Of restrooms

Warning: The post below may not be upto your taste. So please refrain from readinig further if you are uncomfortable with these kind of discussions.

Somebody recently said I observe things too apart from just observing human behavior, and hence the post. I know it’s a very disgusting topic but then off late I have been reading many famous bloggies and if people like amit verma and greatbong can write, why can’t I?

Let’s start this with a nice kiddo joke. Somehow I always felt why are kids so obsessed with restroom kind of jokes, but its good to see the genuine laughter they have after the joke. So here it goes, it’s a marathi joke. “Pata hai Japanese eat ‘Soo Shee’”. Hahhahhahah. I don’t know, people may raise eyebrows saying “was that a joke?”, but I too laughed a lot when I first heard this.

Earlier I thought I will do a detailed analysis of restrooms in India and US , pros and cons and analyze about how in India you really don’t have to bother about a restroom in the middle of a jungle but here in US you have to, but then, I am not doing a PhD on restrooms. So here are a few restrooms worth mentioning.

Firstly the ones in the NITK hostels. It was stinking would be an understatement. You can imagine what happens to the stink if people are fed gobhi 10 times in 14 meals a week. But as we had no other option, chalo woh bhi chalta hai. I did have a picture with me with a toilet broom in one hand mixed with the picture of a dirty pot. That was a good picture to make people run away from my room. But sadly that picture is lost.

Continuing further, I would mention the Sultan Battery toilet in Mangalore. When I had gone, it was full to the brim. I ran out immediately. Wonder how did the cleaner go about it later. And more so, how could it be so full until multiple people went to the same dirty one. Eeeiks.

Next is not a toilet in particular but an action which me n my friends did. We had a handicam and were making a movie (good old college days kind of) and we went to a posh rooftop restaurant called Kadal in Mangalore. There we shot the toilet which was empty(thankfully, and yes, dont get any wierd ideas about what we shot, it was plain tiles and gadgets and no human) and then we were showing it to other friends in the dining table. All shrieked. I don’t know I get a great pleasure in talking this kind of dirty in dining table and like the way people literally shriek and run away.

Mangalore won’t be complete without mentioning this special restroom in Surathkal College ka shiva temple restroom. It’s behind the temple which is on a rock, there is this cemented Indian style pot which is entirely open on all sides. Nobody uses it and don’t think anybody used it ever. Makes me wonder, was it made for Gods? Kudos to the person who made it and especially the location he chose for that.

Now moving to Bangalore, the weirdest restroom is in the heart of the city, MG-Residency road crossing. Near the bus stand, opposite Bangalore Central. Well this was courtesy Sudha Murthy and her foundation desperate in making Bangalore a cleaner place. Thanks Mrs Murthy for such a thrilling experience. As can be expected, its half Americanized and half Indian. Anybody would think it’s the best of both worlds. But no, it’s the worst of both. Generally in India, people would prefer peeing with wall on 3 sides. But this one is ulta. It faces the road and the heavy traffic of Residency road and has wall end at shoulder height, so people on the road can actually see who is inside. To add to the nightmare, instead of having it dry, they have a constant flow of water. It feels like u r on a river. Readers are left to imagine what you would feel like there.

Lastly I would like to mention about the portable restrooms of US. Should I say I had the privilege of bumping into one during my South padre trip last weekend. Anyway, that is a unique way of having absolutely no smell in a waterless restroom. They have some chemicals below which constantly degrades anything that falls in there and there is strong disinfectant smell. So you really don’t feel smelly there ever.

Well that ends my analysis sufficient for ME final project. If you do want an MS thesis or a PhD, do let me know. :)

My mobile

Mera Pyaar.. Samsung N500. It doesn’t rhyme. But it doesn’t matter. And the name does sounds like some medicine, Vicks action 500. But no, its my ex mobile phone.

I know it may sound crazy. With handsets like RAZR, N-series and the new in line, Apple i-phone in the market, who will care about Samsung N 500. I bet, even in jan 2008, when I change to a new plan, definitely I will go for some new and trendy one that time. But my first love will always be N500.

I don’t know, why people in India are so obsessed with Nokia, agreed its hardy. But then its keys are so different for each model. There is no unity. And looks, forget it, they are the worst looking handsets. Even when you press the green button, it just shows either last calls or missed calls or received calls and never all of these together. But still people like it. And I know why. Its hardy and it has strong signal. That’s why when mom asked me to get one for her; I too went in for a Nokia only.

But this time during my India trip, when my mom told “ei dekho tomar pocha cell”,(see your rotten cell) I really shouted at her. But alas, she was not alone. Many were laughing at my N500 and when I showed it to one of my dearest friends, and told, see the best cell ever created, I just got a pity smile in return.

Let me brag about N500 a bit. Consider only the non polyphonic, single colour display mobiles. I think there is nobody to beat it in that league. Even the color phones minus cameras. This phone has absolutely no sharp edge. Rather it doesn’t have an edge at all, and that gave it the winning edge which nobody except the users of N500 understood.

It has a multicolor keypad and will put even aurora boreal to shame when it glows in the dark. There is white light, blue light, green and red. To add to it, what they call the service color. Its an small LED in a corner just like the “Kahin nazar na lag jaye” tika. Only thing is that it’s not the black tika but it gives u a choice of 6 colors there also.

Believe me, it has got the lightest battery too.

And how can I forget the ocean blue background color of display? It’s the best blue possible. I remember once I had lost my cell (actually I had left it at a restaurant and Umesh took it without telling me). I was in tears for almost 5 hours after which when umesh gave it to me, and the blue color came up n the screen, it was a joy I can’t express in words.

The only close second in that range is Panasonic GD 92. It had the same great blue colors, the keys are just the same and it has unique 4 background color option which people can match with their moods. And it was long and has the smallest cross section and it shape resembles ….( ask the people who use it)

Now my N500 lies, in some tiny drawer in my Barasat house, covered with a coat of dirt. But I have still scratched it at places and brought out its true color. When you try to make a call from that, you have to hit it on its head. But still it’s the best and I will never ever loose it for anything.