CHENNAI: Thousands of families residing across Chennai’s resettlement colonies try to navigate their lives shaped by displacement, inadequate public and infrastructural facilities, and limited access to quality education. Perumbakkam, one of the largest colonies, houses nearly one lakh residents. Being pushed to the city margins, Perumbakkam always makes headlines for denied access to public healthcare facilities or denied voting rights. But this time it is set to make headlines for something that has not happened in the past two decades. A 20-year-old woman, M Soundharya, travelled from the city’s sprawling resettlement tenements to violence-hit Manipur in June to win a bronze medal in a traditional martial art she had trained in for barely a week.
On the evening of April 7, burning tyres flashed on the television inside her hostel room at Manipur University in Canchipur. Mobile networks had collapsed, security guards had bolted the gates, and the 33 students of the TN contingent, many of whom had never travelled to the north-eastern state before, were instructed not to step outside. For three days, the students remained confined to their rooms, stepping out only when escorted to the indoor stadium for their events.
Amid the tension, Soundharya competed and secured third place in the Amaam Puk category of Thang-Ta at the All India Inter-University Championship held from April 6 to 9. Thang-Ta, a traditional martial art form from Manipur, combines armed and unarmed combat techniques, while Amaam Puk focuses on stick-fighting forms within the system. Of the 33-member TNPESU contingent, 23 returned with medals, including two gold, eight silver, and 11 bronze medals. Soundharya was the only participant from a resettlement site.
S Sandeep Kumar, who trained her for the two years in Silambam before the one-week Thang-Ta training, said, “Students with a Silambam background can adapt to Thang-Ta very quickly, especially the small-stick and leather-pad techniques. Competitions like these give students exposure at the national level.”
Soundharya’s father works as a daily-wage construction labourer, while her mother is a homemaker. The government girls’ school she attended near Island Grounds lacked proper infrastructure; so she gravitated towards athletics. She regularly participated in races and would return home carrying prizes. Soon, she began participating in events conducted at nearby schools and trained at Pachaiyappa’s College grounds, eventually winning overall championships in consecutive years.
In 2019, her family relocated to Perumbakkam during a Tamil Nadu Urban Habitat Development Board resettlement drive. The move disrupted the family’s livelihood. Her father lost access to regular construction work and remained unemployed for months. Soundharya continued her schooling in Chintadripet, commuting long distances during Classes 11 and 12. Then came the pandemic, halting sports events that propelled her athletic journey. Though she wanted to pursue physical education after school, her family opposed the idea due to concerns over hostel expenses and safety. She instead enrolled in a BA Tamil programme at a government college in Perumbakkam.
It was during this period that she joined a free computer course conducted by Mahavimarshana Arakkattalai, a local trust. There, she was introduced to Silambam and trained for two years. Later, with support from the Information and Resource Centre for the Deprived Urban Communities (IRCDUC), she secured admission to the BPEd programme at TNPESU in Melakottaiyur.
During preparations for the inter-university championship, the coach considered her background in Silambam while introducing students to Thang-Ta. He then selected Silambam-trained students for the national-level event. But the opportunity came with financial hurdles. As Thang-Ta had only recently been introduced, the university had no dedicated funds for the competition. She needed Rs 15,000 for travel and food expenses. With a few borrowings and support from IRCDUC, the expenses for her travel and stay in Manipur were eventually arranged, and Soundharya kept her promise not to return empty-handed.
The four walls of a 6x6-foot room were never a measure of how far Soundharya could go; they were just small hurdles she had long before crossed to challenge prevailing narratives. “People outside look at Perumbakkam and only see crime or addiction. I want them to know students and athletes live there too. We are capable of achieving something,” she says.
Soundharya hopes to become a physical education teacher and support students from marginalised communities. “There are many children in resettlement sites with immense talent, searching for opportunities. There is an emerging need to evolve a comprehensive programme for children in resettlement communities, beginning with a socio-demographic assessment of all children living in these sites, to understand their realities, needs and barriers to access,” said Vanessa Peter, founder of IRCDUC.
