Sword Granny The 82-year-old teaching women self-defence

The pupils are mostly schoolchildren, aged from seven up to teenagers. The teacher is an 82-year-old woman known to all as Sword Granny.

- Haziq Qadri KERALA

Inside her martial arts school - with walls adorned with trophies and mementoes - in Vatakara, in the southern Indian state of Kerala, the session begins with prayers and warm-up exercises.

Then Meenakshi Raghavan takes the class through the precise movements of kalaripayattu, India's oldest martial art, their bare feet padding across a floor of red dust mixed with medicinal herbs. Every day, this formidable woman teaches kalaripayattu to youngsters and the older men and women of the town alike.

Raghavan has built a team of teachers who work alongside her at the Kadathanad Kalari Sangham school, but she has become especially renowned in this region not for her age, but for her focus and commitment to empowering the next generation of young women.

Sword fighting is an essential part of kalaripayattu, and the grandmother moves swiftly and with grace when she swings her sword at the opponent.