Patron of the empty hand

Sunil Sethi, though not a karate black belt himself, has spent the last seven years promoting the sport.

Sunil Sethi, owner CEO of the buying house Alliance Merchandising, whose turnover is in the few hundreds of crores, has in the last few years gained prominence as a patron of fashion.

He has mentored and collaborated with many fashion designers, making things like participation in fashion weeks abroad a possibility. But what is less known about Sethi is that he has also been active in promoting karate (the word literally means "empty hand") in India.

He says, reminiscing about how his association with this sport started, "I have been following karate for about seven years now. It all started when I enrolled my daughter Tanira, who studies at Vasant Valley school, in a karate class, and I requested the teacher to hold the class on the lawns of my house, and other kids from the colony would come for the class. My daughter at that time would get bullied in school all the time. In three years of her starting karate, she developed the confidence to face anyone."

Continues the fond father, "I feel that karate instills a lot of confidence in the girl child."

Sethi's interest in the sport was further fuelled by the dedication that he saw in his daughter's karate teacher, Shihan Dai (a title) Naval Datta.

The karate that Datta teaches is called Kuniba-kai (it takes its inspiration from different martial arts traditions), a relatively new form that is nevertheless taught in 33 countries. Sethi says of the sport, "There are many forms of karate. We are promoting Kuniba-kai."

He adds about the sport in general: "In Delhi alone there must be over 500 instructors teaching karate. There aren't probably that many cricket instructors. Yet no one wants to talk about karate."

But Sethi isn't at all reticent about karate. He continues, "If you notice, when children are practising karate they will all wear the karate uniform, unlike in other sports where people wear whatever they feel like while playing. This shows that karate has a certain discipline and that is very appealing about it."

Sethi's involvment in promoting karate has been manifold: Sethi's company Alliance, along with other exporters, set up Parivartan, a school for about 100 children in Moradabad. These children are being taught karate.

Says Sethi, "These children were working in factories and we took them out of these factories and put them in this school that was set up. I find that these children find karate a lot of fun and they have benefitted from it."

Also in the pipeline is a block that is being built in a school in Delhi meant for children of class IV government employees. There, says Sethi, free karate classes will be held for about 1,500 students.

Other than that, Sethi says of his involvement in karate that "I started by helping organise tournaments and so far we have had four tournaments, one every year. I host international delegates or make special T-shirts and caps for these tournaments or the gear we make and it is then distributed free."

The last such tournament had 400 school children participating from all over the country and was held in Delhi's School of Planning and Architecture's premises.

Says Sethi, "I also use my contacts for organising these events." One instance he gives is when he invited a senior person from Mitsubishi Living, a company that Sethi represents in India, as the chief guest for one tournament.

There is also a team that is participating in national tournaments, and in the future Sethi hopes that there will be participation in international tournaments as well.

Says Sethi: "So far there has been no case that someone from the team has not been able to afford to pay to travel for a tournament. But if that were to be the case, I am willing to support them."

But he says that he has no direct monetary involvement in the sport. He says, "I have nothing to do with things like the fees that are charged and other such money matters."

Next on the drawing board for this karate connoisseur is a book on karate. He says, "Karate is the perfect outlet for a child's energy. And this sport makes the human body extremely agile. You may think that I am mouthing all the platitudes that have been said so often about karate, but they are all true. And even though I haven't learnt it in the way my daughter Tanira has and is learning, I think very highly of it."

Different people have different interests and passions. But there has to be a lot of passion in a person to take up an interest that requires time, money and effort.

And in India, where few sport get a dekko or a rich patron apart from cricket, Sethi's decision to immerse himself in promoting this beautiful sport can only be seen as a step in the right direction. A patron with an open heart and hand is always welcome for karate, the empty hand.