India Bathroom Humor

To: Family or Friends

Date: Sunday 8/10/2003 5:34:14 AM

Day 1

Personal hygiene customs vary from country to country, which can create fun bathroom humor stories. Although I wasn't terribly excited the first day when I discovered that only ice cold water came out of the shower spout, I wasn't very surprised either. I inquired of the proprietress how to get a warm shower and was told that I have to switch on one of the light switches on the wall (there are seven in my bathroom, if you can imagine) that will turn on the hot water tank that is mounted on the wall in my bathroom. It is about a 15 gallon tank, I'd guess.

Day 2

On day two, I switched on the light switch--a red light on the hot water tank came on--and hoped in. The result was that the shower was lukewarm because the water didn't have time to warm up.

Day 3

I decided that perhaps I need to allow the hot water to warm up before hand, so on day 3, I switched on the hot water half an hour before hopping in and ended up with a warm shower that got cool by the end.

Day 4

On day four, I was getting clever and turned on the water heater several hours in advance, I also turned up the dial on the heater itself. It had been set just a little below "warm" so I cranked it up well into the "hot" range. Feeling confident, I hopped in and .... nearly scalded myself. I wasn't too worried because I figured I'd just turn it down--add more cold water by adjusting the facet itself. So I turned the facet to the right in order to increase the flow of cold water into the mix... No change. Hmmm.... maybe the hot and cold are switched in India, so I turned the facet to left.... still no change. Hmmm....it appears that the water in the tank is piped directly to the shower and you select the warmth of the shower by the dial on the hot water heater. In this bathroom humor story, it seems that the joke is on me.

Summary

So showering is going OK--at least it leads to fun bathroom humor stories--I'm trying to get the right temp, but sometimes I forget to turn on the hot water heater 30 min before and then I end up with a cold shower. Oh, well. My first week has gone well. I really enjoy the people here; they are very warm and kind people.

P.S. On Friday, there was about 30% of the cow left. The hide had "melted" to the ground and some of the bones were showing. Today, there is no trace of it. I don't know if someone has kicked dirt over what was left of the carcass, or if it has been totally eaten--bones and all--or if it has been removed.

P.P.S. Several of you have written to say that most of the cows are owned by someone and that people let their cows out in the morning to graze and the cows wander home in the evening to be milked. This is apparently a fact of which many Indians are ignorant because I've gotten varied stories when I've asked about the ownership of these cows.

P.P.P.S. I was told that stray cows are a bit of a vexing problem for the Indian government because they don't know where to put them. In my Western mind, I thought, "Well, just round them up and .... put them to sleep .... oh, wait Indians believe cows are sacred and wouldn't ever kill them." How's that for an interesting dilemma?

P.P.P.P.S. One more twist to add to the bathroom humor motif. This picture of toilet seats was captured outside of a local shop. It begs the question of where or how these devices are used. I didn't ask, and am not sure if I want to know.

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