One of the covers of Rohinton Mistry’s A Fine Balance features a little boy sitting atop a pole. It always reminded me of mallakhamb, the Indian art of pole gymnastics. In this mallakhamb clip, a lean, oiled Circque du Soleil-style acrobat shatters the idea of Indian unathleticism. Hottest pole dance ever:

Here’s a female athlete doing a variation with rope:

And a young girl competing not on mallakhamb, but in rhythmic gymnastics in the Commonwealth Games: