Beyond a game: Kannagi Nagar Kabaddi Kuzhu plays for respect

CHENNAI: Six of them have represented Tamil Nadu in national competitions in 2024. Two have been selected for the national camp. The girls were also part of the victorious Chennai team that won gold in the recently concluded Chief Minister’s Trophy. Some of them are internet celebrities and even have fan pages.

And, they achieved all of the above by practicing in the corner of a public park.

Kannagi Nagar kabaddi team. Remember the name. For, the girls and their coach will do their best to ensure they’re heard by anyone who would care to listen.

Their team jerseys bear no names of the players, only that of their neighbourhood, a conscious decision. When they play tournaments held out of the city or State, they do not mention ‘Chennai’, instead, they use ‘Kannagi Nagar’.

“When the general perception about Kannagi Nagar is negative, I wanted to do something that will make people see its residents in a positive light. That’s the reason I didn’t opt for a clichéd team name, say like Fire Girls or Seven Flowers,” smiles K Raji (27), their coach.

Along with his kabaddi skills, Raji has also passed on his angst to the girls, who echo his words and thoughts too. “Our ultimate goal is to make Kannagi Nagar a brand,” says R Karthika, one of the team’s star players. The synergy is easier to achieve as the whole team, including their coach, share the same struggles.

Personal is political

More than 20,000 low-income families reside in Kannagi Nagar and Ezhil Nagar tenements – both of which are hidden along the city’s bustling IT corridor.

Ever since the government evicted slum dwellers from various parts of the city and moved them to these tenements in the early 2000s, everything has been a challenge for the residents there. They have had to fight for basic amenities like electricity, running water, sewerage, etc., demand access to transport facilities to their workplaces, and more. No part of the fights was easy.

“It’s important to understand the livelihood and lifestyle of the people who reside here before making judgments,” says Raji, who holds a degree in English literature.

Raji was three years old when his family was evicted from the slum near Reserve Bank of India and moved to Kannagi Nagar, 25 km away. He describes the life of residents as one of work, work and more work, just to make ends meet.

“In Kannagi Nagar, most of them work as daily wagers and have to travel to Parrys and other areas for work. So, they wake up at 4 am to reach their workplace and return only by 9 pm. In most families, both parents have to work to make ends meet. So, the children raise themselves here,” he explains. “If we look at the broader society, even in households where parent’s handhold children and raise them, there are instances of kids going astray. I’m not defending anti-social elements or criminals, but the public should look at these kids with basic empathy and try to understand why some of them go off track.”

He wonders why the whole of Kannagi Nagar is often portrayed as a crime ghetto. “More than one lakh people live in our neighbourhood. Even if those on the wrong side of the law are about 500, it’s still less than 1% of the population. Yet, it’s represented as the entire neighbourhood.”

Concurring with him fully are the kabaddi players who add: “My family and friends here are working class people. All they do is work every day, despite the challenges. Such stereotyping is unfair to them.”

Where it began

While Raji, like the rest of his friends, stopped playing after school, he focused on forming a girls’ team from his neighbourhood in 2018, drawing inspiration from a local girl team he had grown up watching.

Raji started his first team by fielding his own sister and her friends who showed interest. “This was about seven years ago. For the first five years, we were mostly losing and won small tournaments here and there. Only in the last two years, our team has become well known in the local kabaddi circuit, winning tournaments. It’s a reward for the hard work and the jibes thrown at the girls,” he avers.

Barring the two senior players in the team who are now college students, the rest of them are students at the government school in Kannagi Nagar and Thoraipakkam. Their parents are auto drivers, casual labourers, domestic helps, housekeeping staff at IT firms, etc.

For parents who send their daughters to school in the hope of enabling them to have a better life, convincing them to allow their wards to pursue sports, that too a physically-intensive sport like kabaddi, was not easy.

“There were concerns that their children could lose interest in studies, or that they may not be able to share household work and of course, girls wearing shorts,” recalls Raji.

