Tamami’s mind was preoccupied. He was the official nominee of his clan and Ustad Ramzi’s involvement in his training was an acknowledgement of the fact. It had provided him with a chance to prove his worth to his brother. He also wanted to avenge his defeat. Even though Tamami found the training regime grueling, he endured it with complete submission, never complaining of its unusual harshness. His body, too, kept responding and adjusting to the demands he was making on it by growing stronger.
Often onlookers waited for Tamami in the streets and alleyways, and pointed him out as he came within their range of vision. They no longer looked on with indifference, but with growing interest. Women looked out from the doorways, neighborhood children ran with him for as long as they could keep up.
A few people began following Tamami to the akhara. Then more came: vendors on their way to the market, carters with hampers who worked in the bazaar, people from the neighborhood. Some took detours to watch Tamami exercise. As they stood at the open gates of the akhara talking among themselves, Ustad Ramzi watched them silently. Sometimes he caught himself slipping into nostalgia for days when the exhibition grounds used to be full of spectators and rang with their loud cries when the champions grappled.
The number of onlookers swelled daily. After the akhara gate was crowded, a few began climbing up onto the enclosure walls.
Warmed up from the run, Tamami would exercise the muscles of his arms and shoulders, and turn the akhara clay and smooth it. Afterwards he was fed a quarter-kilo of myrobalan preserve and given a breakfast consisting of two kilos of mutton fried in butter.
A short rest was followed by Tamami’s wheelbarrow exercise, with two trainees who lifted his legs for support as he walked on his hands. Then he took a two to three-hour nap.
When he woke up, he was fed a kilo of rabri and handed a mattock to turn the clay of the akhara for an hour. For lunch Tamami had one and a half kilos of roasted meat and after his siesta he again turned the akhara clay and followed that with five hundred push-ups.
The next set of exercises was meant to develop his fighting stamina. A team of five trainees would enter the akhara and attack him: one would secure a lock on his right leg, another would apply a neck lock, one would hold him around the waist and two others would pinion his arms. Tamami grappled with them and when he had tired them out, a fresh team of five trainees would take their place.
On alternate days, the post-breakfast routine was changed and he plied the mattock in the akhara for a half-hour and followed that with push-ups. The moment he finished, Kabira and the assistant trainer would climb onto his back and Tamami would set off on a one-mile run to the bridge that stretched over the canal. He would then smooth the clay in the akhara with two of his trainees straddling his back. Another set of push-ups and a short break later, a fifty-kilo iron ring would be put around Tamami’s neck, forty kilo weights would be placed in each hand, and he would be sent on a long run. His trainers made sure that he ran at an even pace until he returned to the akhara. A preparation of gold foil, pearls and green cardamom in butter would be fed to him upon his return. In cold weather, soup made from five chickens was added to Tamami’s regimen.
The rest of the exercise component remained the same with teams of trainees grappling with him at intervals. It had started with two teams, and at the height of his training it progressed to four teams of five trainees each. Tamami grappled with them, and even when he was exhausted, sparred with them for as long as he could hold up.
The exercises ended a few hours after sunset, and then for two hours, Tamami’s body was massaged with mustard oil by the trainees to release the tension in the muscles and soothe his nerves.
❖
The spectators cheered Tamami daily. Awed by Tamami’s strength, they applauded him as he destroyed the combined attack of several trainees. They egged him on, and booed the trainees who dropped out after sparring with Tamami.
Later, when they discussed these grappling sessions before others, they often exaggerated the number of trainees Tamami fought. When Tamami did his push-ups, they remarked on the pooling of sweat from his body that traced the outlines of his form on the ground. When he began his leg-squats, they made bets on how many more he would do during that session. The trainees made bets among themselves to see who would last longest against Tamami.
Returning from his run one day, Tamami noticed Imama and other members of his clan standing at one end of the exhibition grounds. They had come to watch how his preparations were progressing. They regarded him intently for some time and left.
❖
Tamami grew both heavier and wider in the chest and shoulders. Covered in sweat and clay, his skin shone with the vigor of youth. His intense and punishing training regime was not only transforming his physique, it was also building up a fierce rage inside him. Pain assailed every nerve in his body, but he gave no indication that he felt it, as he stared fixedly at the wall of the enclosure while exercising. The presence of the spectators and their encouragement kept Tamami going from one routine to the next. The thought that after winning the bout he would have an undeniable claim on the title made every sacrifice worthwhile for him.
During one grappling session, Tamami was feeling overwhelmed by the fresh trainees, when he heard the crowd jeering. Instilled with a new vigor, he attacked the trainees hitting them on their temples and shoulders.
The trainers stopped the session but the same thing happened again a few days later. The trainees complained to Kabira who suggested that Ustad Ramzi allow some light modification in the grappling session so that Tamami was not exhausted and violent at the end. Ustad Ramzi overruled him and maintained the same routines, instructing Tamami to check his violence.
❖
Promoter Gulab Deen returned from organizing exhibition bouts upcountry and at Ustad Ramzi’s invitation came to see Tamami grapple with the trainees. He was surprised to see people crowding the akhara gate and sitting astride the walls. In the eyes and faces of those assembled there, the promoter read something that astonished him. They were not there as mere spectators to see the grappling match and its outcome. They had come to watch Tamami; they seemed involved in his life. Gulab Deen had never witnessed such popular interest in a pahalwan.
Later, when he saw Tamami in the akhara, he could not recognize him as the pahalwan he had seen a few months ago.
“What do you say, Gulab Deen?” Ustad Ramzi asked.
“This isn’t the Tamami I knew!” promoter Gulab Deen exclaimed. “People will come when he fights,” he muttered. “Yes, they will come.”
Ustad Ramzi did not comment. Tamami’s physical development had surprised him too.
Tamami had weighed so little at birth that the elders decided he did not have the frame or constitution of a pahalwan. In the beginning his interests lay outside the akhara. Stray kittens were attracted to him by instinct, and pye-dogs followed him around. He spent his time painstakingly teaching fledgling parrots to mimic speech. And at school, neither birching nor the promise of reward could turn his attention to studies. Ustad Ramzi had given up his hopes for him, until at the age of seventeen Tamami developed an interest in the akhara. Ustad Ramzi told himself it was a passing fancy. Despite a certain fickleness that remained in his manner, Tamami persevered and his body filled out from the rigors of exercise.
Gulab Deen often came to the akhara and Tamami learned from him that the two exhibition bouts he had organized upcountry were well attended and the pahalwans paid good money. Things were not looking quite as bleak for the pahalwans because of Gulab Deen’s efforts.