Tissue Issues and more...

Having been raised in India, I learned many things different from the way the West does them. One of the many things being SHITTING.. (yes! I'm no shitting about it though). The Indian subcontinent does things a wee bit differently in this department. First things first. Most of the places in India do not have the kind of pot that Americans do.

The pot that you see above is what most Indian households use. Though much of the urban populace has learnt to poop sitting on a Western pot of recent, there are many who have learnt to squat sitting in the toilets. As this has been the norm for a very long time in India, usage of toilet paper was unacceptable as a means to clean oneself after going. Many toilets have the usage of a bum washer in order to wash and clean up the butt crack.

Now, this is what a bum washer looks like. It works like a water hose or a hand held shower which when sprayed in the area, cleans up the area with a forced jet of water. Now why will a person in their right minds, who has been cleaning up his butt crack with a fresh jet of water, start using a tissue or toilet paper in order to do the same?

Firstly, no matter what quality of paper you use to wipe your butt, it is still paper and it does not quite give the freshness and cleaning which water does. Moreover when you are (this is for the ladies) in your period with a stream of blood flowing out your vagina the last thing that you would want to be doing is infecting your genitalia with bacteria from your poop. If you cleanse the same area with water the same problem is handled in a hygienic manner. The area feels much more fresher and cleaner. The slime caused by the blood disappears in a jiffy!!

Moreover no matter how much toilet paper you use a single sheet will never give you the satisfaction that a single jet or spray of water can give.

And then there is always the fear of your hands touching your ass while you are trying to clean it up. And YIKES!!! that's a terrible feeling....

I have seen Americans shake hands at mass with other fellow church goers at the exchange of peace during mass. I have also noticed a considerable number of them use sanitizers immediately after shaking hands. If Americans are so particular about health and hygiene, how did this immensely important piece of hygiene just slip the minds of engineers??

I won't even get into the debate of the Squatting habit which is proven to be highly beneficial to health (especially to pregnant women).

It can be read in detail at the following link :

http://guruprasad.net/posts/why-indian-toilet-is-best-scientific-reason/

And the last but definitely not the least important reason for using water is that you don't have to risk getting your underwear dirty or smelly and keep checking for poop stains.

So,