Away from Jantar Mantar, in village of Phogat sers, anger, fear

Balali/Jhojhu Kalan: The wonky GPS can be switched off at the village-entrance arch with an idol of Hanuman at the very top. ‘Current location’ is clear because of the lettering on the blue background – ‘Welcome to Balali village, the home of international wrestlers Geeta, Babita, Vinesh and Ritu’. Houses emerge a few hundred metres ahead on an untarred road, muddier this week following unseasonal rain.People here are eager to point to the must-see spots in and around Balali; the area where famed wrestling coach Mahavir Phogat dug up a mudpit for his young daughters Geeta and Babita, the now-untenanted dilapidated house of the Phogats, where Mahavir and his five brothers, their families and a dozen children stayed. Enquire about the two-storey house rising over the other modest buildings and immediately the owner’s name is shared – Vinesh Phogat, the wrestler leading the protest at Jantar Mantar.In the box-office hit Dangal, based on Mahavir’s life, the foot-tapping sound track ‘bapu sehat ke liye tu toh haanikaarak hai‘ plays when actor Aamir Khan as Mahavir, makes his two exhausted daughters build stamina running along the fields.
“I can’t point to a particular field or area, they used to be everywhere,” says an old-timer in the village, puffing on his hookah.
The old family home of Mahavir Phogat in Balali. Mahavir, his five brothers, families and a dozen children stayed here. (EXPRESS PHOTO Gajendra Yadav)
Mahavir put Balali on the map when his daughter Geeta became the first Indian woman to win a Commonwealth Games gold in wrestling in 2010. Regular podium finishes the Phogat sers and their cousin Vinesh — a two-time World Championship medal — kept the village’s fame intact.
The family home of Vinesh Phogat in Balali village. (EXPRESS PHOTO Gajendra Yadav)
Mahavir is still an active coach and runs his academy at the Vivekanand Memorial Public School in Jhojhu Kalan village, about four kilometres from Balali. These days he is also a counsellor to anxious parents of teenage women wrestlers. Since seven women wrestlers filed separate complaints of alleged sexual harassment against Wrestling Federation of India president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, Mahavir says he has received calls from parents wanting to pull out their daughters from wrestling.
“I just got off a call with a parent. I can understand their anxiety. Many parents enrolled their girls in wrestling after seeing the movie Dangal. I too am a father of daughters who are wrestlers. I comfort these parents saying that wrestlers will get justice,” Mahavir says.
Mahavir leaves the training hall at his academy in Jhojhu Kalan, along with his pet dog. (EXPRESS PHOTO Gajendra Yadav)
Two dogs, a German shepherd and a Husky, tail him as he walks from his one room-plus-kitchen accommodation at the entrance of the school to the indoor wrestling hall. Around the basketball court, fixed to the school building, are a dozen faded posters of the medal-winning Phogat sers. Framed quotations former president APJ Abdul Kalam dot the walls in the hallway leading to the training area.
“About 15 of the 50 trainees are girls, but none from Balali now,” Mahavir says. The trainees – from Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh – quickly slip on their wrestling shoes and stop chatting when the respected coach approaches.
The wrestling hall at Mahavir’s academy at the Vivekanand Memorial Public School in Jhojhu Kalan. (EXPRESS PHOTO Gajendra Yadav)
One of the youngest wrestlers is Riddhi, just 8. Her brother Jaideep, who is 6, also trains at the Mahavir’s academy. Riddhi’s father Manish says talking to Mahavir has helped him stay hopeful about the safety of women wrestlers.
“Will the families of girls be willing to put them in wrestling If nothing changes in the federation despite the protests?” Mahavir asks. “It was difficult for me to change perceptions of people when I started training my daughters in the village. Today if sexual harassment in the WFI is being talked about, it will have an impact on number of women from villages willing to take up wrestling.”
Dronacharya Award winner Mahavir Phogat during a training session at his academy in Jhojhu Kalan. (EXPRESS PHOTO Gajendra Yadav)
Balali wasn’t always a wrestling hub. Mandola, a village 20 minutes away road, is home to a 1956 Olympian. An Asian Games and Commonwealth Games medal from the 1970s is from near Samaspur. Balali is a farming village of nearly 450 households and known for its wheat, mustard and millet before the home-grown women’s wrestling revolution.
In Balali, there is apprehension and anger, says sarpanch Amit Kumar. He stays just two houses away from where the Phogats used to live before they built a ‘koti’. “The anger is because daughters from our village who have brought glory to the country have had to sit in protest for days at Jantar Mantar. The person who has been accused of sexual harassment is roaming freely and giving interviews while the wrestlers are sleeping on the road, being bitten mosquitoes, and the police is not allowing them to carry food. We are worried that things will get worse for our wrestlers,” Kumar says.
Balali village sarpanch Amit Kumar at his home. (EXPRESS PHOTO Gajendra Yadav)
A few hours later, after seeing visuals of a late night scuffle between the wrestlers and police, Kumar wants to rush to Jantar Mantar.
Kumar is also a father to a wrestler-daughter. Neha, is a junior wrestler with an international medal. “I hope the investigation is completed fast and the truth comes out,” the sarpanch says before adding that with each passing day he is feeling uneasy.
Since the protests, the second since January, began on April 23, representatives of 40 villages of the Sangwan Khap (a village clan) have travelled to Jantar Mantar, like they did during the farmer protests. The Sangwan Khap holds sway in Balali but the wrestling family of Phogat have the highest respect.
“Mahavir ji made Balali famous. Now we have to stand him and the wrestlers he produced,” Pritam Singh, a hind-kesari (Indian-style wrestling championship) regular, says.
In Jhojhu Kalan as Mahavir wraps up evening training he asks about the latest news from Jantar Mantar. “I had gone for half a day but I am unable to sit at the protest site for too long because of a leg-related issue. I will go again… till the wrestlers get justice.”