Raising the bar: Tamil Nadu's Dombaras vault from street performers to gymnasts

ERODE: If not for gymnastics and an "accidental" coach who hung around for 15 years, several girls from the Dombara community at MGR Nagar in Periya Karattupalayam village would have been married off as children.

"In our community, it (early marriage) is rampant. I have been able to hold off marriage because of my achievements in gymnastics. Coach convinced the elders in our village that I have the potential to achieve big in the sport than being married off," says S Sneha (22). Her gymnast pal, 21-year-old Eswari, chimes in, “When girls hit puberty, they (elders) start talking marriage. Because I am in gymnastics, I have managed to come this far. All thanks to our coach."

The practice of marrying early holds true for boys as well. Sneha’s younger brother who practiced gymnastics was forced to discontinue studies after school and is already married.

For gymnasts elsewhere in the country and across the world, the sport offers a shot at Olympic glory. But here, for the Dombara community, the sport is a platform that pushes for social change.

Flips, cartwheels and vaults are not enough to impress the elders, for they all did them as children. The Karattupalayam gymnasts have to stay consistent and bag, for starters, a government job to reason with the patriarchs about doing away with some of the prevailing practices.

The Dombaras – a nomadic community who are believed to have migrated from northern India, made a living by seeking alms, performing acrobatics, like tightrope walks, on streets. According to Mahalingam, a community leader, the Dombaras are present in 39 locations across Tamil Nadu and are a notified Scheduled Caste. The group in Karattupalayam village in Erode district made MGR Nagar their home back in the 90s.

"Even after settling here, we engaged in circus thozil (acrobatics). Then the government said we should enrol our children in school. Children are an essential part of our performances. But the government insisted education is must, and we agreed," reflected Mahalingam.

In the early 2000s, the first generation of Dombara kids started going to school, a couple of kilometres from their village, and in a few years, the government would set up a gymnastics centre inside the government school in Karattupalayam for the Dombara children. By this time, there was not much money to be made as street performers, and the elders and young adults without an education had drifted from their traditional livelihood to enter construction labour.

Sneha and Eswari joined the special gymnastics centre as five- or six-year-olds, when the gymnastics centre did not even have basic facilities. Now, they practice in a better, albeit cramped, facility inside the government school and are awaiting the inauguration of an advanced facility that has come up in the same premises.

The Karattupalayam gymnasts have won medals in several state and national-level competitions and the TN Chief Minister's trophy, but the fact that they are no Simone Biles or Dipa Karmakar is not lost on them. However, they do have a purpose. The young gymnasts acknowledge that on their strong shoulders rests the responsibility of uplifting their people.

"I have applied for an NIS (National Institute of Sports) coaching diploma course and will soon be appearing for an interview. My aim is to return to this same centre as a government coach and uplift more children from our community. I am confident I will be able to guide and motivate several of our youngsters," a resolute Sneha told DT Next.

If all goes as Sneha’s plan – she completes her diploma and joins the Sport Development Authority of Tamil Nadu (SDAT) as a coach – she will become the second woman coach in the sports body and the second to hail from Karattupalayam. The first and only woman gymnastics coach with SDAT is an outsider who has already made Karattupalayam her home.

SDAT’s only woman coach is finally at home

It will not be hyperbole to state that the special gymnastics centre at Karattupalayam has stood the test of time because of SB Dhanabagyam, the SDAT coach (on contract) who has been at the centre for 15 years.

Elsewhere in the state, the centres that were opened to create swimmers and shooters out of children from the fishing and Narikuravar communities have shut down in the absence of patronage.

"The scheme was initiated by former Chief Minister M Karunanidhi in 2008. His vision was to engage indigenous communities in sports, and we were tasked with finding a location for a gymnastics training centre. The actual plan was to start the centre in Chennai. But villagers said they won’t send their children to far-off centres. When we conveyed their reservations to the government, they agreed for the centre to be set up at Karattupalayam itself," recalled P Prabhu, former president, Tamil Nadu Gymnastics Association.

