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VOL. XXIV NO. 9, August 16-31, 2014
Our Readers write

Hope for Kelly

Indian civilisation never had toilet culture. Men defecataed and urinated wherever they liked. River beds and canals served to wash themselves, Coconut groves and mango groves also served as toilets. Some four or five decades ago, you could see people washing their bottoms in canals or rivers after defecating and a few yards away people washing their clothes and further down many bathing.

Crude toilets were provided for women in the backyards of their houses to ease themselves. The excreta would be collected manually by scavengers early mornings. Visiting villages was a nightmare for city dwellers as they were unused to easing themselves in open. Not that city toilets were any better. They had walls and roofs. That was all. Flushouts were unheard of.

When people migrated to big cities in search of jobs, they had no option but to defecate in open in the absence of toilets. They felt shy for some time, but nature’s calls were too compelling and they would slowly shed their inhibitions. Women were not so lucky.That was Indian civilisation.

Things are definitely improving. The concept of regular toilets has taken root and the need for cleanliness and hygiene is now part of early school education and we can already see youngters sticking to decent methods. Only the old people still cling to ancient ways. More and more conveniences are being provided all over the country.

Kerala has a better cleanliness consciousness and the State is much cleaner compared to Tamil Nadu or Andhra. Karnataka is also better. Tamil Nadu is incorrigible. It takes time for a civilisation to change itself after years of habits. The only thing uppermost in Indian minds was realising God and speculating about souls and hereafter. Nothing else mattered. Seal Paul Kelly (MM, July 16th) will find a better India, say, after fifty years.

T. Santhanam
tyagasanth@gmail.com

Getting it straight

It was Dr. Krishnamoorthy Srinivas, who was quoted in the article on the VHS (MM, July 16th), and not his son Dr. E.S. Krishnamoorthy, who is a Professor in the academic department. Further, Dr. Srinivas will be completing 50 years at VHS only in January 2015.

The errors are regretted.

Shobha Menon

* * *

The preface to the article on the American who danced with the Travancore Trio (MM, August 1st) says: “New Hampshire (USA), based Betsy Woodman, an alumna of Woodstock School, Mussoorie, is the author of three children’s books set in North India.” Betsy Woodman is a novelist, not a writer of children’s books! Her three books, the series on the adventures of Jana Bai, are set in a ‘fictional’ town in northern India. The latest book Emeralds Included was released in the U.S. in July 2014.

Also, her mother Ruth did not learn Bharata Natyam from the Travancore sisters, but along with them from their dance guru.

Vijaysree Venkatraman

* * *

The article Decentralise waste management (MM, June 16th) was written by Harsha Anantharaman of Transparent Chennai, and not by Sushila Natraj.

Avni Rastogi
Transparent Chennai
24, Kothari Road
Nungambakkam, Chennai

Editor’s Note: We regret the error.

***

A Commercial Break

The last time...

The last time what...

Don’t interrupt. The last time we had breakfast...

We have breakfast every day...

Allow me to speak. The last time we had breakfast..

Was yesterday. Last morning…

Will you allow me to speak?

OK. Go ahead.

The last time we had breakfast it was ...

Toast and eggs and the eggs...

You bought them.

No I didn’t,

You bought them from the new store at the corner

So what? It’s a brand new store and...

Maybe it’s a brand new store but the eggs were...

What was wrong with the eggs?

I didn’t say anything was wrong...

Then what did you want to say?

What I wanted to say was...

That the eggs were ...

Don’t interrupt me...

That the eggs were...

Rotten? I didn’t say that. Don’t you put words into my mouth.

Then what did you want to say?

What I wanted to say was that the eggs you bought at the new store round the...

Be brief please ...

I never interrupt you when you speak. So allow me to speak – What I wanted to say was that the eggs you bought from the new store round the corner were...

Rotten?

Not rotten. Don’t put words into my mouth. Did I ever say rotten when we last had breakfast?

No, you didn’t.

The eggs that were made into omelettes were...

Not made properly?

You’re putting words into my mouth again What I was about to say was that the omelette was good...

Then what’s your complaint?

Allow me to complete...

Go ahead, go on...

The omelette was excellent but the...

If the omelette was good the eggs couldn’t be bad. Stands to reason

Allow me to explain. You are always interrupting

OK. So the omelette was good but the eggs were...

The omelette was good, the eggs bought at the new store were good but...

Come to the point. What’s your complaint?

I’m not complaining. Just stating a fact. If you allow me to speak.

Go ahead, state your facts and be brief.

Don’t interrupt. I never interrupt you when you speak. What I was saying was when you kept interrupting me that the eggs were good, the omelette was good but...

Just then the doorbell rang. The expected visitors had arrived.

The two siblings listened to their parents with amusement.

One said, “This comes from watching TV debates all the time.”

The other said, “Mercifully, our parents have been forced to slip into a break because of the visitors.”

Radha Padmanabhan

Editor’s Note: Ranjitha Ashok appears to have got everyone talking (or is it writing?) in verse.

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OUR ADDRESSES

In this issue

Vanishing water
Revitalising conservation traditions
Madras Landmarks - 50 years ago
How slow can renewal get?!
Madras Week Special
Madras Week programmes
J.J. COTTON – Recorder non-pareil
Letters across the seas
Madras fabric

Our Regulars

Short 'N' Snappy
Readers Write
Quizzin' With Ram'nan
Madras Eye

Archives

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