A growing sense of insecurity is prompting many urban professionals to undergo self-defence training. Varuna Verma on how Indians are learning to hit back if they are attacked.

Smitha Nair was returning home from work in an autorickshaw last month, when the driver turned around and asked her, “What do you think about sex?”

The Bengaluru-based graphic designer didn’t reply. Instead, she whipped out her mobile phone and made a mock call. “I don’t care if your mother is in hospital,” she shouted into the phone. “I want those designs when I get there. I will be there in 20 minutes. Is that understood,” she yelled. After hanging up, Nair asked the driver what he had said. He didn’t reply and quietly dropped her to where she was headed.

Terrorism has also heightened insecurity. Lawyer Pankaj Kumar (not his real name) was supposed to meet a friend for dinner at Mumbai’s Oberoi Trident Hotel on November 26, two years ago. He couldn’t make it, but his friend was killed by militants that night. It changed Kumar’s perspective on personal safety. “I decided that if I were ever to be in such a situation, I would be better equipped,” he recalls.

Kumar joined a KM course. “Now, I can fight and disarm anyone attacking with a gun or a knife,” he claims.

Not everybody believes that such fear is justified. Social scientist Shiv Vishwanathan, in fact, feels that fear is spreading a sense of insecurity and anxiety among the urban population. “The insecurity is targeted at the general other — which means, every stranger is perceived as a terrorist or a rapist. This is a recipe for turning into a paranoid society,” warns Visvanathan.

But for some people, self-defence courses are the way to conquer fear. Not surprisingly, the number of young professionals joining the KM course conducted by Krav Maga India (KMI), a private group affiliated to the International Krav Maga Federation, Israel, increased five-fold after the 26/11 attack, says Sadashiv Mogaveera, chief instructor for Maharashtra. “A wide mix of people — including flight attendants, businessmen and housewives — want to learn how to fight,” he says. KMI conducts courses in Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Delhi and has held workshops for companies.