After his encounter with Tamami that day, Ustad Ramzi went straight to the cemetery.
The incident in the akhara kept replaying itself in his mind’s eye. He hadn’t grappled with Tamami for a few months and it was a shock to realize that his brother was now physically stronger. As they stood locked in the tie-up position, Ustad Ramzi had felt the iron grip of Tamami’s hands around his neck. Tamami’s powerful thrust and the immense surge of strength flowing from his body had broken his stance. He had strained to answer Tamami’s push and failed.
In the brief moment when Tamami paused, two thoughts raced through Ustad Ramzi’s mind: that Tamami’s strength must be carefully adorned with skill to make him the protector of his clan’s honor, and that he could now put his mind at rest about his clan’s future. Later, as Tamami applied the aggressive countermove, the joy that had filled Ustad Ramzi’s heart left it without a trace.
Tamami’s intention to floor him had been too obvious.
Ustad Ramzi asked himself why it had happened. He saw his strength and Tamami’s as an entity, meant to strive in unison, not as counterweights. He had never considered that he was pitting his strength against his brother as a rival. After delegating his akhara duties to Tamami and trusting his brother with instructing the trainees, he had kept him under his own instruction to improve his skill. Tamami had not appreciated that. It troubled Ustad Ramzi.
It was not an incident that he could attribute to Tamami’s immaturity. Ustad Ramzi was sure it flowed from some base instinct.
It convinced him that Tamami judged himself and others by the criterion of strength alone. Tamami, whom he wished to become worthy of representing his clan’s tradition, had again proven incapable of aspiring to the higher rewards of the art. That was the reason for his ignominious defeat at Imama’s hands and for the incident in the akhara that day. Ustad Ramzi knew that for such men power remained the only ideal. The more they felt it stir inside their bodies, the more confident they felt in themselves.
Ustad Ramzi realized he could not relinquish his place to someone who neither showed deference to his tradition and elders nor understood the subtle points of skill. But he could turn Tamami’s failings to the clan’s advantage by changing the focus of his training to the cultivation of strength alone. Tamami would not become a consummate pahalwan once set on that course, but he would have the disproportionate strength necessary to block any challengers to the clan’s title. Ustad Ramzi would never let it be said that the title was lost to his clan while he lived.
Ustad Ramzi’s mind was finally decided. He thought no more about the akhara incident and spent the afternoon tending the rose bushes.