Of course I am referring to the cleaning of the exit after the dump. No matter where you do it, in the open, on the side of the railway tracks, in your home loo or at your buddy's loo, I am sure you do clean up after the act.
The point of discussion, however is not the loo. It is the ritual of cleanup after the act. If you are an average Indian, it is pretty simple. You pick up a mug of water, roll up your sleeves of your left hand (in case you are lefty, then the right hand), and then with a rather unassuming air, splash water on the exit orifice and with a daft movement of the fingers clean it up.
So what's the interesting part you ask? well my dear friends, here lies the catch. Has it ever occurred to you to spare a moment and think about the direction from where you splash water on your orifice? You will say "Its pretty simple. Everybody splashes the water from the front/rear !!". Wait a minute, did you just say front/rear? Yes my friend, you can splash water from both directions.
Now I will share with you some of the findings of a rather scientific research and study that I conducted way back in college. I went around with a questionnaire and polled some 300 odd students, ladies included, on the splashing direction habit of people and to summarize:
- The number of people who splashed water from the rear is exactly the same as the number of people who splashed water from the front! It is one of those unexplained mysteries of the world. Nobody knows why, but it is evenly balanced. The day one faction outnumbers the other, it will be doomsday for sure!
- 90% of people who participated in the poll didn't even know that you can splash water from the other direction!
- 95% of the participants felt that splashing water from the other direction was practically impossible and couldn't understand why anyone would do it
- 50% of couples polled had opposite directions. It came as a major shock for all the couples
- People of different directions (amongst the same sex) were more likely to become good friends.
- Only a rare 1% polled were unidirectionally, which meant that they were adept at splashing water from both directions. All of them were high achievers in their field of study. Sign of genius??
- Left handers are more likely to splash water from the front, while right handers are pretty much adept at both directions
- A high 70% of the ladies polled, did it from the front.
- Western potty users are more likely to do it from the front
As for me, I do it from behind :-)
See you guys after my holiday!
