Flying fist, noble heart: Appreciation of Grandmaster Hassan Khalid Founder of Fei Quan Do Int’l

By Chandrika Gadiewasam

It was with the greatest sorrow I heard of the sudden passing away of our beloved martial arts master the Grandmaster Hassan Khalid, Founder of the Fei Quan Do International School of Karate in Colombo. He passed away last Thursday at a ripe age of 72 with nary a warning of his departure and having lived life to the very fullest. A couple of days before his sudden passing he had been conducting training as usual at his Wellawatte class.

I remember him from years of attending his karate classes in Dematagoda and Wellawatte, after my quest for personal security and independence brought me to train in karate. In the first place I had always been inspired by the 70s film Kung Fu featuring David Carradine which introduced me to the silent and noble beauty of the Shao Lin tradition. Grandmaster Khalid’s philosophies were very similar too, with more of an emphasis on internal mastery, discipline and effort rather than of crushing enemies or giving the ego free reign. 

I remember the first day I went to his class and was terribly worried as to what to expect, but he called new students to the front and made them feel welcome and very at ease. I also remember a lot of humour bandied by long-suffering Master Khalid where he compared our earnest side kicking to the clumsy slow actions of dogs pissing on lamposts...this still has me giggling even now...

To be frank I was hopelessly lazy and slow, not to mention uncoordinated, but Master Khalid was immensely patient with us matured ladies and gave everyone a chance (thankfully ladies were allowed to do the easier form of push ups so that their knuckles would not get scarred, etc.) He was very motivational, not only in training martial arts, but expounding the deepest philosophies collected from a long and eventful life of travel around the world as a mariner, prior to his opening of the School of Karate. Sometimes his training was quite exhausting but took us to levels of strength, courage and discipline that we did not know ourselves capable of. 

His training was with the purpose of mentoring a fully rounded and balanced person. Along with his success as a trainer par excellence, he also balanced a wonderfully large family of eight children and always spoke lovingly of his wife’s good qualities. His noble mindset was that he was not interested in accumulating money, but wanted only to do a good service to his students and to be a breadwinner to the last. So he kept the class fees very reasonable and would often waive the fees for less privileged students. 

Master Khalid was a shining personality who always lived life to the fullest, training and inspiring thousands of students not only in karate but in the other aspects of how to live a good life and find happiness. He himself was the epitome of strength, decency, integrity, tolerance, liberality and so many good human qualities apart from being a fearless karate pro, deft with his fighting skills. 

From him I learned, no matter that I was in a society that intimidates a weak female that I can be self-confident and unafraid. I remember telling him at the time that I was probably one of the few women who had a chance to occasionally use some of the fighting tactics we learned when I had to administer some punishment to a pervert in a bus. However as always advised in karate, I did not go pushing for fights but have always used it more as a confidence booster which I sorely needed, as well as to actually avoid conflict. 

Personally I think that every young girl should train in martial arts to give them the confidence and security to face this world, especially in the light of various recent happenings. Karate training is also one of the best workouts you can have today, which is why Master Khalid was extremely fit and full of life until practically the last day. I know that he would certainly have loved what he did and been happiest as he was allowed to keep doing the work he loved till the last.  Though he is no more, we will continue to be touched by the magic, charm and vitality of his inspiring personality and we will always have our Grandmaster in our prayers. We are honoured and enriched to have been his students.