Karattupalayam, about 50 km from Erode, is a typical back-of-beyond village where greenery is abundant, bus services infrequent and caste divisions rampant. The SDAT had a tough time finding a coach who was willing to relocate to the remote location. "Anyone and everyone we approached were unwilling to go there," said Prabhu.

The first coach at the centre, Jeyamohan, who agreed to the assignment on Prabhu's insistence, too, would seek a transfer in a couple of years to attend to health emergencies of his family members. And then, in a turn of events she least expected, Dhanabagyam, who was working as a PET (physical education teacher) in a private school, found her calling.

"When I was first posted here in 2010, I thought, "what a beautiful village – green and serene. My salary was Rs 5,000, most of which was spent commuting from Erode to the centre," Dhanabagyam recalled of the practical difficulties in the shift.

The question ‘how did she convince her family to move here and stay put for a decade and half’ seemed like an innocuous thing to ask until the 46-year-old woman opened up on her life’s journey.

"It’s a long story," she sighed, adding "I grew up in an orphanage."

Dhanabagyam was in class 4 when she learnt the people who had been raising her were not her parents but relatives.

"My (adoptive) parents pulled me out of school. I did not understand the reason for discontinuing school. I was throwing tantrums. That's when my elder sister told me that the people raising us are not our biological parents; they died when I was a child."

An elderly in the extended family intervened and enrolled her in an orphanage where she continued her education.

She continued her schooling from class 5 at Saradha Vidhyalaya in Salem, where her tryst with gymnastics began. She was enrolled in the Sports Authority of India (SAI) centre at Salem and there she took to the sport like fish to water.

"The very next year, I got selected on the state team and went to Maharashtra. Watching other gymnasts perform, I was in awe and realised what gymnastics is and till I completed my schooling, I immersed myself in the sport. I brought a lot of good name for the school. All the teachers were fond of me," she recalled.

She still has in her phone a photograph of her doing the vertical split, splashed in a vernacular daily with the caption, ‘Nambikkaiyootum Namma Ooru Nadia'kkal’ (Our own Nadias show promise) – a homage to gymnastic great, Romanian Nadia Comaneci, the first gymnast to score a perfect 10 at the Olympics.

Dhanabagyam won the individual championship, and the Salem district team, which she was a part of, won the overall championship in a state meet in 1993-94.

Then, in a hushed tone, reflecting to herself, she said, "Had there been a woman coach, I would have continued in gymnastics." After pausing for a few seconds, she added, "Gymnastics is not like other sports. Coaches have to touch the athletes. I was uncomfortable, so after class 12, I gave up gymnastics. I even contemplated suicide." Reluctant to elaborate, she continued narrating the next chapter of her life.

Giving up on the sport she held dear, Dhanabagyam went back to her adoptive parents, who were unwilling to keep her at home for long and married her off to a relative. She soon gave birth to a son. A few more years passed before the former gymnast learnt about her husband's alleged extramarital affair, and she walked out of that marriage with her young son.

Dhanabagyam managed to get a job as a PET teacher in a private school when she was informed of a newspaper advertisement by SDAT about a six-week refresher course for gymnastics coaches and was egged on to attend the course. Within six months of finishing that course, she got posted at Karattupalayam and she hasn't looked back since.

"I have not shared this (my past) with many. But when you asked how supportive was my family in helping me move to this village, it struck me, ‘Avan enna othukaradhu’? (Who is he (her estranged husband) to accept."

In a way, Dhanabagyam was a nomad too and gymnastics was her saviour. In the early years, the sport kept her from dwelling on her unfortunate childhood. Later, when she was down and out as an adult, as a single mother, it offered her a hand. Again.

