Allahabad: Demand for ‘akharas’ fast declining in Sangam City

PRAYAGRAJ: With more and more youngsters obsessed with gym and fitness clubs, the number of aspirants seeking admission in Vyayamshalas (local gymnasium), popularly known as Akhara, is fast declining.
Ironically, the fact is that the strength of akharas or vyayamshalas- the platform where wrestlers used to learn kushti daav-peach (screw wrestling bets) has also declined in the past decade.

With ‘kushti’ (wrestling) hogging the limelight in national and international arenas in the past three years and many budding male and female sportspersons in both rural and urban belts interested in it, youngsters (adults) are more inclined towards professional gym and fitness clubs instead of vyayamshalas.
President of district wrestling association, Mukesh Kumar Yadav, who also runs a railway akhara in Jhunsi for the past 35 years, admitted, “The craze for wrestling among boys and girls has increased in the last two to three years ever since Indian male and female wrestlers started winning medals at national and international events.”
He, however, said, “The budding wrestlers are more inclined towards professional gym or training and fitness camps instead of joining local akharas to learn kushti lessons.”
“There has been a certain group of youngsters with rural background who still believe in akharas (vyayamshalas) either to fight in national or international camp or local wrestling competitions being organised on the occasion of festivals,” he added.
Yadav, meanwhile, claimed, “Scenario has completely changed in the past 15 years and even the number of akharas has also declined sharply in all cities.”
With changing times, youngsters have several options to learn kushti lessons from trained and professional groups and organisations in metropolis and they prefer to move to such camps to shape their future.
In current scenario, there are half-a-dozen active akharas in the Sangam city, including the oldest Jhunsi, Loknath, and Zero road where wrestlers are still learning skills and lessons. “Budding wrestlers are arriving from Ghaziabad, Jaunpur, Ghazipur, and other cities at Jhunsi-based akhara to learn kushti lessons,” said Mukesh, adding, “Both male and female budding wrestlers spend hours to shape their career in wrestling.”
On the other side, the gym and fitness industry is fast flourishing in small cities with many national and international players mushrooming in the segment. For that, credit undoubtedly goes to the film actors who flaunt their well-groomed bodies and muscles on screen and inspire many youngsters. Fitness experts, however, pointed out that there are other major factors behind the popularity of fitness gyms in the cities and this included fitness awareness, no age bar, growth of gym culture, varieties of equipment’s, availability of personalised fitness training programme etc.