Custodians of a Culture Featuring Raam Kumar

Kalari is one of the most fascinating things to put your body through. It is strenuous and energising at the same time. Even though I’m rubbish at it, Kalari has been generous enough with me and has allowed me to experience how different being in my own body can be, can feel and how in 36 years, I’ve treated it pretty shabbily. It is a martial art - but to me, it was the discovery of a space where the mind learns (flunking like mad, but still learning) to shut off and the body becomes a language. Articulate. Eloquent. And feeling so fine - like it has a billion dollars, a French chateau and a fleet of fancy cars to its name.

Raam was born into Kalaripayatt. His great-grandfather CV Narayanan Nair can perhaps be called the renaissance man of Kalaripayatt. His many initiatives, some bordering on the unorthodox, probably prevented the art form from succumbing to a Victorian smother. Legend has it that Kalari is perhaps the oldest style of martial arts and other styles including Kung Fu may be its children. The story goes that Buddhist monks who travelled from India to China, not only spread the word of Buddhism, but also the act of self defence. Apocryphal stories aside, Kalari is a practice that shouldn’t be allowed to die. Its relevance in a world that has taken too much to slouching over desks and sprawling on couches or even battering joints on tarmac, is all the more urgent and beneficial. Making practitioners like Raam something of a heritage treasure.