When the Delhi government allowed gyms to re-open across the city in September 2020, the akharas in Delhi’s alleys and by-lanes resumed operations too. However, as the world adjusted to the pandemic, India’s traditional wrestling form of kushti remained stuck.
The pandemic has left the grounds of India’s dangal circuit, which usually attract thousands in a tangle of locks and limbs, barren. Since all the competitions on this circuit, which wrestlers rely for daily wage and food were cancelled in 2020, there has been a severe impact on the traditional way of life for the Indian pehelwan.
To find out how Delhi’s wrestlers are coping with the pandemic, Scroll.in visited several akharas and spoke with resident coaches and wrestlers.
Reluctant patronage for an ‘elephant’s’ diet
India’s next Olympic hopeful Divya Kakran, who won gold at the Asian Wrestling Championship in February 2020, spoke about her reliance on dangals before she went international.
“I…
