Life over Power

Life over Power

Here’s a little true story to start off with. It’s about a pre university Bangalore boy who decided to fight back. I’m going to Use fake names to maintain privacy.

Chester was professional boxer in training, good at studies even; guess all the beating was working for him. One of the bigger built rich boys at school Ravi always picked on him for no apparent reason, racial comments and becoming the butt of all jokes was a common everyday thing. For a long while chester ignored the bullying and kept to himself, restricting his social life and not making many friends in school. His patience was really admirable considering him being a light weight boxer. But not for long, half way through his eleventh standard chester decided to stand up to ravi and put an end to this the next time ravi tried bullying him. One morning when ravi tried his tactics and was confronted, his abuse got very intolerable for any normal human being, and when he said something about chester’s mother that was the trigger to a sharp right hook flying into ravi’s face.

That evening we were all informed that chester was arrested and why? His one jab knocked the living daylights out of ravi, literally. Ravi was hospitalised because he fell into a coma.

Ravi survived but chester was expelled and lost his chance of a good education, got a criminal record and not much was heard of him afterwards. One hook and that was it. Good reason right, but at what cost, Life? Whose life was the question?

Ravi never got physical, it would have been a good reason to hit him then, though it is a rather difficult position to be in. Be a snitch, get smarter and fire words back, go rocky on the bully, or ignore it completely and grow as a strong human being forgiving and forgetting? Which would you choose? Chester was only defending his honour.

The reason I joined Shootfighters was because there was an ideal that appealed to me, a group mentality of protection, self defence being the main goal. But then it’s easy to lose sight of that in a situation that called for an immediate end. Today I did some conditioning for the limbs and boy was it hard. I found myself howling, grunting and gritting to take my mind of the pain, and it was only quarter the power being applied. Later on I was thinking, if that force was full on and used to incapacitate the attacker it would surely do the job, but will I/we be the next chester. He was lucky that ravi did not die.

I have never been able to completely defend myself in rather dangerous situations and those accompanying me too have been put at risk, which is why Shootfighters is part of my life now. I will be more capable to defend, especially the weaker ones with me. But like the Tao of kung fu goes “peace is prized over victory” I always look to avoid an altercation completely. Words never killed anyone it only made the irritating bleating goat less respectable actually.