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two friends, forty takes, one adventure across continents
March 2nd by adrianna
Dear May,
Dubai is 85% expat, and more than half of the resident population originally came from India or Pakistan. Many of them are men; many of them working in low-paying jobs here. While trying to practise my broken Urdu, I once asked a Pakistani taxi driver what he got up to on weekends. And he let me in on a little secret.
Somewhere near the fish market, across from the Hyatt Regency, is where traditional wrestling takes place every Friday. You know it by the size of the crowds, and the noise emanating from the impromptu circle of people, standing on the roofs of cars or on each other’s shoulders.
That’s when you know you’ve stepped foot into another world.
Kushti is a wrestling sport that’s popular in India, Pakistan, and even in Afghanistan and Iran. The objective is to throw, trip, or cajole your opponent onto the ground, as is the case with most forms of wrestling — but instead of the violently physical sorts we’re used to on TV, kushti moves seem rather… mild, even tactical.
According to referee Mughal-e-Az, the sport was brought to Dubai 25 years ago when a man named Afsab started the first matches. He himself was involved in it for more than 10 years, though his wrestling credentials go way back to when he was back in Pakistan, training as a young boy, and later on in the Pakistani army.
I asked him how he decides the winner, and he told me even if one party falls to the ground, and his opponent is sitting on him, all’s not lost — the guy being pinned down is not considered to have lost yet, not until the guy pinning him down is able to rest his hands on the ground. All this was completely beyond me — I’m not sure I understand the inherent male need to strut about in ugly underwear and sit on each other — but I’m glad the hundreds of Pakistanis and Indians around me enjoyed it.
They even have a championship! The ref says the last two men standing in the season will face off against each other, and the winner declared the Rustam-i-Dubai (champion of Dubai). “We’ll even have a tent! Chairs! And admission tickets!” From time to time, challengers such as the champions of Iran might be brought in for a grander match, or at least that used to be the case when their Pakistani patron was funding the competition. He’s no longer active in the scene, so what happens here these days operates on a policy that every Dubai resident is familiar with — that inshallah (if God wills it), it will happen (and it doesn’t).
But me, I’m pretty happy sitting on the rooftops of vans watching these matches every Friday. So much so that I might have even given them a new sport for post-wrestling: cheer on the Chinese girl trying to climb off a van.
It’s a side of Dubai that not many expats willingly seek out, but if you ask me, this is probably my favourite part of Dubai.
Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates
Thanks
Kedar Iyer, for interviews and translations, and pretending to be my husband
DaddyBird for mooting the idea
Music
Buster Johnson — Undertaker Blues
Mughal-e-Azam soundtrack — Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya
Sarah Vaughan — Peter Gunn (Max Sedgley Remix)
Posted in video.