Kabaddi Kabaddi Kabaddi: Connecting with Indian Culture through Sport

Growing up in the South Asian diaspora often involves hearing so much about a culture you can never fully grasp—having half-baked ideas of games, traditions and customs that you put together through stories from your parents or from Bollywood films. Through an interactive and immersive curriculum, Dr. Kusum Knapczyk’s Hindi class offers South-Asian-American Dukies the opportunity to reconnect with their ancestral culture which they’ve long given up hope of fully understanding.

Coming into Kusum Ji’s Hindi class I had a loose concept of the game of Kabaddi put together through the aforementioned Bollywood movies and parents’ childhood tales. I didn’t know what to expect when arriving to class at the Duke Gardens for a “Sports Day” but was glad for the excuse to get out of the classroom and spend time outside. On the large lawn, our TA explained the rules of the game. The field was split into two, with one team on each side. The game was split into rounds where one team was on the offensive and one on the defensive. The goal for the offensive team, within a time constraint, is to cross into the other teams’ side, tag as many opposing players as he could, and return to his own side—all while holding his breath. The goal for the defensive team is firstly to not get tagged and secondly to not let the offensive player return to their side at all. If the offensive player successfully returns to their side, any defensive players they’ve tagged are “out.” If the defensive team succeeds in preventing the offensive player’s return—namely through tackling—then the offensive player is “out.” Similar to the Western dodgeball, a team can get their own “out” players back “in” by getting opposing players “out.” That’s just the basics, and there are different points associated with different plays.

Kabaddi is a very contact-heavy sport so naturally, when the game started, our class was quite awkward and shy. It took only a few rounds, however, for the heat to turn up and the ice to be broken. The game was strategic and physical. We shouted and laughed and saw sides to each other that brought us closer together in a way that would never be possible without breaking out of the classroom and onto the field. More critically, however, we learned a lot. Throughout the game, I couldn’t help but imagine my dad’s school days and remember scenes from some of my favorite Bollywood films. Playing the game for myself felt like putting together a puzzle about my ancestry. Most of my classmates are South Asian and no doubt in a similar boat. Kusum Ji does a remarkable job of teaching us the grammar and vocabulary of the Hindi language, but also takes Hindi class to the deeper level of understanding the culture of South Asia. Kabaddi is a 4,000-year-old sport and very important to generations and generations of South Asians. Now, we know the rules and the feeling of taking your first breath after finishing a successful raid. We may never fully understand the games and upbringing of our parents and ancestors, but after a day of rolling around in the mud, we sure got a little closer. 

This event was supported by Asian and Middle Eastern Studies.