Kashi-bashis (those who live/baaśh in Kashi/Varanasi) have
an amazing sense of balance. Their awareness
on the streets and on vehicles is like bees moving around a beehive, carefully
avoiding others while attending to their own tasks efficiently.
It is inspiring to see the confidence and elegance with
which people manage themselves on two-wheelers.
‘Two-wheelers’ in Kashi refer to motorcycles and scooters. Most every woman knows how to ride
side-saddle, holding a week’s shopping, two or three children, infants, and
sometimes maneuvering a piece of luggage between her and the driver. Most
everything can be transported in Kashi on a two-wheeler: furniture, bicycles,
huge bags of linens, hardware, 20 Liter water bottles, and of course, an entire
happy family of five or six members. No helmets,
no frozen gapes of shock. Just the dance of Varanasi traffic and a gratitude
that the road is open. They are at peace with, and at one with, the
environment. And in fact, they are safer per capita and per journey than in
America.
This awesome balance is perhaps because daily life requires
maneuvering that actively involves the thighs and core muscles of the abdomen.
Most Varanasi toilets still require squatting for daily ablutions while facing
north. Hindu mythology also actively
mentions the importance of thighs: Bhim had thighs that destroys his enemies in
battle. Humans in the West pay good money to “strengthen their abs,” funding
well-developed new industries of pilates, home gyms, countless home exercise
gadgets, modified and trademarked yoga lines that emphasize core strength, as
well as tummy toners, surgery specials, and belly blasters. In the meantime, Kashi bashis just live daily
life, getting on and off two-wheelers.
One weekend I venture to Delhi, whose traffic had shocked me
years ago as I wove through streets with no sense of lanes, little respect
about direction of traffic, and a variety of vehicle types and paces. Now, it seems in comparison like orderly
movement, and I have to think hard to distinguish it from New York traffic. It
gives me confidence as I pull out the key to my new Honda scooter and attach it
to my keychain, as I tighten my core muscles.