Pehelwani punch for home games

Far away from the spotlight, Akhadas have been a traditional breeding ground for Indian wrestlers. The Indian word Akhada, conventionally means a place that offers practice along with boarding, lodging and training. The cream of Indian wrestlers right from Udey Chand, Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav, Sushil Kumar, Yogeshwar Dutt to the Bajrang Punias, Vinesh Phogats and Sakshi Maliks of today are all bred out of Akhadas.

Women were not allowed to enter a wrestling ring or an Akhada as a rule in Varanasi. That 478-year-old rule finally came to an end in the eve hours of July 29, 2017. On that Nagpanchami day, Sankatmochan Foundation organised a wrestling competition for women too along the holy banks of

Ganges at the Tulsi Ghat.

Professor Vishambhar Nath Mishra’s efforts of breaking the stereotype have been portrayed in a Netflix original series called Home Game by New Zealand-based director Zia Mandviwalla. Pehlwani, an episode in Home Game’s first season, tells a narrative on how Prof. Mishra’s watershed moment of allowing Ashta Verman and Nandini Sarkar into the Tulsidas Akhada turned the wrestling culture around.

Pehelwani, the story of Kashish Yadav and Apeksha Singh, is one of the haves and the have nots, grit and determination, solidarity and camaraderie whilst fighting age old traditions for one’s beliefs, drawing from the experience of their seniors and seeking inspiration from successful Indian wrestlers like Sakshi Malik and the Phogat sisters.