Turning On Fight Mode

As a woman,

travelling solo, especially late at night, can be dangerous. So, what should a woman globetrotter do? Tanul Mishra,

CEO, Afthonia Lab, an incubator for fintech startups, found the answer in Krav Maga, an unarmed self- defence technique, originally developed for the Israeli defence forces. In Krav Maga, one uses body weight to attack vulnerable points of the opponent. “Essentially,

it’s quick and dirty,” says Mishra.

For Mishra, who learns in Mumbai from Sensei Sadashiv Mogaveera, the attraction was the faster learning curve. “You can learn basic moves in a month if practised well,” she says. She has even used her skills in real-life situations. “Once, I was in an auto-rickshaw going home, when it stopped at a red signal at a desolated patch. Two bikers came, and one tried to enter the auto. I used the ‘palm heel strike’ to punch him under the jaw. It worked. They drove off,” she says. But avoiding conflict is a basic tenet of the technique. “It helps me in my profession also; I manage to stay calm in stressful situations and difficult negotiations,” she says, adding that she is a Krav Maga evangelist: “always telling others to get trained in it.”