This write-up has been some time in the making. This is an issue that gets to me 20 times a day. One thing I notice incessantly going on all around me with studied determination - in the most populous and busy areas of the town - no matter what time of the day - men peeing publically! Ironically, it is less prevalent in the scantily populated areas- I am yet to see a guy up to his business near secluded Varthur lake. I can conclude that there is a need to feel safely surrounded by teeming masses while publically urinating- totally understandable, dont you think? After all, privacy should be the last thing on your mind when the urge to pee strikes...
But why am I noticing it so specifically? I have seen it before, haven't I? This is not unfamiliar. Public urination is quite the norm in India - happens all the time. Peeing against a wall, peeing against a tree, peeing as they squat, peeing as they stand, hell- peeing standing on their heads... men do it publically all the time. So why am I just a little shocked?
Is it the sheer numbers? Has the number of pee-ers increased substantially in the last 13 years that I have been away? The well- known burgeoning middle class of India - have they been reproducing like rabbits? - and specifically producing public pee-ers? Surely it is the population density - while occupying a little over 2.5% of the land mass of the world, India supports over 15% of the world population.
Another well known fact that may be impacting this - the skewed gender ratio. More males than females - and hence, more standing pee-ers who are more noticeable to an average observer passing by. Proud mothers produce male offspring and also possibly train them to be as obvious as possible when struck by the slightest need to empty their bladder.
I am sure another factor also is the intrinsic lack of patience in the populace. Whether you are in the middle of traffic or navigating your beaten down car down a pot-holed road or on an abandoned road with nobody else but that other car which is a mile away - they will honk at you! Move on, they tell you -- we don't have time for your safety related shenanigans. What is the most that can happen to you? You may go down with your car into a ball of flames? Oh well!
When it is morning, they can't wait for it to be lunch time... when it is lunch, they can't wait to get into bed! It is always the promise of the future that eggs them on - there is no time to realize that right here, right now - we are in the present -- and it is an intolerable, smelly mess that we have created or added to! So, when it comes to the slightest whiff of a drop or two of pee descending into the bladder -- they have to get it out! Right here, right now!
Also I wonder - is it subliminally cultural? Is it macho to pee in public? Is it a male bonding mechanism? In which case, there must be an implicit pact that if a guy wants to express his high level of comfort and familiarity with another, they pee together in public. Because another phenomenan is that there seem to be multiple pee-ers locating themselves close to each other. Do they know each other? Or do they just cluster together because birds of the same feather flock together?
And then - the biology aspects of this. Kidneys filter about 2 liters of waste products from the body every single day. So, does that mean - Indian males have too many diuretics in their diet - elevating the desire to urinate? Either way, it has got to be a male thing - because I have never seen a female join the legion of public pee-ers. The reason to explore the diuretic angle is that I compare their bladder control (or lack there of) to that of my seven yr old boy - who has the ability to hold it in until he gets to a pre-specified peeing area - aka a bathroom or lavatory or restroom.
Of course lastly, the civic angle - or the lack there-of! But that may be the last thing on everyone's mind. Especially when confronted with the biology aspect of the situation.
Just some casual observations - no further comments and no call to action!
Sunday, November 15, 2009
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