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Showing posts from December, 2012

Will self-defence work for a girl being raped?

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Since the Delhi gang-rape, so far 18 people have asked me -   " Will self-defence techniques actually work for an 'average girl' against a group of men.?! " My answer is -  " Those who keep asking "Will this work?!"  die without finding out whether it will." ................................................................... Learning provides you the tools. Practice makes you an expert. Pushing yourself out of the comfort-zone makes you superior. and above all.. Introspection makes you realistic That's too true of all arts.   The same hierarchy applies to learning to fight also.  So, every input in learning has an output in application ... ... which is reasonably proportionate.  Whether its Singing, Tennis, Medicine, Drama, Astronomy or KravMaga.  If you have a natural aptitude to that field, the progress will be better than your peers. Decide at which level you want to play..and put in the required effort . Yo

Self-defence Workshops for Women - Part I

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Self-defense Workshops for Women - Part I I am sharing the learning from the many workshops for women on 'self-defense and personal safety', I conducted in the last 4 years. Please don’t hesitate to comment if you feel I am wrong. I also look forward to your suggestions to improve the content and presentation. What I learnt during these workshops to women - (Disclaimer - The following are my own broad observations. Of course some women are exceptions; but they are very few.) 1. In daily life, women face more problems than we men can ever visualize or comprehend . Women face persistent stares, uninitiated talks, lewd comments, unwanted touch, vulgar taps and so many unsavoury acts which we men don't experience. So, they should be keener on learning martial-arts than men. Right? No, it’s wrong. Oh! Why?  Because... Woman power !  2. Women don't see themselves beating up men Even though women acknowledge they face constant harassments, they as

The police & fake encounters - Tip of the iceberg

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The Dynamics of Police encounters  - Part III After the recent police encounter in TamilNadu, furious debates are happening in every media channel; in some of which I also participated. Instead of analysing this specific encounter and getting into shallow arguments, I want to talk on the larger aspects like -        How does the public view Police?       The ills of Indian police          How equipped / skilled are our police?               Infrastructure & Training       Why encounters happen?       What the public wants and how it can be realized? How does the public view police? Sheep dog and wolf analogy - According to Geoff Thompson , Police are the 'Sheep dog'. which protects the 'Innocent herd of Sheep".  The criminal is akin to the "Wolf" When there is no threat; the sheep hate the presence of the sheep-dog... He is bossing around and intimidating... The moment the Wolf appears on the scene, the sheep loudly bleat for