A 17-year-old boxer, Rehnuma Mikrani, is kicking all odds one punch at a time to teach yoga to some 40 women from her community in Haldwani town of Nainital district.
Coming from a humble family, Rehnuma is the daughter of a father who drives an autorickshaw and a mother who works at a local center in Anganwadi. A state-level boxer, Rehnuma decided to teach yoga and other exercises to women in her community about a month and a half ago during the confinement.
She started out teaching yoga to four women and now has a group of about 40 women from her community who meet every morning at the local playground.
However, the initiative was not easy to start as she and the other women had to face all kinds of difficulties, including criticism from some community members and lewd comments from local children.
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Rehnuma, who has been training at the Sports Authority of India’s day boarding outreach center for boxing in the Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand, said: “It all started in July when my mother and some other women asked me to teach yoga and other exercises as an athlete, I was trained in those things. “
“I was at home during the lockdown, but tried to continue my regular training at a nearby sports field. There, I saw some Muslim women doing some basic exercises near their homes, but not properly. I discussed it with my mother who then said that she asked me to teach it to teach them since I am trained in it. I agreed and then five of us, my mother, three other women, and I started practicing in the playground where I used to go, ”Rehnuma said.
The small group started meeting early at 5.30am to practice yoga and other exercises until 7-7.30am.
Rehnuma said that at first it was not easy for them, as “the men stopped on their way just to look at them.”
“Not only would they stop to see what we are doing, but some also used to pass lewd comments and the body would embarrass us, saying:“ Look at these women… what are they doing? They prefer to sit at home ”. Initially, we ignored them, but when they crossed a line, my mother and I confronted them, after which they stopped commenting, ”he said.
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Rehnuma’s mother, Shabnam, who has been supporting her since day one, said: “Not just random people on the ground, but some local Muslim scholars also objected.”
“After seeing us, more women started joining us later and the number reached forty. However, this also provoked an objection from some local Muslim scholars. They did not confront us directly, but objected to the men of our community that we should not do this in public, but sit at home, as it is against custom and everything … ”Shabnam said.
“However, we did not stop going to practice yoga because we knew we would face those obstacles. And we were doing all this for our health and fitness, “he added.
“Among the 40 women, some are only 14 years old, while others are over 45. We meet every morning as a family and practice yoga with total dedication. In fact, we also bought a small speaker after raising money to play music during yoga. We all enjoyed it very much and now we don’t care about criticism, ”Shabnam said.
Many women come to the Burka to practice yoga.
Samreen Khan, 23, who has been with Rehnuma since the beginning and is also a trained yoga practitioner, said: “Belonging to a society where women cannot move freely and are expected to wear a veil or burqa, we decided to teach these women practice yoga only in burqa. “
“Most of the women are practicing yoga with us in burqa and they have absolutely no problem with it. They say that by doing so they can respect the customs and practice yoga also for their health and fitness, ”Samreen said.
He said that initially many women were hesitant to join them, but once they joined they were able to understand the benefits of yoga.
“Many of them suffered from health problems such as blood pressure or joint pain and did not know what to do. Now after joining our group, they have learned many yoga asanas and exercises that are helping them improve their health, ”said Samreen.
The initiative has been appreciated by many prominent members of the community.
SMA Kazmi, a social activist and political expert based in Dehradun, said: “What these women are doing is very appreciable. What Rehnuma is doing is for the health and fitness of women in our community, which makes it even more important and commendable. There are various restrictions for women in our community, but she has challenged them all to teach them yoga. This is what everyone should appreciate, ”Kazmi said.
Another social activist from Haldwani, Tanuja Joshi, also praised Rehnuma for her efforts, saying: “What you are doing is beneficial for the health of these women. Yoga is above any religion and keeps people in shape ”.
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