Where
Jerry and I come from toilet paper is such a basic and essential item
of every day life that we do not even stop to think about it not
being the same everywhere in the world. We in the Western world are
accustomed to the fact that in the supermarket the question is not
whether they have toilet paper but it is more that you get
overwhelmed with the assortment. It is not only that you can choose
between different softness and thickness (2, 3 or 4-ply) but you can
also choose a colour to match your bathroom and on top of that you
can even get it with a scent of your favourite flowers or fruit. Just
before travelling to India on our visit to Croatia we tested both
violet and peach scented toilet paper. I must confess I am rather
partial to violet scented paper.
This
plentitude of choice of toilet paper types is not necessary the case
in India. In India the majority of people, irrespective of religion caste
or class, tend to wash after they use the toilet. Most of the toilets are
either equipped with a mini toilet shower or the good old method of a
bucket of water with a splashing can, which means that mostly there
is no toilet paper in public toilets and sometimes not even in
people's houses. In the big cities like Mumbai or tourist places like
Fort Cochin in Kerala many convenience stores are stocking and
selling toilet paper, mind you, mostly one brand only, well trusted ''Royal'' 2 ply, strong, soft
Well,
Jerry and I have found ourselves in one such village in Kannur
province of North Kerala. For two weeks we were staying in a house in
the village of Edakkad (see the earlier blog ''Tropical Paradise ...or
not?''). When we arrived to the house there were still a couple of
rolls of paper in the toilet so no worries there. However as the
first week progressed our supply started getting thin and we went to
the village, as one does, to get some shopping done including the
toilet paper. To our surprise the first store did not have any toilet
paper. Well, OK that could happen, one can run out of stock. We went
to the second store, and they also had none. By this point we started
getting slightly suspicious that maybe, just maybe, no store in this
village stocked toilet paper as it did not seem to be anything that
the locals would make use of on the regular basis. We were working
our way through the village towards our temporary home asking in
every store on the way whether they had toilet paper and no store had
it. Our last hope was the convenience store closest to the house
where we were familiar with the friendly owner. We entered his small
shop full of hope only to hear another no, but then proactively the
shopkeeper offered us paper napkins. By this time we were ready to
take anything made of paper, so happily we purchased a packet of
simple white serviettes or tissues as Indians refer to them. They were
nothing to write home about as far as softness and comfort were
concerned but there was a surprise waiting to be discovered. When I
opened the packet ready to make use of them, to my surprise a scent
wafted from the packet. An unintentional scent, I believe, as it smelt
of garam masala commonly referred to, in the West, as curry!
I guess we
could count our blessings: not only were we lucky to find some kind of
paper that we were able to use instead of toilet paper but it came
with a free scent.
Additionally,
this experience serves as a little reminder for me, Gordana, that when you
travel in different cultures nothing is to be taken for granted, not
even such simple thing as toilet paper
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