The Three S's of India...and a few more

India is a different place, and thus, everyday tasks back home become new experiences over here. I figured someone must be interested in how one goes about the three S's in India, so I decided to write about it. Of course, India is a big place and there are certainly more ways of doing these things than I present here, but nonetheless, this is my current situation.

1. Using the bathroom

Really nothing much of note, except for one big, awesome change...no toilet paper! I'm happy to report that I haven't used toilet paper once while here in India. You see, there's really no need. Indians have come up with a much better, greener, and cleaner method of going to the bathroom.

The standard toilet in Rishikesh

The key is that little black spout. One does their business and when finished, you simply turn on the spigot next to the toilet (in the top left of the photo) and out comes a nice burst of water to clean your rear end. As my buddy says, "toilet paper dries you out, this is very good for skin hydration." You drip dry and off you go. It is really quite pleasant and requires no sacrificed trees! 

2. Showering

Toilets, sinks, and showers all share the same room in a residential bathroom in Rishikesh. The walls are tile up to your chest and the water is stopped from going out of the door by a piece of wood and the door. It's quite interesting and very multi-functional. 

The Geyser

Whole home water heaters are not common. Rather most bathrooms have their own water heaters called "geysers." The on-off switch is usually on the outside, at least in rented rooms or hotels (as it is in mine). That way, if you leave it on, the hotel owner can shut it off after you've fallen asleep. The picture shows a shower head, fairly standard. The caveat is that the hot water doesn't come out of the shower head. 

Rather, the hot water comes out of the spigot below the shower head. Therefore, taking a shower in my bathroom consists of filling up the blue bucket with hot water and little bit of cold water. Then, I use the Oakland A's themed smaller water jug to pour water over myself to shower. It's actually quite nice and wastes much less water then letting the shower blast while you soap up and reflect on life. 

When you're all done with your shower, of course the bathroom floor is soaked. You take the squeegee and get the floor pretty dry, pushing the water into a drain hole in the corner of the bathroom. The sink also drains into this same hole. 

Furthermore, the blue bucket also is your washing machine. You can buy bars of dry laundry detergent that you put into the bucket of clothes and warm water, mix it up, and hang it out to dry. Works great!

The bathroom in India is really so much more, and much less wasteful than in the states.

3. Shave

By far the best of the three S's, I went today to get my first shave. I've tried to get a shave over the past two days but the barber next door was visiting his family in a village in the hills. I've never had a shave in a barber shop before so I was real excited to experience it in India where it is much more commonplace than in the states.

You sit in the chair and the barber massages your face with some cream. Then he paints shaving cream on your face with precision and accuracy. Lifting up my nose to get my pitiful moustache, he applied and re-applied a think layer of cooling cream. After many applications of shaving cream, he cracked open a new razor and with the hands of a man with a plan, gave me the closest shave I've ever had. He lifted up skin to get that spot, moved my head to get another. He shaved me not once, but twice. Then he cleaned my face and applied some aftershave. I figured it was over until he wiped off the aftershave, applied yet another cream and massaged my face again. Finishing up, he applied more aftershave with a little final rub. Whew, fresh as a daisy. The total cost was 50 rupees - $1.00...and that was the foreigner price. I can't wait for my facial hair to grow back just enough to warrant another shave.

The local barbershop.
Often, there's a gang of men packed in, talkin' shop.

Here's a few other S's that I've come across in India.

4. Shirt

Not too exciting but I needed a cooler shirt than my thick cotton shirts so I went three doors down and had one hand tailored. It was cool to pick out the fabric and design, then get all measured up. A few hours later, voila...a custom shirt. The shirt was 500 rupees - 10 dollars...not too shabby.

The coolest part about this shirt is that one side has a big pocket built in...what a functional design!

5. Scaffolding

The silliest of the S's, across the street from my apartment, many men are re-building a hotel/restaurant. Indian construction, at least in the smaller towns, is pretty wild. Mules transport a concrete mixture to the construction site where builders mix it with water and carry it to where they need it in big saucers on their head. From there, bricks are pasted together. It is a slow and arduous process, but the building is coming together. What really blew my mind was the scaffolding. It's cool to know that people are still building using scaffolding made of wood and held up by rope joints...but sketchy! 

Well, that's all I have for the S's...thanks for indulging me! Until next time...