Ramanathapuram: Age is just a number and 92-year-old Durairaj proves it every day.
At an age that most people take to bed, the nonagenarian teaches 'Silambam' - the ancient Tamil martial art form to kids and women at Sirumaniyenthal village in Ramanathapuram district of Tamil Nadu.
Despite his age, he hasn’t lost touch with the stick, and swirls and spins the pole to his whims. His sole objective in providing this rigorous training to aspirants is to preserve for posterity this quintessential Tamil art of fighting as well as self-defence.
At six a.m, as soon as the session starts, the participants, including women, girding their loins and wielding a long pole start learning Silambam from their teacher.
An expert in the ancient Tamil martial art, Durairaj had learnt it when he was 24 and later earned laurels at more than 370 competitions in the villages around his native Sirumaniyenthal near Peraiyur town. It is due to this initial training, he now conducts two sessions spanning two hours in the morning and evening, respectively, without getting tired.
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Having taught his sons the art, he had hung his boots some years back, but, the extended lockdown due to the corona pandemic has brought him back.
With many youngsters returning home from far off places following the lockdown and who were confined to their homes, Durairaj decided to impart them training in Silambam.
He made necessary arrangements through his son Tirupathi for the same. The open space adjoining his house was levelled and made the training ground. As news spread, women in the village too evinced interest to join and learn the art for self-defence. Having already trained a batch, he agreed and is teaching the second batch currently.
His students also include schoolgirls, software professionals as well as homemakers.
“I am learning this with great interest. Besides keeping us fit, acquiring mastery in this would enhance self-confidence,” said Valarmathi, a class 12 student.
According to Durairaj, martial arts are not restricted to men and certainly not gender-specific.
“Our women had learnt Silambam and fought the British. Though an excellent sport and traditional art of fighting, it is said that this has lost patronage and slowly losing its sheen. I would appeal to the government to make efforts to impart training in Silambam to the students and youth. It is in the hands of the government to save it from extinction,” he said.
