Dear Dr. Rajan,
That was a lovely, short and sweet comment (wish you had
also posted it on the TOI website!) Your last para reminds
me of an essay on the virtues of an Indian "bucket bath" v/s
the British public baths, by Kaa Na Subramaniam. It was
hilarious. We had discussed it with the authour at an 'Asian
Writers Workshop' held at India International Centre, Delhi
way back in 1977.
Rgds, v
To Goanet -
Valmiki Faleiro wrote:
The 'Times of India' article at the link below makes
interesting reading. Pretty sure Rajan Parrikar wouldn't
find a common thread between the national trait and
Goa!
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/LEADER_ARTICLE_We_Do_Things_Differently/articleshow/2908280.cms
Valmiki-bab,
Very quickly - I skimmed through the TOI article.
As soon as I saw the author was from JNU and a
sociologist to boot, I knew we would be wading
in hooey.
The Western standards of personal hygiene
and civic cleanliness are relatively recent. Up
until the mid-nineteenth century, Europe
was a filthy sty. Personal habits were
abysmal - the number of times King Louis XIV
bathed in his entire life is said to be less than 10.
Ladies thought nothing of relieving themselves
publicly at his social functions (if I correctly
recall, he once slipped on urine and broke a
bone or two). Garbage would be tossed out
of windows onto the streets and so on. There
are books written on the evolution of Western
hygiene and standards of cleanliness.
And oh - at the beginning of the 20th C
there was a public call to people in England
to bathe at least once a week, in which it was
pointed out that "even the benighted Indians
take bath once a day." To which an Englishman
responded: "Since the Indians are unclean to
begin with they need to take frequent baths
whereas we don't."
Quotes above paraphrased from memory.
Regards,
r