"Namakku oru pidippu venum (We need something to hold onto in life). For me, it’s my sport. The scheme is helping tribal people. And another thing is, I have no boss here. My only role is to develop talent, and I was able to do so without any hindrance," she chuckled.

Dhanabagyam is finally at home. The coach and the students will soon move to a bigger and better home.

New beginnings

At the government high school in Karattupalayam, where the Dombara children pursue education and practice gymnastics, a new training facility, with its facade resembling a colosseum, is in the final stages of construction, adjacent to the existing centre.

"It would have been nice if Collector sir was here to see the completion of the project and be part of the inauguration," quips Sakthi Pragadeesh, an assistant engineer (AE) with the Rural Development department, who is overseeing the civil works.

Sakthi was referring to former Erode district collector, Raja Gopal Sunkara, whose intervention and effective use of the Namakku Naame scheme was instrumental in the new gymnastics centre taking shape the way it is.

"This (the existing) place is cramped. It takes time to mount the equipment, and then warm up. I don’t have enough for practice," the coach said, pointing to the under construction structure nearby. "Indha Gymnasium kondu varadhukku romba poraadanoam (We struggled a lot to get this approved)," she said.

In 2023, Rs one crore was accorded for the construction of the new facility in Karattupalayam, but the building plan that the SDAT contractor came up was, to put it politely, not up to the mark.

The play area dimensions in the previous proposal was 16m X 12m. Gymnastics rules mandate that to perform the vault, gymnasts are required to have a 25 metre run-up, then use the springboard and then onto the vaulting table and perform their element and make a perfect landing.

To practice their vaults at the existing centre, gymnasts rearrange the other equipment to make space for the runway and place the equipment on the verandah and complete the vault outdoors. During rainy seasons, it is impossible for the gymnasts to practice the vaults. Thus, the proposed structure would have been of no use to the gymnasts and a waste of taxpayer money had the SDAT contractor went on with the initial dimensions.

Monday, that often derided day of the week in popular culture, came to the rescue of the Karattupalayam gymnasts.

Across the state, every Monday, district collectors receive petitions from the public and take action to redress their grievances. One Monday, the gymnastics students and the coach petitioned Sunkara.

"When I joined as district collector in May 2023, I took stock of the important announcements and projects in the district. I was aware that the Deputy Chief Minister had allotted Rs one crore for the construction of a new gymnastics centre at Karattupalayam," Sunkara told DT Next.

The coach and the students, while expressing their gratitude for the sanction of a new centre, told Sunkara about their reservations with the existing proposal and sought his intervention.

"After their representation, I visited the place and then we approached member secretary, SDAT, J Meghanatha Reddy, and with his guidance, we were able to redesign and subsequently generate funds under the Namakku Naame scheme. The Rotary Club, the Erode district small scale industries association, and the government contributed the remaining," Sunkara told DT Next, adding, "We hope that very good infrastructure will come up there and it will create many state-, national- and international-level players."

Coach Dhanabagyam, too, is optimistic that the new centre will elevate her gymnasts to international level.

Explaining the dimensions of the new centre, assistant engineer Sakthi said the new centre will feature an integrated hostel along with a play area of 33m x 21m.

The collector chose well in assigning the supervisory role to Sakthi, who is also a national level shooter and as a fellow sportsperson, he foresees huge potential in the project.

"Usually, coaching centres are located in the city or in the outskirts and only people who can afford to travel get to practice. This project is to uplift a deprived community without compromising their education. This centre is within a government school campus, so the athletes can manage their time better between school and practice. If someone is determined enough to achieve something, this is a great place for them. They (Karattupalayam gymnasts) are already into nationals. With this, they can do more. If a single person clicks somewhere, then Karattupalayam will become the talk of the town," the assistant engineer said.

The project is in the final stages of completion and will be inaugurated in a few weeks. Sunkara, now serving as Joint Secretary in the state Finance department, recalled his interaction with the gymnasts who idolised Dipa Karmakar. Sunkara wishes someone of Dipa’s stature would visit the centre for the inauguration.

