Too few youths practise wrestling at the 66-year-old Mangal Singh Akhara in Jamshedpur on Thursday. Picture by Bhola Prasad

Neighbourhood Schwarzeneggers once used to throng these desi gyms.

But akharas, traditional centres symbolising machismo, now lie deserted in Jamshedpur. Swanky gyms have usurped their place among fitness freaks.

Only two akharas or Indian wrestling hubs in the city — Mangal Singh Akhara in Kadma and Sri Sri Panchwati Hanuman Akhara in Baridih — have managed to muscle their way across changing times. But even these two manage to revive their glory days only during the Ramnavami season, not throughout the year.

The Telegraph visited Mangal Singh Akhara in Kadma, established in 1946, decades before the Baridih one started in 1971. Moreover, internationally acclaimed wrestlers of the 1960s and 1970s such as Dara Singh, also a Bollywood hunk then, Ghulam Muhammad (known as Gama Pahalwan) and Mehro Singh (popularly called Mehro Pahalwan and Hind Keshri of 1970) participated in exhibition fights at the Kadma akhara.

The indigenous health hub had its home-grown celebrities too, like founder-patron and nationally famed wrestler Brij Mangal Singh, who incidentally died last year at age 92.

Singh’s son Munna, who was nominated the secretary of the state’s wrestling outfit, is now looking after the akhara.

Munna recalls with pride the heydays of the akhara when around 50 well-built men practised bodybuilding in two shifts, early morning and late evening.

“The popularity stayed put till the 60s and 70s. But now, the place has become almost deserted. Only a handful of youths practise, that too before Ramnavami rituals,” he rues.

This, despite the akhara staying open throughout the day and providing free-of-cost training. Just compare it to the gyms that charge a fancy fee for an hour.

“From the mid-1990s, things went really downhill. Only seven youths are now on our rolls. Workouts at the gym have caught popular imagination. Who wants to roll in the mud nowadays? Plus, job offers for traditional wrestlers are drying up,” says Munna.

Faced with a dearth of wrestlers, the akhara committee is importing talent from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh for a show slated at Mango for Ramnavami on March 30. “Ramnavami is the time to showcase the art of wrestling. There is a religious attachment to performance wrestling. Youths flock akharas to take part in processions and soak themselves in the spirit of fun and fervour for a few days. After that...” Munna sighs, sentence incomplete.

Why has the akhara culture lost its craze? Tell ttkhand@abpmail.com