Black Belts to Black Spots

Today as I looked at the newspaper & read about a certain institution planning to inculcate ‘self defence’ training for their employees as a preventive measure against rowdy attendants & visitors who not only threaten the staff but even vandalize both property & life I felt very happy.But my excitement was short lived, when I further scrolled that those responsible for training the team are Martial Artists who have won laurels in various tournaments & competitions. Well, I respect these martial artist / sportsperson & have highest regard for them as great athletes who have proved their worth on the ‘mat’ against another ‘player’ & while all this was done under the sharp eyes of the referee adhering to the laid down rules & norms.
Unfortunately, the streets have no rules, there are no matches but bloody brawls which may lead to some very serious injuries or even fatalities but definitely not a medal or award. Survival is the agenda & the concept is ‘do whatever you can’ & live another day!
There are numerous instances & case studies like Nirbhaya – utmost display of aggression, an act of savagery never ever imagined , another incident of a lone girl who was stabbed mercilessly by a failed lover in full public view with a piece of broken scissors, then there was this incident where another lady was grabbed from the hair & stabbed in full public view at a metro station in the NCR. Such incidents are numerous , we not knowing of them doesn’t make them lesser!
Are weapons permitted in sports… NO! Are there more than 1 opponent in sport fights….NO! Are there no rules in sports fights…NO! Is the sport fight like real…NO! Do you wear whatever, be wherever , in a sport fight…NO! Then how can such environment or training of an absolutely ‘controlled fight’ prepare you for ‘Self Defence’??
A real life & death situation crosses all barriers of rules, systems, ethics, environment . Its only about SURVIVAL !
Can someone who has never even held a real fire arm, forget firing educate you on the nuances of a firearm & defending against the same. Would they even know the velocity at which a bullet is fired and what would be the best option against a threat like that? Can a synchronized knife fight actually help you in the streets?
Please refer to the ‘David Tueller’ Drill which says that even if you are armed with a gun , you would need to be atleast 21 feet away from a knife bearing attacker who can deploy his weapon faster than your gun.
If that be the case then what is that you need to know? Well, you need to know that ‘if a knife can not move , it can not cut’. Which simply means you need to have conceptual clarity on real threats & you need to know real solutions which ‘will work’.
Sports is good, makes you swift, makes you endure pain, enhances your stamina but it may not prepare you against a knife wielding opponent, or someone holding a gun, or even multiple attackers forget a bomb blast or an active shooter or a terror attack .
Did you feel surprised when you recently read (if at all you did) that an Army & another Air Force personnel was brutally attacked by a group of men in an act of road rage & that they could do little to save themselves?? They couldn’t inspite of being soldiers because they were/are not trained to fight without weapon , in the streets, against own people. So its not who you are that will save you but what you know, will!! I am a Veteran too & have highest regards for my brothers in uniform, but I feel so sad to see them succumb against such scumbags…only if they would have been trained in such form of ‘street combat’ too.
I agree that ‘Self Defence’ or ‘Survival’ is still in a nascent stage not only in India but globally otherwise our casualties in a 26/1 or Paris bombing or Nice sort of a situation would have been lower.