The players did not need much prodding or convincing, as each of them had their own reasons. “When our seniors win tournaments, they are congratulated during the prayer meeting at school. I want to wear medals too. So, I approached senior akka and joined the team,” says Karthika (15), a Class 11 student and Tamil Nadu player.

Soon, her younger sister, Kaviya (14), followed her footsteps. “Several students in our school would tell my sister that they are her fans. I too wanted to become like her,” Kaviya smiles.

Their parents are cleanliness workers with the civic body and had several apprehensions about them losing interest in studies. Karthika still nurses her childhood dream of becoming a police officer, but, for now, she has her eyes set on glory on the kabaddi mat.

Dream a dream

For his part, Raji conducted regular meetings with the parents and explained how the girls could balance both education and sports, and highlighted the significance of sports performances in pursuing higher education and getting government jobs.

The coach, who works in a NGO as a life-skills educator, carries his work home and passes it on to the team too. Players use the word ‘empathy’ often and believe in helping each other out.

“There is no dearth of motivation. Our people are battered by the years of deprivation and strains of being urban poor. I showed them a path and they have caught on to it,” says Raji.

The turnaround

The first five years were frustrating as the team did not have a win to prove to their own people, who were sceptical at best. Some parents were losing their patience and that had to be handled too.

“Not a single day went by without wondering if I had made a mistake by taking responsibility for the team,” says Raji.

All the team’s travel and other expenses were borne by Raji personally. At times, he’d use the prize money from local tournaments and never burdened the parents with a single rupee. Most parents DT Next spoke to were particular to point out this trait of Raji, which made them trust him and his vision more.

Not all parents objected to the players’ wishes though. K Pushpalatha, now in Class 11 joined the team when she was in Class 6. “Naan edhu kettalum appa seivaar (Dad never says no to my wishes),” says Pushpalatha of her father, Kannan, an auto driver.

When she asked him if she could join the team, he immediately agreed. “The team started winning and now he likes it even more. Sometimes, he watches our videos on YouTube,” she beams with pride, and adds that she wants to become a magistrate and a world-class kabaddi player.

Nethra, a Class 10 student, said that her mother, Dhanalakshmi, motivated her to join the team against her father’s wishes. “In the initial days when we would lose, my father would question the reason I continued playing, but my mother vetoed him and used to motivate the whole team. When we win in small tournaments, she would distribute sweets to neighbours,” Nethra smiles.

Dhanalakshmi died three years ago. Her father, Thyagarajan, an auto driver keeps paper clippings when her daughter and the team get featured in the media.

“I put the team’s photo as status in my WhatsApp when they win any tournament. I got so many calls and congratulatory messages from my friends and relatives after that,” S Sandhya (33), mother of another player, told DT Next. Her daughter, Sujitha and her cousin, Akshaya, both Class 8 students have been playing for the team for the last three years, and their grandmother, Vijayalakshmi is not tired of bragging about her granddaughters.

“Most parents are struggling. But, they give me money for bus fare and other travel expenses now. I see it as a touching gesture and encouragement rather than words,” says the coach.

Star, Express, Tiger

The team is quite popular in the neighbourhood and Some of the players have fan pages on social media. Team Captain Suji is the first star player, and now, she’s stuck with the moniker ‘Star’.

Raider Karthika’s agility and her quick moves earned her the moniker, Express. The latest entrant is Kaviya, whose defence play during the recently concluded Chief Minister’s trophy made a kabaddi association member remark her as a Tiger, and the name stuck. The teammates call her Tiger Kaviya and she enjoys the attention.

For children who have grown up hearing stories about their seniors losing job opportunities because of their area of residence, and some were even denied college seats, this is an achievement, and also a recognition of their efforts.

The girls have proven their mettle simply by practicing in a public park sans footwear, while professional tournaments are played on foam mats. “We’ve petitioned the authorities to help us with basic infrastructure like indoor facilities, mats, etc. We believe it will be fulfilled,” states a hopeful Raji.

More facilities

Councillor Ashwini Karuna (Ward 196) told DT Next that they are taking steps to provide the team with kabaddi mats and other facilities.

