Braving the morning winter chill, a group of girls lined up under a canopy of trees to practise a vital skill — the art of self-defence — in the premises of the Indira Priyadarshini Women’s Hostel at Acharya Nagarjuna University.
The students are being trained in a few techniques of self-defence by the Rudramada Devi Self Defence Organisation for over a month and the results are beginning to show.
The month-long course includes some basic techniques like counter attacking when someone tries to assault, pulls the hair and tries to snatch a handbag etc. The techniques require quick reflexes in pinning down the attacker and then overpowering him.
Blocking the attack is followed by a twist of the arm and pinning down the opponent, all in a fraction of second.
The idea to start the training course is a brainchild of Chandu Srinivasa Rao, a former law student in ANU and the general secretary of the alumni association. As the honorary chairman of the organisation, Mr. Srinivasa Rao roped in the trainers for the programme.
“Mastering self-defence techniques is vital to any student or working professional having to work in challenging circumstances. We have been training students, professionals and police women in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana for over 15 years and even trained SHE teams in Hyderabad.
This short course has done wonders for many women and has given them self-confidence and power,” says directors N. Lakshmi and N. Ravi, Karate champions.
For the students, the month-long training course has provided a great learning curve and helped them to gain self-confidence.
“The self-defence classes have given us self-confidence and we realised that by using simple techniques, we can protect ourselves,” said Ch. Udayaini, a B.Tech student.
For some like Veronica, a research scholar in chemistry, mastering a few self- defence techniques has provided an opportunity to get fitter.
For the ANU, which had weathered some tough situations in the past in the aftermath of a suicide of an engineering student, a course in self defence could offer some solutions.
The university is now a mix of students of various ages, pursuing courses in engineering, post graduation and research.
“The university has decided to provide an opportunity for students to get trained in self-defence, communication skills apart from pursuing regular courses. Violence against women has been increasing and women face challenges from womb to tomb. We hope that our students gain in self-confidence and are better equipped to face the challenges by the time they leave the college,” said HoD, Department of Law and Chief Warden Women’s Hostel, L. Jayasri.
