Kazakhstan comes to Shivaji Park

The Kazakhs train under coach Uday Deshpande’s guidance at Shivaji Park; (right) Eye on Almaty: Mallakhamb workshop in Kazakhstan

A slice of Kazakhstan was in Dadar on Thursday, April 14. A 12-member team from the Central Asian country was at Shivaji Park, the headquarters of the sport of mallakhamb in Mumbai. The Kazakhs spent the greater part of the day training on the rope mallakhamb. They are now travelling North for in-depth yoga learning. The mallakhamb session (means yoga on a rope or pole), was a follow-up to an introduction to mallakhamb.

From April 1, for a week, a three-person yoga team from Samarth Vyayam Mandir Shivaji Park, chief coach Uday Deshpande and champions Tamanna Sanghavi and Rajat Kavade from the city travelled to Kazakhstan, to conduct mallakhamb workshops.

Deshpande, who is also director of Vishwa Mallakhamb Federation, said, "We conducted workshops in Almaty and Nur-Sultan (formerly Astana) facilitated by Sandeep V Jadhav, director Pradnya Institute of Yoga in Almaty and Sanjay Vedi, of the Swami Vivekananda Cultural Centre, Embassy of India."

Experience

Deshpande stated that participants in both places were roughly between the ages 15 to 30 years. "They were yoga students; it was relatively easy for them to pick up mallakhamb on a rope. We had nearly 200 participants collectively and the interest and enthusiasm was high. With this, the Kazakhs wanting to promote the sport are also thinking about importing a mallakhamb pole from here. They are also interested in a full-time coach from India."

Mallakhamb is practised on both rope and pole, in Kazakhstan though, only a rope was used. Deshpande added, "As yoga practitioners, the participants had a good base, the flexibility and strength were already there. It was a question of fine-tuning and adapting to the rope mallakhamb."

Globetrotting

Deshpande added that mallakhamb is on a world tour, "We have been promoting the sport in Malaysia, Japan, Germany, USA, UK, the French Reunion Island and so many more. The Kazakhstan workshops were very important as we broke new ground. It also helped mallakhamb get a foot in the door there. We now hope to kindle interest and take mallakhamb to countries like Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and others," he said of the indigenous sport's rapidly expanding footprint.

Varanasi

Just how serious the Kazakhs are about mallakhamb was evident when just after the Indians left, the team was here in Shivaji Park, imbibing more mallakhamb lessons on desi turf. "They were en route to Varanasi, for yoga studies," said Deshpande who stated, "We hope to have a Kazakh team participate in the second World Mallakhamb Championships, most probably to be held in Bhutan later this year. The first was held pre-COVID in Mumbai where we had 15 countries. We aim to have 50 nations this time."

Culture

The Indians said Kazakhstan was a "fascinating experience. The scenic landscape, language, and culture were riveting. We were also struck by the fantastic organization our hosts ensured Indian food in Kazakhstan, and the robust response," explained Rajat Kavade. "In fact," Kavade added, "It was so heartening to see the enthusiasm and energy. We were actually invited back again to conduct more workshops," he stated, adding that the warmth was evident in Kazakh outreach. That warmth was in contrast to the cold weather, "certainly a change from the mercury in Mumbai," chuckled Kavade while Deshpande recalled with a laugh, "we had several snowball fights at a mountain range, that brought out the child in all of us," he ended at his Shivaji Park office, already buzzing for forthcoming events.