 "Survival on the street")
Last week as Haryana opened its first ever all-women police station in Gurgaon, marking the occasion was a team of women commandos of the Central Industrial Security Force. The commandos demonstrated defence tactics of a close-quarter, weapon-oriented Filipino martial art, Pekiti-Tirsia Kali. They had received training in it from Kanishka Sharma, a Shaolin-trained warrior who is also adept in kung fu tao, muay chaiya, sanshou and jeet kune do.
Based on the traditional blade art of the Philippines, Pekiti-Tirsia Kali is an effective, though dangerous, tactical combat system that many of the world's crack security teams train in. In India, besides training the defence forces, the National Security Guards, police and paramilitary services, Sharma teaches Pekiti-Tirsia Kali to ordinary men and women so that they are better equipped to defend themselves.
Sharma's house in Noida is also a training centre. A large poster with pictures of Shaolin monks greets you as you step into the front courtyard. The poster reads: "Shaolin Temple India". A thick mat occupies most of the courtyard. There is a punching bag in one corner and some sticks on the mat. Jitender Singh, one of the instructors, leads me to "Shifu" (master) Kanishka Sharma who is also called Shi Yan You - a name given to him by his teacher, the abbot of the Shaolin Temple.
"For most people in India, martial arts means karate," says Sharma. "Kara" means "empty" and "te" is "hand". It is a system where you fight with bare, empty hands. "But trouble-makers do not move around empty handed," says Sharma, who holds the title of Mandala o Maginoo. They carry either "impact weapons" (baseball bats, hockey, iron rods or country-made revolvers) or "edge weapons" (bottles, blades or knives). "If you do not know how to deal with them, how can you learn to survive on the street?" he says. Street dynamics is called the "edge and impact weapon dynamics".
Every human is familiar these functional movements. "Even when a person slaps someone, he strikes in a diagonal motion," explains Sharma. Now whether a person trains with a knife, sword, stick or the empty hand, in Pekiti-Tirsia Kali the movement remains the same. "The empty hand also moves the way a blade moves, which is why it is called 'the bladed hand'," says Sharma. As these movements become part of the muscle memory, they play out as second nature when confronted with trouble.
An ordinary person is, however, unlikely to move around with a stick or a knife. This is where "weapons of opportunity" come to the rescue, says Sharma, as he takes my pen to demonstrate how. With Singh enacting an attacker, Sharma uses the pen to jab him on his wrist and then the neck. The movement is sharp, quick and diagonal. Singh is on the floor in seconds. The demonstration is repeated with a mobile phone and my visiting card.
The training, which involves mind and body discipline and stamina building, teaches the application of such weapons of opportunity. "A woman's scarf or a belt, which is a very dangerous weapon, can also save you if you know how to use it," says Sharma, who has trained the Delhi police with them. So can an old man's stick, it seems, as Sharma plays a bent old man with a walking stick being assaulted.
While he teaches the use of and defence against the knife, the first lesson he gives is: Do not try to block a knife attack with bare hands or arms. "I have been training in martial arts for over 30 years, but if I see someone coming at me with a knife, I will run back and try to grab a weapon of opportunity so that I can counter the edge weapon. I will not give it my hand to cut," he says.
A person does not have to be young or incredibly fit to learn or employ the tactics of Pekiti-Tirsia Kali, which also teaches ways of controlling a much bigger opponent without having to use brute force. Besides mathematical movements, Kali employs tactics to lock the opponent's joints and fulcrum points so that any movement he then tries proves excruciatingly painful.
Among the people Sharma has trained in Pekiti-Tirsia Kali and jeet kune do is Shah Rukh Khan for the film Don. Khan trained with him for three months at his house Mannat in Mumbai.
The "Kali Urban Street Survival Programme" is only taught to people aged 15 and above. Sharma does not teach Kali to younger children because, he says, "I would not want to put this knowledge in the hands of a child".
Based on the traditional blade art of the Philippines, Pekiti-Tirsia Kali is an effective, though dangerous, tactical combat system that many of the world's crack security teams train in. In India, besides training the defence forces, the National Security Guards, police and paramilitary services, Sharma teaches Pekiti-Tirsia Kali to ordinary men and women so that they are better equipped to defend themselves.
