Macho India

Thanks to a Dutch anthropologist, I came to know a little more about the K-11 School of Fitness Sciences in my own gully in Santa Cruz

Thanks to a Dutch anthropologist, I came to know a little more about the K-11 School of Fitness Sciences in my own gully in Santa Cruz. Michiel Baas’ book Muscular India: Masculinity, Mobility and the New Middle Class, published by Context/Westland, is a well-researched, well-written and insightful read on the proliferating industry and culture of Indian body building and fitness. Baas explores the lives of gym trainers, and how their aspirations of climbing the socio-economic ladder through body building careers, are stymied by their background, lack of fluency in English and “cultural capital”.

A PhD in anthropology from the University of Amsterdam, Baas has published extensively on the Indian middle class, its lifestyles and aspirations. This book is based on research and interviews in India over a decade. He has 18 pages of bibliography—enough to keep the academics rolling with their paws in the air—yet, he wears his scholarship lightly. His subjects become his friends: one invites him to garland winners in a bodybuilding competition; another enlists his help to formulate business proposals in English; a third, a married man, shares dark secrets about also doing porn videos and being a sex worker for same-sex clients. Disclaimer: I first met Baas when he had moderated Q&As at Soul of India, a film programme I had curated for the World Cinema Amsterdam festival in Amsterdam in 2011, and we have been friends since.

Baas researches various aspects of the business, across multiple cities and cultures. The Bollywood inspiration through the “sculpted bodies” of Salman Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Shah Rukh Khan and Prabhas, the Baahubali hero. How the urban middle class body building culture has historically evolved from the traditional akhadas. How the trainers are often the sons of labourers or clerks, sometimes able to earn enough to afford a middle class house, or dowry for their sister’s wedding. But, lacking social graces, they remain vulnerable to being called “a bloody vernac” by posh clients. How trainer Ravi committed suicide, spurred by his family’s opposition to his career.

It’s the individual stories that are real revelations. For instance, you would have no idea that the nondescript bloke whizzing past you on a bike in Chembur is actually employed in the US Army Reserve, and has served in Afghanistan, Germany and Poland. In fact, trainer Vijay’s father was a clerk in the municipal corporation. Following a diploma in hotel management, he worked as a bartender at the Ritz-Carlton in the UK, then in Dubai, and soon found himself enlisted in the US Army, involving “real shit man…jump from plane, get out of the helicopter, use rope, mountain trekking.” Being in the army impresses his gym clients. He and fellow trainer and buddy Kishore, son of a labour migrant from Odisha, it turns out, were earlier loan recovery agents, involved in gang fights and stabbings and were jailed. Other trainers use steroids and illegal body enhancing substances. But Baas stoutly refuses to judge them.

There’s also delightful—and heartbreaking—humour, when Baas describes the jealousy between male trainers when one gets to give a female client personal training at home, cynically referred to as “yoga”. We get a ringside view of a bodybuilding competition in Teynampet, Chennai, where the men look “ghoulish” in gold-painted bodies. We learn of the Tam Bram body builder from a vegetarian family, who furtively eats tuna in the fire escape at office.

All this is solid and fascinating. But it is a bit disappointing, partly also because the cover shows a muscular man pose against a roaring tiger portrait, suggesting that Indian masculinity’s associations with right-wing Hindutva and patriarchy will be explored, but these are barely mentioned. Likewise with the female viewpoint of masculinity. This may be wise, for that is a book by itself. Nonetheless, I’d be surprised if Baas isn’t pounced upon for rights to a film or web series.

Meenakshi Shedde is India and South Asia Delegate to the Berlin International Film Festival, National Award-winning critic, curator to festivals worldwide and journalist. Reach her at meenakshi.shedde@mid-day.com

"Exciting news! Mid-day is now on WhatsApp Channels Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!