CHENNAI: The world’s greatest martial arts legend, Bruce Lee once famously said, “Empty your mind. Be formless. Shapeless, like water. You put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.” Every morning at 6 am, these words are what inspire Mariyam Michael of Kandanchavadi to religiously attend his Taekwondo classes at the OMR Taekwondo academy , led by world record holder R Venkatesan.
Seven years ago, Mariyam met with an accident in which he suffered a head injury. It rendered his left arm and leg paralysed. After eight months of intensive therapy, the doctors at Malar Hospital were able to revive his ability to walk, albeit with much difficulty. One day, while walking on the beach, Michael collapsed. Further sessions of physiotherapy helped him walk again but his family and friends doubted his ability to lead a normal active life.
His present day Taekwondo trainer R Venkatesan, who is part of the team that holds the Guinness World Record for the most number of full contact kicks in one hour, reminiscences about the day he first met Michael. “I noticed him sitting at the entrance of my academy waiting for his children to finish their classes. As he stood up to greet me, I noticed that that he was unable to stand properly and enquired about it. He told me his condition and I advised him to join my classes immediately. This happened a year ago and after regular classes, he has improved a lot.”
Indeed, Michael has no problem getting into his Taekwondo uniform and doing the routine warm-up stretches under the expert guidance of Venkatesan. “My friends and family had given up hope but Venkatesan’s advice paid off. When you have a trainer investing so much time and faith in you, it automatically increases your willpower and results follow,” says Michael.
Chennai’s fascination with martial arts began with Shihan Hussaini, who introduced Karate to the city in 1977. “I trained a batch of visually impaired children at the Little Flower Convent and was surprised by how they used their auditory perception to pinpoint the angle of attack and the position of the opponent. I was the first in the state to train a batch of disabled youngsters for over three years at the Spastic Society of Tamil Nadu in Taramani. The improvement in their confidence level was so tremendous that the word spread and it became a standard for the disabled to learn and practice martial arts,” says Hussaini who has also trained Venkatesan in Karate.
Srimanth Bal from Gujarat was born with paraplegia, a form of cerebral palsy. Srimanth was using a wheelchair and had to be tube-fed for three years. In 2003, his parents first approached Hussaini, after they heard about his ‘Karate therapy’. He assigned the responsibility of training Srimanth to his pupil, Hardik Joshi from Gujarat — a fifth degree black belt holder. In six months, Srimanth was up on his feet, learning basic blocks and attacks. Five years later, Hussaini took his black belt test which Srimanth passed with flying colours.
K Sekar, who was the fight composer for the Rajinikanth-starrer, Padayappa, runs a Mansurian Kungfu Academy in Pattabiram. Among his students is a six-year-old boy who didn’t enjoy full range of motion in his forearms until a year ago. Sekar says, “It took him over a year to regain his ability to twist his forearm normally. He is more enthusiastic than everyone, extremely adaptive and fits into every given challenge.”
Polio no bar for success
M Raja was affected by polio in his childhood which disabled the function of his left leg. When he entered the gym for the first time at 15, he was there to watch his friends work out. Although he badly wanted to weight-train, the trainers advised him to sit and watch instead. Very soon, he was lifting weights and there has been no looking back since. Raja won Mr India gold medal, and participated in the competition 12 times.
He has won 10 national level titles, four at South India level. His latest achievement is title of Steel Man of Tamil Nadu in 2014. Dr Chitra, physiotherapist at Care and Cure physio therapy clinic, Anna Nagar says, “Anybody with willpower can pursue martial arts but a basic rehabilitation and checkup by a certified physiotherapist is necessary to assess the condition of the muscles and nerves.”