Guwahati July 08: Keeping in mind the importance of self defense, specially for girls in the present context, an NGO called Nari Artha Samajai Samity, has launched a programme to train girls in Martial Arts free of cost to encourage girls from the economically backward class. One of the aims and objective of the NGO is uplifting women mentally and physically so that they don’t have to depend on others for any safety reasons, and thus the martial arts session to
strengthen them physically.
“We girls, when we grow we grow under the protection of our father, and under the protection of our husband after marriage and when we get old we depend on our children, but we want that women should live by herself and should be able to protect herself, and thus martial arts session for girls is one of our self confidence building measure” Says Dipali Barman, Secretary of Nari Artha Samajai Samity (NASS).
The NGO based in Dakhin Gaon, in Guwahati, has started the free six month martial arts training session from the Month of May 2013 and will continue till November. However, the teacher, Rana Sinha, says that he wants to train the students for more long time if they want to carry on. “I see the girls are very interested and thus want to prepare them for long time, and I will do it on my own even after the free course is over” adds Rana Sinha, who is teaching the Manchurian style of Kung-fu. Participants are mostly kids starting from the age
of 5 to 18 and most of them practice with their civil dress, the NGO is hoping to provide practice dresses in the near future, once their finance gets strong.
In the initial stage there were few girls joining the camp but later the enrollment number has increased to 85. The training session is twice a week, Saturday and Sunday but month of July being a summer vacation period Friday has been added in the training list. Most of the girl students belong from the Muslim community. “In general our people do not allow girls to move freely, but it is nice to see that girls from our community are participating in the martial arts camp in large number, I urge parents to send the girls for
such training rather than keeping them indoors” Says Ratubi Begum, a lady guardian, whose daughter is training in the camp. She adds “ I wanted my daughter to learn martial arts so that she can protect herself and have self confidence. A lot of boys these days tease girls on the streets and so that the girls can protect herself in awkward situation. These days are not good, we keep on getting lot news in Tv. So it’s better for girls to learn this than sitting at home”
“I am learning this for my own self defense, if I am teased by boys on the street so that I can give a reply to them, and I am enjoying here with my friends” says Zilima Begum, a class eight student. “At first my parents did not allow me to join here, after I had requested them over again and again I was allowed to join the camp” says Runima Begum, who has joined the camp to learn self defense. “I have learned Back Kick, round touch Kick, simple punch,monkey roll , Saolin Punch .says Dhrity Barman, a class four student.(SP News)
