DISCLAIMER : This is NOT a movie review.
As a silly starting ritual, before you read the rest of this article, just imagine, how would you feel when you didn't have a word called "shit" to spew out your venom every time you are annoyed. You would feel like the shit is still inside you. Now, how disturbing it is, isn't it?
On a similar line, just imagine, if the real shit was there, inside you. Like Big B in Piku? Yes, just like that !
I hope I have set the right tone for the later part of this write up.
Shit! I must admit that I came to know the literal meaning of this word quite late in life-not until I was in the later years of my B. Tech. In school, all I could understand was that this was frequently used by my peers to vent out their frustration at anything that didn't go the way it was supposed to. I naively tried to look up the word in my Oxford pocket dictionary, which we were mandated to carry to school every day. Unfortunately, didn't find it there, and those days the world-wide-web was still not as wide as it currently is, so I turned a blind eye to the meaning of the word, re-assuring myself that anything that isn't Queen's English isn't quite worthy of my precious attention! Anyway, that didn't stop me from using the word, though not so liberally, to vent my spleen when in distress.
Shit jokes have always been super hit with kids, until they grow up to the next level. And to some extent, even with early college goers! I bet most of you might be going yuck with the thought of what I am going to discuss in this blog post. By the way, I just remembered that they never quite went out of vogue. Delhi Belly used it in the yuckiest manner again, and we laughed, even if we admonish our young school going cousins for cracking those. While return from my trekking trip from Uttarkashi, the entire gang was in a boisterous gaiety, thanks to shitloads of shitty jokes and situations created while going out in the dangerous terrain at 4 am in the morning, searching for safe bushes and trees, and avoiding dangerous slopes, equipped with a torch, a water bottle, a small axe ( I hope I'm not mistaken with the name, please do correct me if I'm wrong) to dig our own pits, and a paper soap (for those who bothered about hygiene) & tissue papers (for those too lazy to use water at the near-zero temperatures). Mind you, the torchlight was supposed to be switched off while you answered the nature's call, or else other people could reach your cozy little spot!
For me, however, the pressing issue is, however, the changing shitting culture of our country. As if bringing knives & forks to the table with a plate of samosas or dosas wasn't enough, aping the west hasn't remain confined to our dining culture. It has invaded our loos as well, and at an unprecedented pace. I, for the record, never quite liked the western commode loos, no matter how conspicuous they might be. I always avoid western loos while traveling. Admittedly, the biggest pro that Indian loos had had for me for many years was that they are totally "no-touch" & hence, much more hygienic- on the top of it, the Indian/Chinese/Japanese squatting style toilets are easier to clean. So when too many people are using the same public toilet, there is lesser chance of contracting any infection. Another one, I got to know a few years back, is that squatting in the loo keeps the muscles of the lower body, thigh & calves in particular, very fit.
But, alas, we have begun growing ashamed as much about our dining traditions in public space, as about our defaecating traditions. Quite unlike the Chinese or the Japanese (here & here), who don't seem to blindly ape the relatively recent Western pooping tradition, that started only with the advent of indoor plumbing in the 19th century, we have adopted this flush-worthy technology with open arms, at the cost of our muscular & gastrointestinal health & well being. Every good hotel and every recently constructed home that I happen to visit now has a commode and not the squatting style Indian loo. You would be astonished to know that NOT SQUATTING to empty your bowels could not just cause you to gain some extra kilos around your waist, but also lead to hemorrhoids & diverticular disease, which are peculiar to those places & regions which have sitting toilets as the popular pooping mode. See this if you can't believe me. Sitting on the toilet actually keeps the muscle facilitating pooping tight, while squatting opens it up. The Pelvic Floor Clinic at Stanford University not only recommends squatting but mandates it for patients with colon-related issues & disorders.
Watch this amazing Stanford video to know the science & research behind squatting, which the Orient has followed since ages. No wonder we started suffering from lifestyle diseases only after the advent of Western style in our lives- be it food or poop!
Ironically, we have been adopting the toilet culture from the west where most people go to potty less frequently than daily (refer this)!!! OMG, a normal person will die of constipation!
Angrez chale gaye, commode chhod gaye!
As celebrity fitness trainer Rujuta Diwekar, who openly endorses squatting on toilets, tweets,- "Squatting on the toilet and not sitting, is better than 100 crunches in the gym for a flat stomach."
This issue had been on my mind for quite a long time and I had been thinking to write about it. It isn't inspired by Piku, but after Piku, I believe people would be more open to talk about the way they sit in their loos. My revered Art of Living teacher, Akhilesh Bhaiya says, emphasizing the importance of a properly functioning digestive & gastrointestinal system- " Agar Madhya Pradesh fit hai, toh Kashmir se Kanyakumari tak sab fit rehta hai ."
Not having it fit can lead to constipation in the beginning- which is the mother of many disorders- not just physical, but mental. According to yoga, constipation cannot let your mind function properly and quietly. The vata or, crudely "gas" imbalance in the body keeps the mind extremely disturbed.
Its not for nothing that Irrfan Khan recommended Amitabh Bachchan squatting over sitting in Piku.
So next time you say SHIT, make sure no shit is left INside. Throw the shit (pun intended) out completely.
