Mangaluru: Congratulations to Karate artist Karthik S Kateel for conducting his 102nd “Swaraksha for Women” programme for the degree students of Milagres College-Mangaluru on Saturday, 7 March 2015- Till now Karthik has trained nearly 19,000 students at various colleges in and around Mangaluru/DK and beyond. Ever since he had launched this self-defense techniques project, exclusively for women, mangalorean.com has been associated with his projects and has given wide publicity, until this day. Team Mangalorean feels proud to be associated with Karthik, and will continue to support his future endeavours. Best of luck, Karthik-you are doing a great job by showing women how to protect themselves during time of harassment or attacks.
Right in time before the “Women’s Day”, this programme served as a piece of cake for over 100 students who had gathered to witness Karthik’s self-defense techniques demonstrated by him, assisted by his dear Mom, who always accompanies him where ever his programmes are held. With a large number of atrocities on women like rape, harassment, kidnapping, assault, etc etc, taking place in the society these days, this program of self defense techniques served as a important source to the young women present, so that they could defend themselves during times of attack, rape or any such type of atrocities/harassment’s.
The girls were all ready to learn some self defence techniques from Karthik, who showed some keen enthusiasm and interest throughout the program. Karthik showed some basis self defense techniques which would help any girl/women during time of attack, rape and such kind of acts on them- and these useful techniques were very much welcomed by the young damsels of Milagres college, who opted and promised to use them only during the time of attacks by strangers, and not use them on their brothers or male relatives/friends?. Karthik also demonstrated some martial arts stunts which were wowed by the whole gathering.
Prior to the start of demonstration by Karthik, during a small formal inaugural session, Fr Francis Xavier Gomes-Principal of Milagres College addressing the students said, “You should all be positive and negative in life. It’s true that Mangaluru is not safe for women these days, since we hear about many atrocities, rape and harassment on women- so this session by professional Karate artist Karthik is held especially for you to avail the benefits of it and to develop self defense techniques in you,thereby bring a change in the society. I am glad that in our college no incidents of sexual harassment or attacks on females have taken place until now-that’s good news. You should also know that if one or two women get attacked that doesn’t mean that the entire women population is affected- we should stay away from such kind of misconceptions. Wish the programme all success, and I urge you all to imbibe all the techniques that you learn today and use them when you face trouble”.
“Self defense and self protection are an important priority for women. The most common crime to happen to a woman is rape, but it is more about a feeling of dominance from one person over another rather than actual sex. Assault on women is also a common crime because assailants assume women will be more passive and not fight back; this has to do with stereotypes of women. The best way for women to fight back against crime is to prevent it from happening by avoiding being alone or being in badly lit areas. However, getting into such situations is sometimes inevitable” said Karthik before he went into details of self defence techniques..
The majority of rapes occur in the victim’s home/hostel/pub, according to a survey. In the event that rape prevention fails, such as by avoiding problem areas or making sure a woman is never alone, the best chance for survival is to fight back. Fighting back is not just necessary, but it is a moral right because protecting one’s self is paramount. For that matter, Self defense is very important. Why Self Defense is Important? Self defense is important because statistics say that all women are good candidates to become victims of violent crime at any point in their lives. Self defence is more than just okay. When a woman’s safety is in danger, defending herself by fighting back is the most ethical decision she can make.
In general, there are several crimes that women are most at risk of. They are rape, purse/jewelry snatching, stalking, threats, domestic violence, and crimes against family dispute. With each type of crime, women need to realize that they don’t have to give up and surrender to it or endure it. Up until the last second before the crime actually occurs, women usually still have the power to make decisions that can profoundly affect the outcome. Prevention is commonly the best measure. Still, women have to realize that prevention is not 100 percent effective and, thus, if worse comes to worse, then defending themselves is the best and final recourse.
Five important self-defense techniques were demonstrated by Karthik, followed by few of his martial arts stunts, which stunned and wowed the girls who gave him a thunderous applaud- they even called for more stunts from him, which Karthik obliged them. Everyone was happy that they learned some self-defence techniques which may come handy in times of trouble faced when attacked by a stranger. The programme was compered by Ivy Melisha of III Bcom, while the programme was co-ordinated by lecturer Ms Dhanalaxmi K.