Bottoms at The Sea

Every morning at seven, I get up to look at my view of the sea. In a high-rise I may live, but it does overlook the Harbour bay of Bombay, and at that time the sun is reflecting off the water.

It is also reflecting off about fifty bare bottoms.

You see, at this time of the morning the men from the nearby housing complex take an easy stroll down to the rocks that make up the sliver of coastline here, and, in a nice relaxed fashion, squat and make their toilet facing the waves. After ten minutes (sometimes more) of meditative motions, they wash in one of the rock-pools, and head off to work. It’s a good way to start the day.
There’s no embarrassment, though each man will give his neighbour a correct space. A few will be more modest than the others by hunkering down near the swampy bushes, but many are as exposed as they can be as they squat down right out at the point where the waves are coming in.
The people who live in my block are, of course, furious. Some, from the safety of our compound, even hurl small pebbles at the men to discourage them – but the men take little notice.

I suppose I too should be outraged.

However, to tell the truth, I don’t much care. When I asked one of the men why he did it, he told me that the complex’s “toilets stink” (which is true) and that, anyway, he liked to come out here in the morning air.
To be honest, I also couldn’t see much harm in it. The water of the bay ebbs and flows, and around noon, all the men’s droppings are submerged – and then carried away as the waters ebb in the afternoon.
As for the offence to my sensibilities… I’ve seen worse things at sea, as the saying goes. I must admit I’d read VS Naipaul’s ‘Area of Darkness’ in which he claims to be disgusted by men defecating by the side of the road, but then I must say I think Naipaul is sometimes a bit pompous.

But then, one day, I got roundly ticked off.

Apparently “open defecation” (the most widely-used term for this in India) is a Bad Thing. At a party (where else would one talk loudly about faeces?) I was told by a rather upset woman that open defecation in fields in rural India polluted water-courses and caused a terrible toll in cases of diarrhoea and children’s diseases.
I had not known this.

But I did wonder – what is the difference between human excreta and animal excreta? Is human excrement in fields so much worse than animal? I did not like to ask her.
This issue is relevant, as the government – according to the newspapers – intends to make India “open-defecation free” by 2012. They will be providing literally millions of domestic toilets. The sanitary-ware industry in this country must be jumping for joy.

Now, I hope I’m not quite stupid. In areas where human beings live densely together, good sanitation is of course absolutely essential for community health. And, if villagers excrete into a pool, then I can see that will pollute water.
But if a farmer and his family excrete using a field latrine-area and then dig soil over the results, what is the issue? And if a few men take their morning toilet on the sea-line, will that really foul up an (already filthy!) bay of Bombay?

Really, I would like to know the answer. I searched on the internet for quite a long-time, wading through reports knee-deep in… well… facts, but not for the first time, the internet could not find me an exact answer. Can someone explain why ALL open defecation is bad?


And for my next blog topic: ...urination!


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