Prayas

Amit Ohdedar

Michael’s blog on the squatting toilet has sent my thoughts down memory lane.

I grew up with squatting toilet and in fact, I had very little idea about a commode or a sitting toilet. In fact I cannot think of any instance of any exposure to  it until I started working. I would have been 22 and on a business trip to Kathmandu. Working for an international company in Calcutta, we had a generous travel arrangement. So there were a few first in that trip…my first flight on a jet aircraft, my first sip of a

Heineken beer [on the flight], my first ride on an air conditioned car, my first stay in a five star deluxe hotel and my first exposure to a hotel room without a squatting toilet.

I tried my best. But it would not happen. The muscles inside were not being worked on. They were used to a different kind of pressure to effect the final motion. Seriously, it was a challenge that I could not meet up to at the time. I gave up. That is when I learnt how difficult it is to keep your balance while squatting on a sitting toilet. Fortunately for me it would be a temporary inconvenience. I would easily be back to the comfort of my sitting way as soon as the trip was over.

Jamshed would be the same age as me when he arrived in New Zealand. There would be many first for him – just like that first trip of mine, including the sitting toilet.

There was one big difference though. I could go back to my “squatting” routine – the “sitting” part was only a temporary aberration! For Jamshed it was a matter of lifestyle that he had to adapt to be here!

Probably it was much more than that! I think the dilemma is whether he will learn to “sit” and do “it” and give up his old self for the sake his adopted lifestyle or will he insist on “squatting” on a “sitting toilet? Can he maintain the balance on a sitting toilet? Can he remain what he is yet adapt the other? Or does he have to give up one to be the other?