The common perception is martial arts and self defence is synonymous. It is with this notion in mind parents introduce their daughters to the various forms of martial arts thinking it will be enough for them to defend against offenders. However, founder of Utkal Karata School, Hari Patnaik has a different view to offer. In a tete-a-tete with Orissa POST, Kato Sir as he is popularly known discusses the nuances of self defence and how it is different from martial arts. Excerpts…
First of all what is the concept of self defence?
Look self defence is a word we usually associate with girls. They are physically weaker than men – be it in strength, height and power. So they are prone to attacks. Now to prevent herself from being harmed she has to react and counter-attack so that she can escape. That is what self defence is all about.
So is self defence different from martial arts.
To my knowledge it is. Look to be an expert in martial arts and defend yourself, you need to train for a minimum of five years. Well not every girl can afford that time… what happens if she is attacked during the time she is learning martial arts.
Martial arts are more of a cultural heritage evolving 2,000 years back. It is more of an art form, dance form. It is a very good drill for the development of body and mind and now the various forms of martial arts like judo, karate and tae kwon do have turned into popular sports. As it has happened, the fighting instincts have disappeared. Everybody – the common man, the sports authorities, the government of various states have this idea is that if you know any form of martial art, you have the capability to defend yourself. But then that is a myth.
Can you explain why martial arts are not sufficient for self defence?
Well self defence is usually needed when street fights occur. If you observe street fights you will notice that most of the time the fighters clinch, scuffle and then end up on the ground. The one who is good in ground fighting emerges victorious. When girls are attacked by men, the basic idea is harm her modesty and in all cases they want the girl to end up on the ground. Martial arts do not teach ground fighting and hence the girl on ground may not be able to protect herself.
So your organisation teaches self defence to girls. What do you teach?
Well we have a programme called REACT which has got the approval of the Odisha government. It is a programme which has been developed based on common sense, scientific techniques, manipulation of force. Also while developing the programme, we have kept in mind the real life attacking situations a girl or a woman may face. It makes a girl very competent in ground fighting, increasing her survival probability.
Why does this wrong concept still exist in the minds of the people about self defence?
Look, prior to the development of REACT, there was no compact, consolidated course on self defence. So people used to fall back on various forms of martial arts like Judo, Karate, Kung Fu, Tae Kwondo and a few more.
We are the first one to have come up with REACT and till date no other group have been come up with a second course. REACT has the exact number of techniques and training pattern formatted the right way and the whole course has a duration of 42 hours.
Just 42 hours…
Yes, 42 hours. Well after that the girls have to practice themselves, let’s say thrice a week for 45 minutes each, to preserve what they have learnt. If they can do that, in most cases they will repel the attackers.
So what are the areas that are looked into while training is imparted?
We try to increase the overall strength, speed, flexibility, endurance and fitness of a girl. But most importantly we train her mindset. Indian girls and women by nature are submissive. They rarely react even when they are attacked. We try and teach them to react and tell them that if they do so, the chances of survival from attacks grow from two to 75%.
So then self defence is all about mind training?
No, not only mind. You cannot repel an attacker with your mind only. We also train the body to improve its speed, stamina, strength, agility as well as to tolerate pain. REACT is very methodically developed and we have taken into account the science of physics and biometrics. It enables a girl to overpower and ground a stronger man; also escape if she has been pinned down by a giant. Lot of science and experience of 40-45 years have gone into the development of REACT and we are continuously innovating looking at real life situations. We also experiment the techniques against stronger opponents like wrestlers and power lifters to see if they are effective and accordingly modify.
Self defence course schools are sprouting all across the country. What is your take on that?
Well, all I can say is that people are being duped. Ninety per cent of these instructors do not have any experience of street fighting, so how will they teach how to counter it. You can’t take a stance and then think whether I will throw a straight punch or not at the attacker. I feel sorry for the girls as what they are learning is not sufficient. It just increases their vulnerability. All I can say is that a common single programme should be followed all across the country. Then only the safety of girls and women will increase.
With the support of the Odisha government we have trained over 15 lakh girls in self defence. I am sure the number will multiply in the years to come
Hari Patnaik