My cousin bought a new house recently. He held a small house warming ceremony and invited our family. The chitter chatter, explaining the new furniture design happened. After a while, I needed to take a trip to the loo. Hail! It was the western style of the toilet. I couldn’t help but wonder why every new construction in India has a western toilet instead of an Indian one. I realized, the Indian toilet is now a dying breed. While the general lack of toilets in India is a different debate altogether, the ones we have makes me ponder.
We all take lessons on health, hygiene and good ways of life — yet the thought of sitting on a seat which has in the past, kissed someones else’s ‘ahem!’ gives me jitters. Let alone the fact, that there might be a droplet of water here and there — Is it a pee drop? Is it splashed water? Is it really clean? Is there bacteria on it?
Even with this simple logic, I fail to understand why Indians do not use the toilets that provide them utmost hygiene— by not coming in contact with another human’s skin cell or for that matter, even that curious droplet (which by the way, must have traversed a beautiful curve like a trampoline artist before landing on your toilet seat). Why do they keep moving away from that graceful pose — the squatting position — which builds pressure on “The pipe” to push things off the other end with ease?
Why God!!! Why???
But I must say, all is not lost. We still ‘use water’.
Imagine cleaning up spilt orange juice with a just tissue paper vs with some water — what feels cleaner?
Sometimes, we need to realize that instead of ranting and wondering about trivial issues, sometimes, it’s best to be grateful about the good things that still remain :)