Sharma's house in Noida is also a training centre. A large poster with pictures of Shaolin monks greets you as you step into the front courtyard. The poster reads: "Shaolin Temple India". A thick mat occupies most of the courtyard. There is a punching bag in one corner and some sticks on the mat. Jitender Singh, one of the instructors, leads me to "Shifu" (master) Kanishka Sharma who is also called Shi Yan You - a name given to him by his teacher, the abbot of the Shaolin Temple.
"For most people in India, martial arts means karate," says Sharma. "Kara" means "empty" and "te" is "hand". It is a system where you fight with bare, empty hands. "But trouble-makers do not move around empty handed," says Sharma, who holds the title of Mandala o Maginoo. They carry either "impact weapons" (baseball bats, hockey, iron rods or country-made revolvers) or "edge weapons" (bottles, blades or knives). "If you do not know how to deal with them, how can you learn to survive on the street?" he says. Street dynamics is called the "edge and impact weapon dynamics".
Even a newspaper can come in handy
Every human is familiar these functional movements. "Even when a person slaps someone, he strikes in a diagonal motion," explains Sharma. Now whether a person trains with a knife, sword, stick or the empty hand, in Pekiti-Tirsia Kali the movement remains the same. "The empty hand also moves the way a blade moves, which is why it is called 'the bladed hand'," says Sharma. As these movements become part of the muscle memory, they play out as second nature when confronted with trouble.
An ordinary person is, however, unlikely to move around with a stick or a knife. This is where "weapons of opportunity" come to the rescue, says Sharma, as he takes my pen to demonstrate how. With Singh enacting an attacker, Sharma uses the pen to jab him on his wrist and then the neck. The movement is sharp, quick and diagonal. Singh is on the floor in seconds. The demonstration is repeated with a mobile phone and my visiting card.
The training, which involves mind and body discipline and stamina building, teaches the application of such weapons of opportunity. "A woman's scarf or a belt, which is a very dangerous weapon, can also save you if you know how to use it," says Sharma, who has trained the Delhi police with them. So can an old man's stick, it seems, as Sharma plays a bent old man with a walking stick being assaulted.
While he teaches the use of and defence against the knife, the first lesson he gives is: Do not try to block a knife attack with bare hands or arms. "I have been training in martial arts for over 30 years, but if I see someone coming at me with a knife, I will run back and try to grab a weapon of opportunity so that I can counter the edge weapon. I will not give it my hand to cut," he says.
A person does not have to be young or incredibly fit to learn or employ the tactics of Pekiti-Tirsia Kali, which also teaches ways of controlling a much bigger opponent without having to use brute force. Besides mathematical movements, Kali employs tactics to lock the opponent's joints and fulcrum points so that any movement he then tries proves excruciatingly painful.
Among the people Sharma has trained in Pekiti-Tirsia Kali and jeet kune do is Shah Rukh Khan for the film Don. Khan trained with him for three months at his house Mannat in Mumbai.
The "Kali Urban Street Survival Programme" is only taught to people aged 15 and above. Sharma does not teach Kali to younger children because, he says, "I would not want to put this knowledge in the hands of a child".
| How not to become a victim |
| Sometimes the jungle law comes into play on an urban street. Sharma gives the example of a tiger on the hunt to explain this. In a herd of 60, he says, a tiger on the prowl will identity a prey on three factors. The one who is away from the herd: "So, advise your friends and family, and especially children, not to take lonely shortcuts even if that means having to traverse an extra kilometre or two," he says. The one who is not aware: It is common to see people walking on the street with the mobile phone to their ear and their eyes fixed to the ground. Someone so engrossed in a conversation is oblivious to his or her surroundings and makes for an easy target. Situational awareness is critical. A person can be on the phone and yet be aware of the surroundings. Those looking for an easy target will seldom touch such as person because they know he or she can react quickly and ask for help. The one who is not physically fit: "If your body is fit. your mind will react faster," says Sharma. "So, please keep yourself fit." |