Old problems persist

Despite government support and a committed coach, the patronage from the Dombara elders have been fluctuating over the years, and barring the half a dozen seniors who have stayed since the centre was inaugurated, there have been several dropouts along the way. It’s an ongoing fight for Dhanabagyam to convince the villagers to send their children to train.

Yes, she has to convince the whole village as the Dombara community lives and travels to work as large groups, and their decisions too are made on consensus and approved by an anointed leader.

"One major reason is that many of us leave as early as 4 am to look for work as casual labourers and construction workers, and since we travel as large groups, most of us find it difficult to drop and pick up our children at the gymnastics centre, which is 2 km from where we live. We don't have the time," says the leader, Mahalingam.

Unlike other parents, the Dombara elders cannot accompany their children for outstation competitions or spare conveyance money. The coach looks for people who can sponsor trips for outstation tournaments. Though parents acknowledge these efforts of the coach, new students are far and few.

"In 2019, the sanctioned strength was increased to 30 from 20, but during the Covid-19 outbreak, there were many dropouts. Since 2021 until recently, there were only 11 students, but I was able to concentrate more. When the government announced the new centre, I campaigned in the village, told them a multi-crore project is coming up and they have to send their children. Now there are 20 students, in the age group of five to 22," says Dhanabagyam.

Many also give up hope midway, as getting a government job through the sport takes patience and a lot of hard work. Then there exist customs and practices of their community – like early marriages and the joint family system, and youths are expected to contribute to the family, which all force dropping out.

For some, like Shivaji, a village elder, it is a matter of rationality. "My point is acrobatics is what we did. We used to perform on the streets and sought alms. Over time, we abandoned it because we did not want to seek alms and took up labour work. The government said the children should be enrolled in school so I sent all my children and grandchildren to school. They should get educated and go to work. Not continue what we did. We performed on the streets. Now, they (gymnasts) do it indoors."

Dhanabagyam too is confounded by this oscillating patronage from parents. Several years ago, when she was transferred to the Erode centre for a brief while, the parents pulled the children out from Karattupalayam centre and demanded that their children train only under a woman coach, which led to her transfer back to Karattupalayam.

"In the early years, when our students won in an association competition, the villagers gave us a grand welcome, with drums and garlands and all. I regret that I did not video record that incident. Last year, we won more medals in Chief Minister's trophy. Not a single person turned up. I am used to it now," she says.

Ironically, the person who spearheaded the grand welcome to the Dombara gymnasts several years ago was the rank opposer to gymnastics, Shivaji.

Just the beginning

The coach, however is of the opinion that the villagers have still not understood the essence of the sport and how it helps in life. She knows all too well that the mindset change can be brought about only by the gymnastics students themselves.

With the new centre and better equipment, Dhanabagyam believes that the chances of the children winning more national- and international-level competitions would increase in the future years, and monetary benefits might be a motivator for more families to send their children.

Some of the former students have found jobs as gymnastics coaches at private centres in Chennai, but with the Dombara community's obsession with government jobs, it is not enough. The coach hopes that two of the senior girls, Sneha and Eswari, complete the mandatory one-year NIS coaching diploma and get appointed as government coaches.

"If they get jobs as government coaches, I am confident more Dombara children will take up gymnastics," says the coach.

Did coach Dhanabagyam foresee staying in Karattupalayam for 15 years? Without batting an eye, she says, "Definitely. Because they needed a woman coach. My wish is to make some of them national champions, bring good infrastructure and help them get government jobs. So I can say that I did foresee myself staying here. I will stay, ensure that their future is secured and then I will leave Karattupalayam."

Destiny

Dhanbagyam's tryst with Karattupalayam, however, was 'manufactured destiny'. Owing to the remote location, the first coach at the centre, Jeyamohan too sought a transfer from the centre to attend to health complications of his wife and child, but replacements were not readily available, and he sought the gymnastics association's help.

