Relaying the mud floor: a week in April

Every April, before the summer rains and after the school year ends, the kalari closes for one week. Visitors sometimes assume it is a holiday. In fact it is the busiest week of the year, because that is when the mud floor is relaid.

A kuzhi kalari floor takes a lot of wear. Months of jumps, rolls and footwork loosen the surface and leave shallow hollows, especially in the corners where students practise kicks. The first job is to scrape off the top few centimetres of loose earth, by hand, with flat iron spades.

Next, new earth arrives. We use red laterite soil from a site near Feroke, sieved twice to remove stones and roots. The soil is mixed with water to a thick paste and spread across the floor in a layer about five centimetres deep. Then comes the beating. Students and teachers work in a line with flat wooden beaters, pounding the floor from one end to the other, again and again over three days, until it is hard and even.

Once it is level, the floor is coated with a thin wash of cow dung and water, the traditional finish, which helps it set and keeps the dust down. It is left to dry for two full days with the doors open. The gurukkal checks the floor barefoot, corner by corner, before he lights the lamp at the poothara and training resumes. Students over fourteen are invited to help with the beating. It is hard work, but many of them say it is the week they remember best.