MONDAY, DECEMBER 03, 2001
Community baths back in Kabul
KABUL: Forbidden by the Taliban, community baths are once again making a splash in Afghanistan's capital, reviving faded memories of affluence in this war-ravaged city.
In Kah Froshi street in central Kabul, the 120-year-old bathhouse is discreet, flanked by a blacksmith and a shop offering bird-cages. But on the roof, drying in the early morning fog, are tell-tale squares of white cotton -the loincloths of the bathers.
Once through the thick blankets which mask the arched entrance, guests are met by 50-year-old Gailani, the manager.
The basic service costs 7,000 afghanis (about 20 cents), which includes a plastic bracelet with a number to help with the identification of belongings, and the obligatory loincloth. A few thousand Afghanis more will buy toiletries or a vigorous massage.
About 30 people occupy the room, which is lit by three fanlights. The bath itself, offering hot and cold water, is reached through a narrow gate.
Some bathers wash conscientiously, while others, barely distinguishable through the steam, talk in the choking heat. One man grates a callous on his foot with a stone.
Jokes come naturally in such an environment. A hot topic is the possible resumption of communal baths for women, but nobody is really sure if it will happen.
The hardline Islamic Taliban militia, during their five-year regime which ended on November 12, decreed that people could only use the baths one by one.
"Today we had more than 1,000 customers," said Gailani, adding that in recent days the numbers had not stopped growing.
Since the beginning of the week, he had counted up to 600 customers a day at his establishment, and he said there were 100 bathhouses in the capital. Emerging from the tranquil fog of the bath, some of the bathers will go to the cockfight a few hundred meters away.
But one, whose immense shoulders already stand him apart, seems intent on more conversation. Jan Agha finishes getting dressed and takes the foreign visitor to his shop a few hundred metres away.
He says he is a bonesetter with a "gift" for crunching wayward joints back into place, something he inherited from a long line of butchers in his family. But he is especially proud to show off a black and white photograph of himself decorated with medals.
A famous boxer, he represented Afghanistan at the Olympic Games in Tokyo (1964), Mexico City (1968), Munich (1972) and Moscow in 1980. He was also at the Asian Games in Thailand (1966) and Iran (1974), and boasts of having visited the former Soviet Union 26 times.
A little further down the road, a tradesman attracts attention. He is the only man wearing a turban, once part of the Taliban's obligatory dress code. Singh laughs: "I've been wearing a turban now for more than 40 years and nothing has changed for me." ( AFP )
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