Ethics of Answering Natures Call..!!

I was feeling rather emotionally let down. It was the official end to my amazing weekend in Las Vegas. By the time we reached the Airport, this emotional condition had turned to a rather physical one with a downward pressure on my intestinal systems. As if nothing more was needed, my friend missed the exit and we did a complete mile round about to reach the terminal of my departure. The occasional emotional surge of leaving my friends after a fantastic weekend took mind of the impending emergency now and then. But I was becoming more and more convinced about the 'inevitability' of the situation. For the first part, I know what it means to be the victim of a snarly odor-bomb in the economy class of an aircraft and second it could jeopardize my chance for a goodnight sleep in this over night flight.

After another five minutes of drive around and a cigarette and a good twenty minutes in the check in queue, I started to get accustomed to the over all unhappiness of my gastrointestinal systems. I had already expressed my uncomfortable feeling to my friend who accompanied me on the check in queue. Walking towards the gates, the first sight of restroom sign brought an emotional landslide in my mind. I was starting to realize the fact that the part which is holding me back from what I should be doing is not the understanding of the need of it, but a more complex psychological dilemma. Blame it on 'you tube' where I had caught up on the latest of stand up comedy by Russel Peters. His exponentially vivid mimicry of the 'acoustics' public toilets has had a rather profound impact on my mind on the functioning of so called 'Public lavatories'. They were no more the so called 'necessities' but an 'evil' den of judgments and 'self derogation'.

The economics of 'public lavatories' has always amazed me. I have seen quiet some numbers and variety of them. From the stinking, never clean, shared urinal cum defecation squat pots in different parts of the country during my school years to the non-existent 'public' of public toilets in rural and urban centers and super fine European toilets with tissues and jet taps. Apart from the basic unit, which makes it a toilet, parts which have always fascinated me were the doors and sidewalls. In my effort to educate the so called ‘illiterate poor’ on how to build and ‘use’ toilets, it is the same economics which has played a big role. There is always a choice as to how fancy, how strong, how durable a superstructure you need. A right selection would mean a toilet which is lighter on your pockets or a symbol of your wealth and prosperity. In this regard, the economics of community toilet super structure is of little more relevance here. This specific toilet I walked into had a concrete wall on two sides and with a water closet in the center. The other two sides were made into a kind of open cubicle construction, with boards from knee above going up just over 6.5 ft. from the ground. I could not see my neighbor for sure, nor could he see me, but as they say the issue of privacy is not often visual but aural as well.

For a fair amount of time in my life, the western superior notions with respect defecatory ethics and practices confined to the use of tissue paper over water. But over time it acquired a different meaning in which had unprecedented consequences to the way I perceive human digestive system. The new revelations included aural and nasal discomfort to the performer (as well as audience if any) and visual and tactual sensations of the elimination end of the human digestive system. Though I am yet to identify the symptoms of a perfect or healthy human waste elimination, the symbols of bad health (I was educated here on) included unpleasant odors, acoustic echo, color (what ever that might be!) and tactual sensations ranging from fluidics, exasperation to burning and irritation. To me, these are things, which are part and parcel of a human bowel motions and occurrence of which depends on what you eat, how much you drink (water or other things), climate, and many more. My specific concern here is the connection of these things to the design of the toilets. After a lot of International Affairs education, all these even started to look like a 'leviathanist' design to control and preoccupy the citizenry.

Moving on to the event in discussion, the inevitability led me to a rest room just before the security check. The entrance ‘grandeur’, I was happy that I got a corner spot and the only cubicle next to my occupancy was empty. I started off with a flush to cover the initial ‘splurge’, to avoid any aural discomfort to those three people who were washing their hands. Before the second thrust, the door to my left opened and a gentle man occupied the seat. I covered my second thrust with his ‘before’ flush. As I was getting more and more aware of the impending ‘explosion’, I was also getting more and more self aware about the situation of walking out to face anybody who might hear it!! Before I could think any further, I was shook by a loud noise. I was pretty sure it wasn’t me, it was my neighbor. I gave a passing peak under the cube to make a mental note of the color of the skin. The rest was easy, with a neighbor with shared set of problems. we worked in tandem, reassuring each other, like a support group. I was done first and walked out as soon as possible to avoid a possible face to face, but the damn automatic tap wouldn’t yield water for long. As I turned around wiping my hands with a paper towel, my ‘native’ neighbor walked out and looked at my shoes for a second and looked at my face. Anticipating the obvious, I returned the smile and hurried out to collect my luggage and get on the plane at the earliest….!!

Thou Shall not forget...

At this time of jolly
thou shall not, seek to see
those moments, of melancholy
I don't seek tears

Love shall not fail, but ache
in thy heart, behest passion
in search for the time, together
we are, one body one soul
In thy vale de pasión, shall bring
memoirs, I wait for time
to bequest, thee try not forget
those moments, we cherish

Accept this gift, I beg
not regret, those words said
unsaid, seem to exist, in those
voids, filled by sweat, salt again
like this tear rolling down
my cheeks, as I seek to say
may time bring you joy, and thou
shall cherish it all, second
at a time, rest of thy life

I beg, in misery, shall not forget
another moment, to beget tears
in thy eyes, I can't stand
for once, let me wipe
for all the rest you said, today
I shall remind, read text, ancient
said god, essence of life
is not what you get, but give

Time will takes its time
to reach for thou, so to shower
all worlds merry, even in time of tears,
to bring a smile to thy lovely face