“The team’s single-minded focus is commendable. We used to support the team with travel expenses for outstation tournaments, but the success is purely because of their perseverance and hard work,” adds Karuna.

Coach Raji’s dream is to set up a world-class sports academy in Kannagi Nagar and a competitive exams training facility. “People from across the State should come and study here. Unlike the notoriety that hounds the neighbourhood, this will make Kannagi Nagar famous for all the right reasons,” he smiles.

Vicarious victory for a community policing initiative

While it’s the consistent efforts and discipline of the girls and their coach’s foresight and persistence that helped the kabaddi team become successful, a community policing initiative of the State police, Police Boys and Girls Club, can claim vicarious victory and pride over the team’s achievements.

Coach Raji, the architect of the Kannagi Nagar girls’ kabaddi team, was an active member of the club in his early days and some of his friends are still associated with the club.

So, what is the Police Boys and Girls Club? Institutionalised in 1956, having a short run afterwards and being completely defunct for years before its revival in 2003, the journey of the club has seen many crests and troughs. Over the years, the club across the State has played a major role in disciplining young boys and girls from slums and underprivileged families.

During its inception in 1956, it was named ‘Police Boys Club’. According to a report submitted by the statistical cell of the TN police to the State government, “Boys clubs were started on September 17, 2003, for the first time in the State to train and discipline young boys into becoming law-abiding citizens. Since both boys and girls are members, it was renamed as Police Boys and Girls Club,” recalled a police officer.

The idea was to keep the children engaged enough to prevent them from falling into bad company. “Children from poor families and underprivileged neighbourhoods often fall prey to antisocial elements, a major cause for juvenile crimes. Sporting activities would keep them focused,” he added.

M Honest Raj, a Kannagi Nagar resident, also works in a NGO sponsored by an IT major that supports several such clubs in the city. Raj is the sports coordinator for 10 clubs including the one operating out of Kannagi Nagar, where he and Raji grew up together.

“My family moved into Kannagi Nagar about 15 years ago. Though Raji and I are of the same age, he was my senior academically. We all used to play kabaddi at the Police Boys and Girls Club. Even during our college days, he would get upset and agitated at all the negative coverage of Kannagi Nagar in newspapers,” Raj recalls.

Though both shared the same opinion about the notorious stereotype about their neighbourhood, Raj admitted that he did not actively work towards changing that image. “For instance, when we drive along OMR and if police stop us and ask us where we’re from, we would say Karapakkam or Thoraipakkam and not Kannagi Nagar, as we know that the police would question us for a longer time. But Raji never did that,” says Raj.

Several friends, including him, had criticised Raji out of concern for his safety, as the latter was struggling initially. But they too feel a vicarious pride now that their friend has achieved something he believed in with minimal facilities. “For a neighbourhood that was not known outside Chennai, Kannagi Nagar has now reached the world. People from Singapore, Malaysia, and Dubai have approached me enquiring if the girls needed help after watching their matches on YouTube,” Raj told DT Next.

The Universe conspires to make things happen indeed

The Kannagi Nagar kabaddi team’s jersey bears the word, ‘Universe’ on the front. According to Coach Raji, the philosophy of law of attraction works – as in, positive thoughts bring positive results. The ‘Universe’ conspires to make things happen.

Case in point: On seeing video clips of the kabaddi team, this correspondent checked his phone to see if he had stored any contacts in Kannagi Nagar. It turns out that he had stored Coach Raji’s number under ‘Raji Kannagi Nagar. A call confirmed that both were the same person.

After going through archives, this correspondent also came across a story from February 2022 about the expectations of the resettlement colony ahead of the local body elections, in which Raji was quoted as saying: “An area like Anna Nagar or even nearby Thoraipakkam does not carry any negative identity. Unfortunately, our neighbourhood does. If you look at the statistics, those involved in anti-social activities comprise less than 1% of the people here. The rest are all hard working and law abiding citizens.”

Looks like Raji’s manifestation has come true!