Jeyamohan was acquainted with Dhanabagyam since her gymnast days and knew of her situation. He had informed Dhanabagyam of the SDAT's refresher course for coaches and insisted she apply.

"I was the only woman in that course. After completing the course, the gymastics association itself applied on my behalf, and when I got posted to Karattupalayam, Jeyamohan got the transfer," she said.

Dhanabagyam had her doubts. "Even if it was only a contract posting, not many get the job easily. I was under the impression that I got it because I was a woman coach. I learnt of all this (from Jeyamohan) several years later. But then, it is my destiny, for if I had done a regular coaching diploma and joined SDAT as a regular coach, I would have got a promotion or transfers and moved out of this centre. In Karattupalayam, I found a purpose."

(Sneha, one of the first students at the Karattupalayam centre, who was preparing for her interview and physical tests for the NIS coaching diploma (mandatory to be appointed as a regular coach) when DT Next visited Karattupalayam, got selected for the diploma. SDAT has issued her an educational grant of Rs 2.25 lakh to her to pursue the course.)

Sneha, the first star of MGR Nagar, where Sivajis, Rajinis & Sridevis rule the roost

In Karattupalayam village panchayat, the neighbourhood where the Dombara community has been living for more than three decades now, used to be called Dombar Colony. As the word colony is usually used in Tamil Nadu as a euphemism to label neighbourhoods of the marginalised, the panchayat leaders from the caste Hindu communities suggested a name change – not as a matter of political correctness, but to avoid confusion, as there were many colonies in Karattupalayam.

"During our street performances, we used to play MGR songs to get the crowd's attention. The crowd, too, paid us handsomely for MGR songs. So, essentially, it was MGR songs that put the food on our plates. For that gratitude, our elders christened our neighbourhood as MGR Nagar," said Sivaji, a Dombara elder.

Not just that of the neighbourhood, even the people's names are borrowed from the silver screen. At MGR Nagar, there are men named Sivaji, Rajini, Kamal, Vijay, Dhanush, Ajith, and women named Radha, Ambika, Rohini, Sulochana, and Sridevi.

With the 'modern' and educated still holding onto regressive ideas and practices across the country, it is no surprise that the Dombara community too holds on to their 'traditions'.

From early marriages, objections to women travelling alone, wearing footwear on streets where a temple is located, and punishment for violating the Oor Kattumanam (community norms), to resolving disputes by gathering the entire village, the MGR Nagar residents still hold onto practices passed down over generations.

The Dombara elders said that they live in harmony with the caste Hindus from surrounding villages. But some residents said the Dombaras are not allowed to enter the village temples while kids from other communities do not mingle with the Dombara kids.

But, with their everyday livelihood being a struggle and them having their own temples and customs, the topmost priority in MGR Nagar is government jobs for the first-generation graduates.

According to Mahalingam, a community leader, their children find it difficult to get government jobs as they cannot grease the palms, forcing many graduates to join their elders in construction work.

Some of the gymnasts have found well-paying jobs as coaches at private training centres in Chennai and Coimbatore, but elders are still cross that none of them is able to secure government jobs.

"There are about 200 children who have either finished or are pursuing education. If at least four of them get government jobs, it would be a big win for our community, as they would inspire the next generations, too," said Mahalingam.

For now, it is S Sneha who has taken the first step to fulfil the whole community's aspiration. She has been selected to pursue a NIS coaching diploma, a mandatory requirement to get recruited as a government coach.

When we visited their village, Sneha was awaiting the results to be selected for the diploma. Her father, Sivaji, broke down when pointed out the fact that Sneha could be employed anywhere across the country. He then composed himself to add that he would be happy for her.

When we asked Sneha about her plans if she becomes a gymnastics coach, she said, "Even if I travel outside, my wish is that whatever knowledge I gain should be applied to uplift the children in our community."