way. Her friend’s got a sexy black top, she’s learning, eh?’” remembers Rapolu, disgusted at how her friend was targeted, too. Soon after, on a crowded street, a man groped Rapolu for the first time. Stunned, when she looked up to him, he gave her a faint smile and melted into the crowd. In 2010, Rapolu decided to enroll herself in a self defence class conducted by Akshara Foundation, an NGO that works for women’s safety. “I wanted to make sure I never let a molester get away in the same manner — feeling unashamed, even proud,” says Rapolu.

Bala Shetty, who teaches women self defence at his Muay Thai and Mixed Martial Arts Academy at Dadar in central Mumbai, says Rapolu is not alone. The number of women joining his class has gone up by at least 30% since last August. “I think girls have had enough — they often come and tell me that they want to learn something that can help them tackle rampant sexual harassment — verbal and physical — on the streets,” says Shetty.

Start with awareness
Rapolu has learnt her share of tricks, she says. It isn’t about beating up molesters black-and-blue, she explains. For her, self defence is primarily about being aware of your surroundings, sharpening your instincts and reflexes to preempt an attack, and hitting back only when necessary. After learning mixed martial arts, Rapolu can sense which man walking from the opposite direction would try to hit or touch her inappropriately. “Over the past few months, I have often noticed men across me discreetly raising a hand to touch me. Last month, when it happened, I tried to get out of reach, but the man didn’t give up. So, I grabbed his thumb and twisted his wrist. Once, I had to punch a man hard on his shoulder,” says Rapolu. She, however, warns that self defence classes mustn’t give women a false sense of safety. “You must know when to strike. I don’t, for instance, fight back if I am alone late at night, on a desolate street. I prefer ignoring the passes made at me,” she says.

However, safety is not the only reason why self defence classes are seeing a rise in the number of women signing up. At a class at Suresh Kanojia’s United Judo Academy & Martial Art in Andheri in western Mumbai, a 25-year-old student approaches 47-year-old Sandhya Chandra and grabs her wrist. In a flash, Chandra twists his wrist, bends on her knees, lifts the boy over her shoulder — a good three feet in the air — and throws him on the ground. Another man tries to grab her hair from behind. Chandra simply yanks his little finger and takes advantage of his momentary shock to bring him down on all fours and locks her elbow around his neck. The man’s wind pipe is so badly choked that in spite of having his hands and legs free, he cannot move an inch due to asphyxiation. He wildly taps on the floor, a sign for Chandra to stop.

It may seem like Chandra’s here to learn how to protect herself when a molester tried to do the same things on the streets. But it isn’t so. With sleek, short hair coloured a perfect brown, the salon-owner is so composed even while delivering sucker punches that she may as well be at a spa instead of a martial arts class.

And that’s exactly what this class is for Chandra. “Here, the mantra is, ‘Don’t think. Feel’. That doesn’t imply that you apply no thought to your actions. It means that you must be more instinctive and react only after gauging your situation, not on impulse.”

Kanojia, who has been teaching judo since 1992 says the number of women signing up has doubled since last year. “Many women now sign up because channelising strength in the right manner soothes them, and makes them feel in control of their surroundings. Judo, literally, means ‘gentle way’ in Japanese,” says Kanojia.

Defence the best offence
Chandra learnt karate when she was in her 20s but discontinued it after she opened her own salon. She has briefly learnt kung fu, sumo wrestling and sword fighting a few years ago, and finally joined the judo academy a year ago. For Chandra, self defence is about defending herself from what bogs her down and makes her unproductive in daily life — stress, anger, anxiety and self-doubt. “This is my form of meditation. It has changed the way I approach my career,” she says. In salons, the employee turnover can drive one crazy, says Chandra. “Your stylists leave you every other day to start something of their own, or to join that new salon next door.” Now, instead of threatening her staff to leave the moment she heard of their plans, Chandra calmly asks them whether she can do something to keep them back. And it works.

Scherezade Shroff has yet another reason for learning kickboxing and Muay Thai. Recently, the 25-year-old model joined Amit Lalwani’s Kick Boxing and Muay Thai Academy at Charni Road, south Mumbai, with fitness on her mind. Shroff’s petite frame can take on a lot at her weekend classes. Shroff was a sportsperson in school and when she realised that fitness will be a part of her routine in her career, she wanted to do something more mindful that pumping iron at a gym.

“It was only a few weeks into the class when I realised that I felt more confident on the streets,” she says. Shroff says she now knows her strength, and can gauge how sharp her mind has become without conscious effort.

“I don’t walk with my shoulders hunched, head down and chin tucked in. I know I can blind a molester with pain using my little finger. Now, that’s strength.”