What I Missed While Walking Past the Kanchi Mutt

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A place I passed every day without really understanding it. As a kid growing up in Malleswaram, devotion wasn’t something we discussed — it was just in the air. The smell of agarbathi in the evenings. The noise of vendors lining up on 8th cross before a festival. The quiet expectation that you showed up, bowed your head, and moved on. Ganesh Chaturthi. Varalakshmi Vratam. Deepavali. Janmashtami. Ugadi. The calendar moved, but the pattern stayed. The Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham in Malleswaram was part of my daily route to school. Not something I questioned. Not something I deeply understood. Just… there. Every morning, on my way to school, I would slow down for a second in front of the Mutt. Just enough to bow my head toward Kanchi Kamakshi from outside the gate — and then hurry along before the school bell. It was a ritual for as long as I can remember. I don’t know if it came from devotion. I did it because my parents did it. The street...
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Bath from the bucket!!!

What a strange title right! In the middle of nowhere, somebody talks about buckets and bath. Yep, I am watching the Karachi match, and unfortunately after Ganguly's dismissal, and a mini collapse triggered almost everytime you see the Indian batting, I thought I will try to complete my blog entry which I have been thinking of for quite some time.

As I entered into the bathroom yet another time, my frustrations were gradually increasing. The confined space within the bath tub was troubling me like hell. The 2 feet by 6 feet bathtub with an overhanging shower is such a pain. One gets the feel of skiing in the bathroom. The luxury of space in Indian bathrooms is such a treat. Filling up the bucket with hot water and splashing it on your body with that little mug is something I really miss here. The typical sound of glug-glug of the mug hitting the water, without worrying about the water going out of the bathtub (there is no such concept there anyway) and splashing the water in any direction is something people do not realise here. I really don't understand why bathrooms are so confined here? Rather, why are the bathtubs reduced to miniscule particles! That's when I was thinking, just imagine a person coming from the village who takes his daily bath by the Cauvery, and has to take bath in bathrooms in cities. I can really put myself in his place, except that I am in the second degree of elevation.

Never realised that one day I would be writing a blog on Indian bathrooms and a bucketful of water will gain such prominence in my life!

Comments

  1. AnonymousFebruary 8, 2006 at 6:54 PM

    Hey Dude.. :-) seems you are missing your bathroom at Malleswaram !! :-))))) Just to add to what you said... These people even do not have an outlet hole in the bathroom. Incase you split water outside... man you need to swipe it clean. :-) It was the same in Germany, Remember??? :-))) They will never get the pleasure of Indian toilets. Forget it.

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  2. AnonymousFebruary 15, 2006 at 3:08 AM

    My God ! what all u miss out there ! phew...

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