A young woman on a hospital bed, still coping with the physical and mental pain of losing a hand, decided to learn karate.
The pain in her right hand still persists, four months after it was chopped off from the wrist allegedly by her husband. It gets worse sometimes after hours of practice. But Renu Khatun knows fightback better than most.
Her body says no but her mind refuses to agree. “I could not do anything, while three men held me (when her husband allegedly cut off her hand),” she told Metro on Friday. She practises for a few hours every day on the ground in front of her home in Burdwan or on the terrace. It leaves her drained of energy but not of spirit.
Renu Khatun at a karate training session
At 24, she did not allow a life-changing experience to ruin her life but is using it as motivation to push her boundaries.
She started the karate classes about 10 days ago. She goes to her coach thrice a week. The other days of the week, she is kicking and punching furiously in the air at home.
This she does only before or after her shift at a government job — the aspiration that cost her her right hand.
“I have just started training. At the end of an hour, there is acute pain in my hands, legs and body but I don’t give up. This physical pain is nothing to me,” Khatun said.
She is reminded of the pain and the helplessness of being attacked and held down by three men, one of them allegedly her husband.
“Had I known self-defence, things might have been different,” said Khatun.
She has alleged that her husband chopped off her right hand while two of his friends held her down, one of them held her legs. “What is the guarantee that I would not be in a similar situation in the future? If I know self-defence, I will be able to fight back.”
Her training a s a nurse helps her overcome the physical pain. “I have seen people come to hospital with serious injuries, from cuts or fractures. I am not scared of the pain. I know if I have to learn martial arts I will have to bear the physical pain of it, which will include me falling or getting hurt,” she said.
She waited for four months for the remaining portion of her right hand to heal.
“My coach said that I will have to develop the strength in my left hand and legs. If my right arm recovers, I would be able to use it, too, at a later stage, he told me,” said Khatun.
A martial arts coach who has been in business for several decades in Calcutta said her coach would have to work on her “foot technique and wrist strength in her left hand”.
“There also has to be training on how she has to avoid getting her left wrist being held by the attacker,” said Premjit Sen.
There are techniques that would enable her to both attack and defend with the same hand.
“I have to learn to combat with one. Who says it cannot be done with one hand?” she said.
“At the time of admission, my coach told me that if I have the passion in me nothing can hold me back, not even not having a hand.”
This year, she received The Telegraph Education Foundation honour at the 27th edition of The Telegraph School Awards for Excellence.
Her coach in Burdwan, Niranjan Shaw, underscored the importance of mental strength. “If someone has all their limbs but does not have the strength of mind, the person will not be able to fight back. We teach students how to respond and react in a certain situation for which, along with technique and physical strength, mental strength is equally important,” said the black belt holder.
Khatun’s life is an inspiration for many women and even men who give up in the face of challenge.
Her message for girls or maybe even for men: “Every woman should know self-defence. If they know, they can protect themselves anywhere and in any situation and will not have to depend on anyone to protect them.”