Geetanjali Krishna: The great Indian rope trick

People Like Them

It's one of our oldest sports. The Koreans are crazy about it. The Brits are actually travelling to India to learn it. The Germans say it's the most efficient way of working out all body muscle groups in the shortest time. But ask an Indian urban kid if he has even seen a performance of Mallakhamb, let alone tried his hand (and legs and the rest of him for that matter) at the sport, and chances are you'd be greeted with a blank look.

Which is sad, for there's nothing like a good Mallakhamb performance to take you to the edge of your seat and keep you there. It is probably the inspiration for what most westerners know as the Indian Rope Trick. Maybe the simplest way of describing it would be to liken it to gymnastics on a pole. But nothing really prepares you for the sheer visual pageantry of it all "" picture a person on a greased pole, not just on the pole, but actually performing a variety of yogic exercises on it. The Malla (or man) and Khamba (or pole) come together in impossible-looking poses that defy gravity, and the holds look as graceful as a dance. In an even tougher variation, the pole is replaced with a rope. The skills needed for this are immense, but doable, according to Ravi Gaikwad, who's been teaching this sport for the last twelve years.

"For any sport, you need a sustained amount of practice...and that's what you need for Mallakhamb too," says he. He ensures that first-timers spend most of their initial few months getting conditioned, before encouraging them to try simple exercises on the pole. "Actually, Mallakhamb is as much a matter of will-power as it is of physical power," says he, "It is the one Indian sport which builds concentration, stamina as well as the muscles." The exercises on the greased pole are so designed as to massage the entire body. That is why Mallakhamb results in the overall development of the body and all its muscles. "When you practice Mallakhamb, your backbone becomes very strong "" you should see how fit my eighty two year old guru, who still practices Mallakhamb regularly, really is!"

Mallakhamb was originally developed as a series of exercises to aid wrestlers. Its moves and holds are actually meant to recreate the antics of Hanuman. Which perhaps explains why Mumbaikar kids who've tried it, love Mallakhamb. "In Mumbai, I teach two batches of kids in the age groups of 6 to 14 "" one batch has 75 kids, the other has 50," says Gaikwad. Since the sport originated in Maharashtra, it is quite popular there. However, it has not received the interest it deserves in other states. In 2005, a Bollywood movie Kisna featured some Mallakhamb performances. However, since the movie bombed at the box office, the sport derived little mileage from it. So, at the end of the day, this wonderfully quirky sport remains relatively unknown, getting none of the attention it deserves.

Which is strange, for Gaikwad points out that when he and and other Mallakhamb enthusiasts have performed in other states, the response has been great. "We've given demonstrations in Punjab, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh, and people have loved them!" says he. But this has, sadly, not translated to inter-state competitions, nor has it drawn too much attention to the Mallakhamb Federation of India. That is why I think that while Gaikwad and his friends are experts at exercising on the pole "" when it comes to marketing their sport, they still need to learn the ropes.