Browsing through the social media page of Sukhbinder Singh, you cannot help but notice - he's different. Every second post of this college student is an image or a video of him in traditional regalia - a raised blue Nihang turban overlaid with warrior-style iron headgear and a chola or long frock. He is either doing seva (community service), or spinning a giant wheel, or simply striking a regal pose. Most of these posts have hashtags such as #gurukakhalsa #akaalpurakh #sardarizm.
In person, Sukhbinder is a regular guy, mild-mannered, minds his " jis". But there is an unmistakable gravitas about him. Point it out and he attributes it to gatka - the Sikh martial arts form - and then quickly corrects himself. "Or you could say I am religiously inclined and that is why I turned to gatka."
Over the last two years, Sukhbinder has become a gatka pro. If you drop in at the Gurudwara Garchha Sikh Sangat in south Calcutta, you will find him practising nifty gatka footwork and swordsmanship on most evenings. On any given day, there are two dozen others who engage in this ritual combat at the gurudwara akhada. The adrenaline is palpable. From time to time, jaikaras, or religious slogans, float up.
Gatka is performed at Sikh religious events such as Gurupurab, Baisakhi and Hola - the day after Holi. "I had seen performances here by artistes from Delhi and Punjab since I was a child," says Sukhbinder. Deeply religious, he saw in gatka a hook that would help him integrate better with his faith. "But there was no one here who could teach us."
One day Sukhbinder got chatting with his gym instructor about his interest. It turned out that the instructor's father, Narinder Singh Khalsa, used to be a gatka teacher in Delhi. In fact, when the 1984 riots broke out, it was gatka that came to his rescue. "I was in the gurudwara when I was attacked. Because I knew gatka, I could fight five people single-handedly," says the 54-year-old, who is known as Ustadji among Calcutta's gatka practitioners.
Ustad ji got into the family business thereafter, and for a while gatka was forgotten. Eventually, some of his family members shifted to Calcutta, and in 1994 he followed suit. But he found no takers for gatka. "People were very scared. Parents did not allow their kids to be part of anything that would invite trouble. Everyone wanted to maintain a low profile," says Ustadji.
That's how things were until Sukhbinder's enquiries about a gatka teacher reached the headpriest of the Garchha gurudwara, the late Gyani Navdeep Singh, who in turn alerted Ustadji.
And so was born Calcutta's first and only gatka training centre in 2015. Today, there are 35 students who are taught free of cost. There is a full-fledged group known as Baba Deep Singh Ranjit Akhada. There is also a Facebook page dedicated to popularising gatka.
Both Yashpal and Sukhwinder - not to be confused with Sukhbinder - are students of Khalsa English High School in Bhowanipore. Yashpal broke his arm during one of the performances. Sukhwinder joined two months ago and has not missed a single class since. There are also several women who have joined. Maninder Kaur is one of them.
Mostly confined to her home and domestic duties, two years ago Maninder decided to change the direction of her life and joined the gatka class. Today, she says, gatka has given her this sense of equality. "I can now talk and address men and women alike, with confidence. I did not have that earlier." Her husband and son have also signed up.
But the darling of the akhada is six-year-old Prabhjot Singh, a student of Class II. He is reed thin and all of 3 feet nothing. But the moment he dons the blue frock and picks up the sabre, a transformation happens. And when in his high-pitched voice he shouts "Waahe guru ji ka khalsa, waahe guru ji ki fateh", one gets goosebumps.
Prabhjot saw the gatka classes in progress during his visits to the Gurudwara with his parents. Not only did he convince his parents to let him enrol, he also used his pester power to turn his otherwise not-so-religious parents into devout Sikhs.
Indeed, gatka seems to have reinforced a sense of belonging among a lot of Calcutta Sikhs. Ustadji emphasises there is no faith or caste or even age bar for those who want to learn it. Take the case of Umesh Chandra Roychowdhury. The 62-year-old photojournalist is his oldest gatka student. Chowdhury sports a pagdi and a beard though he has not converted to Sikhism. Till some years ago, he was afflicted with severe knee pain but today he can wield the lathi and the sword. "The Guru has drawn me like a magnet," he says. Gatka and its guru are not something he can resist.