After all, MOTION SE HI EMOTION :)
As a silly starting ritual, before you read the rest of this article, just imagine, how would you feel when you didn't have a word called "shit" to spew out your venom every time you are annoyed. You would feel like the shit is still inside you. Now, how disturbing it is, isn't it?
On a similar line, just imagine, if the real shit was there, inside you. Like Big B in Piku? Yes, just like that !
I hope I have set the right tone for the later part of this write up.
Shit! I must admit that I came to know the literal meaning of this word quite late in life-not until I was in the later years of my B. Tech. In school, all I could understand was that this was frequently used by my peers to vent out their frustration at anything that didn't go the way it was supposed to. I naively tried to look up the word in my Oxford pocket dictionary, which we were mandated to carry to school every day. Unfortunately, didn't find it there, and those days the world-wide-web was still not as wide as it currently is, so I turned a blind eye to the meaning of the word, re-assuring myself that anything that isn't Queen's English isn't quite worthy of my precious attention! Anyway, that didn't stop me from using the word, though not so liberally, to vent my spleen when in distress.
Shit jokes have always been super hit with kids, until they grow up to the next level. And to some extent, even with early college goers! I bet most of you might be going yuck with the thought of what I am going to discuss in this blog post. By the way, I just remembered that they never quite went out of vogue. Delhi Belly used it in the yuckiest manner again, and we laughed, even if we admonish our young school going cousins for cracking those. While return from my trekking trip from Uttarkashi, the entire gang was in a boisterous gaiety, thanks to shitloads of shitty jokes and situations created while going out in the dangerous terrain at 4 am in the morning, searching for safe bushes and trees, and avoiding dangerous slopes, equipped with a torch, a water bottle, a small axe ( I hope I'm not mistaken with the name, please do correct me if I'm wrong) to dig our own pits, and a paper soap (for those who bothered about hygiene) & tissue papers (for those too lazy to use water at the near-zero temperatures). Mind you, the torchlight was supposed to be switched off while you answered the nature's call, or else other people could reach your cozy little spot!
For me, however, the pressing issue is, however, the changing shitting culture of our country. As if bringing knives & forks to the table with a plate of samosas or dosas wasn't enough, aping the west hasn't remain confined to our dining culture. It has invaded our loos as well, and at an unprecedented pace. I, for the record, never quite liked the western commode loos, no matter how conspicuous they might be. I always avoid western loos while traveling. Admittedly, the biggest pro that Indian loos had had for me for many years was that they are totally "no-touch" & hence, much more hygienic- on the top of it, the Indian/Chinese/Japanese squatting style toilets are easier to clean. So when too many people are using the same public toilet, there is lesser chance of contracting any infection. Another one, I got to know a few years back, is that squatting in the loo keeps the muscles of the lower body, thigh & calves in particular, very fit.
But, alas, we have begun growing ashamed as much about our dining traditions in public space, as about our defaecating traditions. Quite unlike the Chinese or the Japanese (here & here), who don't seem to blindly ape the relatively recent Western pooping tradition, that started only with the advent of indoor plumbing in the 19th century, we have adopted this flush-worthy technology with open arms, at the cost of our muscular & gastrointestinal health & well being. Every good hotel and every recently constructed home that I happen to visit now has a commode and not the squatting style Indian loo. You would be astonished to know that NOT SQUATTING to empty your bowels could not just cause you to gain some extra kilos around your waist, but also lead to hemorrhoids & diverticular disease, which are peculiar to those places & regions which have sitting toilets as the popular pooping mode. See this if you can't believe me. Sitting on the toilet actually keeps the muscle facilitating pooping tight, while squatting opens it up. The Pelvic Floor Clinic at Stanford University not only recommends squatting but mandates it for patients with colon-related issues & disorders.
Watch this amazing Stanford video to know the science & research behind squatting, which the Orient has followed since ages. No wonder we started suffering from lifestyle diseases only after the advent of Western style in our lives- be it food or poop!
Ironically, we have been adopting the toilet culture from the west where most people go to potty less frequently than daily (refer this)!!! OMG, a normal person will die of constipation!
Angrez chale gaye, commode chhod gaye!
As celebrity fitness trainer Rujuta Diwekar, who openly endorses squatting on toilets, tweets,- "Squatting on the toilet and not sitting, is better than 100 crunches in the gym for a flat stomach."
This issue had been on my mind for quite a long time and I had been thinking to write about it. It isn't inspired by Piku, but after Piku, I believe people would be more open to talk about the way they sit in their loos. My revered Art of Living teacher, Akhilesh Bhaiya says, emphasizing the importance of a properly functioning digestive & gastrointestinal system- " Agar Madhya Pradesh fit hai, toh Kashmir se Kanyakumari tak sab fit rehta hai ."
Not having it fit can lead to constipation in the beginning- which is the mother of many disorders- not just physical, but mental. According to yoga, constipation cannot let your mind function properly and quietly. The vata or, crudely "gas" imbalance in the body keeps the mind extremely disturbed.
Its not for nothing that Irrfan Khan recommended Amitabh Bachchan squatting over sitting in Piku.
So next time you say SHIT, make sure no shit is left INside. Throw the shit (pun intended) out completely.
After all, MOTION SE HI EMOTION :)
Very well written Shreya. So true it is! Keep writing :)
ReplyDeletethanks :)
DeleteWell done dear:) Super striking SHIT and thought provoking writing.
ReplyDelete