Mumbai mallakhamb coach holds workshop in Croatia; locals impress with alacrity, agility

Going to town, upside down

Mallakhamb continues its journey from its home in India to exotic, foreign lands. The indigenous sport, which literally means ‘yoga on a pole or rope', has travelled to destinations like the Reunion Island, Germany, UK, USA, Singapore, Japan, Malaysia and many more. Mid-October this sport took off for Zagreb, the capital of Croatia.

Uday Deshpande, mallakhamb coach and pioneer, conducted a workshop in Zagreb from October 13 to 17. Deshpande stated, "This was the first trip to Croatia. I went solo, packing in an introduction to mallakhmab and training for locals in these five days. Since it was a short sojourn, the intent was to whet the appetite for a sport that demands all three - strength, flexibility and endurance. I was impressed as most of the workshop participants were quick learners, and showed both dexterity and dedication."

The Zagreb trip fructified post a meeting, two decades ago! Deshpande explained, "All those years ago, Jadranko Miklec, vice-president of the European Yoga Federation and a learned yoga practitioner who has an institute in Zagreb, met me in Bhopal. At that time, we had discussed starting mallakhamb in Croatia. That materialised now."

The Zagreb experience was memorable. The learners spanned the gamut from yoga teachers, "these already had basics in place", claimed Deshpande. Also learning the ropes fast (literally) were aerial artistes, dancers and even circus artistes. Aerial artistes are practitioners who perform sequences of movement above the ground. These aerial arts can be done on apparatus like ropes made of silk fabric or on hoops. That too has parallels with mallakhamb, as in mallakhamb, a sequence of movements is performed on a rope or a pole by the trainee off the ground.

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Deshpande added, "A five-day workshop is a starter. Now, we have to chart out a roadmap for the sport to take root in Croatia by getting more people interested." The Croatians have just dipped their toes into the vast pool that is mallakhamb wisdom and learning. A deep dive means many more workshops, exchange programmes where the foreigners come to Mumbai, Shivaji Park in particular, where Deshpande teaches. "There are several options. The important thing now is to plan and execute so that we build tempo," said the teacher.

Beyond mallakhamb, Deshpande has a few takeaways from his Croatia trip. He said, "Zagreb is an absolutely fascinating mix of history, modernity and a treasure trove of culture. Since I am a vegetarian, my diet was bread, butter, jam, cheese, lots of local fruits and fruit juices. I also visited an authentic Indian restaurant, and had veg pulao, dal and a veggie at an Indian home there!" laughed Deshpande.

The yoga coach's biggest satisfaction though is to see mallakhamb from Maharashtra go globetrotting, firing the imagination of practitioners so that the sport moves from national to truly international. "We live in a global village now, and we can transcend borders which are just physical demarcations," said Deshpande, underlining that mallakhamb has sprouted wings and our desi sport export is on a videsi whirl.