Another piece of news from the fascinating country of India caught my attention, this time it is not about an individual bizarreness but about a massive, huge one, so big that it is on the verge of probability in this, 2025. I do not know if the term `defecation` is suitable for use, it seems somehow sterile and does not capture the situation that prevails in India. Therefore, here is the traditional term `shit` that brings us quite precise information.
India, a country that is a nuclear power, a place where there is a space program and where aircraft carriers sail - is faced with a shameful and anachronistic problem that threatens to destroy the reputation of this ex-dominion in the world. If there is anything that indicates the drastic differences between the image that a nation, state or culture wants to promote and the reality, then it is the following...The inhabitants of the hungry country of India shit. Just like everyone else in the world shits. But somewhere this physiological need has been limited for decades and even centuries to the privacy of the toilet, the latrine, the urinal, the ``toilet''. The strong smell, the uncovered genitals and the hygienic condition require complete isolation of the place intended for shitting in relation to the rest of the dwelling.
Except in India. There they shit and urinate everywhere. On the street, at a bus or train stop, at a stadium, in broad daylight, people shit. Aside from urinate, which is not a health risk, shitting and the exposure of the population to feces that are blown everywhere and contaminate food and water - have been and still are the cause of epidemics, retro-diseases such as cholera, dysentery, diarrhea, typhus and colonization of the intestines by various intestinal parasites.
As the newspaper ``Times of India'' estimates, at least 700 million inhabitants defecate in the open every day in this country. My brain was caught off guard by this news and that's why I can't visualize that image where hundreds of millions of people empty their bowels every day on streets and alleys, in front of temples and shops, in forests and deserts, on meadows and sidewalks...Whether because of the health implications or because of international reputation - the government in India, in cooperation with the UN and its program ``Unicef'', decided to declare war on this habit! In the distant year 2014, a fierce campaign was launched to eradicate public defecation through various media projects that should raise awareness among the youngest population regarding hygiene habits. The mature and elderly population gave up, they are unlikely to give up the famous cultural feature colored in brown anyway.
A series of cartoons has come to light, which, together with a series of comics, posters, billboards and a special video game called `Toilet Trek` (!?) or `Toilet Tracks`, will have to pull India out of the deep shit, this time in a literal sense. The cartoons had their own protagonist named `Mr. Lou`, which means Mr. Poo, and their own antagonist, the disgusting villain `Mr. Pooh` (Mr. Poop). Mr. Poop, in keeping with the theme, was presented in the form of a human-sized piece of feces that moved around and created problems that Mr. Poo then had to solve as a hero (!?)
Although all this seems like a forgotten and uncensored Monty Python sketch, it is still a real situation where public money is spent on the creation of a cartoon character/stylized poop named Mr. Pooh. Whether and to what extent this program will attract young people and succeed in imprinting the role of the toilet, wiping one's behind and washing one's hands in their still unformed consciousness - only the future will tell. Judging by the results of the piles of... hmmm... UN projects from the past, there is not much room for optimism. And maybe this time there will be changes and in the future the 700 million public shitters will gradually turn to private shitting?
Until then, the stereotype of Rajiv, a dried-up Hindustani who, if he is `pushed`, will simply take off his lower clothes, kneel down and shit...on the street.
(Roger Mortis, 131)
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