Dara Singh - the wrestler.

As an urban dweller it is difficult to imagine and understand life in a village especially what it used to be in the sixties of twentieth century. 

When we shifted to Betma in 1964 within six months or less I had made a range of friends of all ages: my age and about 10-15 years older. Damu was short for Damodar who had fascinated me most from our first meeting when instead of getting angry and bashing me up he gave me a fair deal when I dwindled his pocket money and mine too in the process. We were soon introduced to the whole family. Amongst his older brothers was Ghmau Da, who must have been 8 or 10 years older than me and was very entrepreneurial. Both Damu and Ghamu da used to assist Bansi da and Murali Da at the tea stall at the bus stand generally in serving tea to customers but at times in making tea also. Bansi da and Murli da were much older and very quiet so sometimes out of fear and some others out of respect I hardly used to strike any conversation as it was difficult to pick a subject to converse on, they both including Ghamu da dropped out of school quite early.. I wonder if they studied beyond primary. This was Kumrawat family who are traditionally in paan/beetle leaf business (Chaurasias). Damu also had two sisters an elder sister and a younger one and a younger brother who may have been two or three years younger but was treated too young to move around with us, he nevertheless would.

Like other panwaris in Betma, Damu's also had a small patch of land next to the small river that flowed most of the year outside the village where they used to grow paans. This was very special farming like grapes and required big skills to get good results. You would first make arbour by planting sticks that would be about 7 or 8 feet high and make a roof over them mostly of bamboo sticks. That provided shade and allowed the paan plants to move up alongside and then on the inner side of the roof. You also make beds like flower beds for water to run through and uniformly provide water to all the plants. Each crop would take between 6-8 months and in summer months would dry up unless watered. This farming would be done near the river on the riverbed as there would be a constant source of water that is needed in high quantity. Unlike these days, there were no diesel or electricity pumps and water would be drawn by other means. This was a very hard life and even the small piece of land consumed labour of the entire family. Their parents, mostly father, sisters and at least two of the five brothers would be there from morning through evening to ensure proper water supply, sorting good and bad paan leaves and carrying them home or directly to paan shops that sold the paans to end consumers. In India paan chewing is a way of life like breathing for many. Malwi paan ( grown in the Malwa region) stood apart in taste and quality from other varieties and was patronised by connoisseurs who would pay higher price for those long leaves and sweet taste, unlike many other variety that is bitter.

Damu's father had a small kiosk in the tea stall where all the brothers and father sometime would make paan for customers but it was folded long before, as it was too much to look after. Often times I would also go to panwari outside the school time and would enjoy doing titbits in the farm. Next to farm was also a ghat where ladies and girls who assisted their mothers would come to wash clothes. Some would also bathe their cows and buffaloes. I was too young to have any attraction for them, so don't recollect if I was fascinated with the activities at the ghat. The area was like mini forest and there were large number of fruity trees of tamarind, mangoes, bananas, ber (jujube), khajoor (desi dates) etc. that were free for all.. sometimes we would also climb on the trees to get them or to simply sit there and relax.

Damu and Ghamu da were also keen wrestlers and would be regular at the only akhara in the village on the extreme corner of the village on the other side of bus stand where most wrestlers and those interested in body building would turn up, do warming up exercises like push-ups, sit-ups, swing mugdar (a dumbbell, or more like a gada) and over the malkhamb. They introduced me to akhara where I became regular at an age as young as 9. Akharas head was one Amarsingh pehlwan who was otherwise a gwala having over a dozen buffaloes. But Mornings and evening he would spend a lot of time in akhara. He had a body that could crush people and his wrestling technique was so good that he remained unbeaten in most competition in the area. His daily diet of milk was enormous an unbelievable 10 litres+. He was a very soft spoken and friendly person with wonderful body and handsome face. In my later years Puneet Issar who played Duryodhan in BR Chopra's Mahabharat reminded me of my ustad Amarsingh pehlwan. Akhara gave an entire different dimension to my existence then. I too would be going there every morning and evening and will look forward to spending time there. 

It is difficult for myself to believe that gradually I was doing over 500 sit-ups and 300 push-ups. Besides occasionally exercising with mugdhar and malkhamb. In the process would sweat so heavily as if we were out in open on a thundery monsoon day.. drenched from top to bottom. My routine there involved smartly dressing up like young pehlwan.. we will remove clothes in a way that you would never be completely undressed and have a "langot" tied that covers your area that needs to be protected. My mother who was learning stitching in a "tailoring school" those days would stitch those as part of her homework but they were smart by any standard.

Wresting was indeed fascinating. Ustad ji would often tell us stories of his wresting competitions and we would be dumbfounded with them appreciating his skills and bravery and I would often imagine to be like him when I grow up. Since we didn't spent much time together between "jai siya ram"s that was our war cry while entering and exiting akhara, Ghamu da would tell many untold stories about ustad ji's various wrestling expeditions. Some people would also talk about Gama Pehlwan who died some 10 years back and was a charismatic free style globally unbeaten wrestler who was awarded "rustam-e-hind".  For lovers of the game it was a big loss although Gama Pehlwan had moved borders and used to live in Lahore after partition.

Dara Singh was the ultimate name in wresting world those days before he entered the film world ( it was not called Bollywood then). As the stories go,  which are quite believable, he was the unbeaten wrestling champion of "free style" in the world. He would first offer his brother Randhawa to anyone who challenged him and he would come into the arena only when Randhawa lost. As far as his own technique was concerned, he would take beatings from the opponent in intimal rounds to make it appear that he is a weak opponent and suddenly in third round he will turn around and will put down his opponent who will often turn up in a hospital. 

It was June1969 when Dara Singh had announced a global challenge to anyone in wresting in Indore's wrestling stadium. One Majid Akkara took the challenge and the dates for bout were announced. All tickets were sold in minutes after it opened for sell/distribution. Come the date and anyone who was not even interested in wrestling was also anxiously waiting for Dara Singh to "show stars" to Majid Akkara. Newspaper headlines will remain focused on the event weeks in advance. The same day there was a procession in the evening celebrating the "coronation" of Master Chandgiram as Bharat Kesari. When his procession was passing through Bambai Bazaar some people who were expecting another pehlwan to win the title started throwing stones on the procession that eventually lead to the first ever communal riots in Indore that always lived peacefully even in the testing times like partition of the country. The situation suddenly started worsening very fast so much so that authorities immediately clamped curfew in Indore and the Dara Singh - Majid Akkara bout had to be abandoned much to the disappointment of fans and spectators.

Dara Singh and his troupe was rushed out of the city around 1.30am and the first stop they had, to breathe properly and understand what had happened, was the bus stand in Betma where the only tea stall that was open was manned by Bansi da. When he saw Dara Singh asking for tea, he almost fell down and imagined it to be a dream and not a reality. Instead of making tea he suddenly rushed out and told people to call Ghamu da to meet him. Eventually within 10 minutes hundreds managed to reach bus stand to have Dara Singh's darshan who had tea, waved at people and rushed out to save himself from fans.

Next day when I got to know of the news I was in complete awe and looked at Bansi da as if I was looking at Dara Singh himself.

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