To pee, or not to pee

To pee, or not to pee, that is the question –

It’s been hours. The pressure was building up. So is regret over the recent glass of sugarcane juice with ice. But for the moment, things are in control.

I looked for a proper place to mind my business. The footpath was the first thing that came to my mind. Why? I don’t know why. It's my male instincts perhaps. Humans have been shaped by millions of years of evolution to relieve themselves on a tree trunk and walk away as if no one noticed. That's who we are. (Of course, by humans I mean human males)

Now some people consider doing it 'out in the open' like that a disgusting habit. I understand why they feel that way. Just step out of your house for half an hour anywhere in this country, you'll see a Desi Dude urinating on a wall. That wall is part of someone's house. A house with TV serial sounds, filter coffee smells, Sai Baba calendars and an old women in the living room.

But that makes no difference to the Desi Dude. The Desi Dude doesn't give a shit. As far as number one is concerned, Desi Dude is like Tuco from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

 
"Don't be that guy! Things are still in control. There is enough time to find a proper place", the rational part of my brain assured me. I walked past a row of independent houses combed apart by narrow lanes. I could sense a public toilet fifty yards away.

Now public toilets are not for the faint-hearted or the sensitive-nosed. I am both. This one was like a fortified castle with a protective moat. Except that the castle is a modest PWD construction with questionable water supply. And the moat is filled with unidentified organic material in various stages of decomposition.

After inspecting the toilet from a safe distance, the idea of peeing on a stranger’s house sounded more appealing. Moments like these make me feel thankful for being male. Being a man is clearly better than being a woman. It is considered rude to say it out loud but that is the truth. We have outdoor options!

I searched for an appropriate wall, preferably one that belonged to the Central Government. Why the Central Government? I don't know. Instincts again. Pissing on the Central Government seemed like a right thing to do.

And so I did. It was a good spot. No street lighting and right next to the staircase where everyone spits. I stood under the starlit sky amidst croaking toads, fluttering moths and cricketing crickets. And sprayed my Mountain Dew coloured wizz on the concrete wall. Blisssss.

Okay, before you start judging me with the usual 'Being an educated person blah blah blah-muppaavala...' let me assure you that this has nothing to do with my education. It is human nature. When people have a choice between the responsible thing to do and the convenient thing to do, they always do the convenient thing.

Imagine you're on your way to the grocery store. You're in the parking lot. You put on your helmet and then realized that you forgot to carry the jute bag. Do you go back to the apartment to get the jute bag? No way!

You know that's the responsible thing to do but you have to take off the helmet, park the bike in a corner, wait for the elevator, go to the fourth floor, unlock your house, search for the jute bag, lock your house again... It’s too much effort. It's not difficult. It is inconvenient. You'd rather pay the grocer two rupees extra for a polythene bag. We all do.

Or look at weddings. There are a thousand guests at the reception. And everyone gets their own little half a litre bottle of Bisleri. What the fuck is happening there? It's a sanitized wedding hall. With food, flowers, family and friends. Not an RTC bus. We can drink water there. The caterer is already serving 24 items in steel buckets using steel ladles. He can surely handle a few more steel jugs and steel glasses.

But he doesn't. Because it is extra work. The glasses have to be washed, dried, counted, stacked and maintained. Thankless work. Because there is always an off chance that some fussy wedding guest will find a little smudge inside a glass and make a big deal out of it.

The caterer doesn't want to take that risk. The bride's father doesn't want to deal with that shit. And so 3000 bottles of plastic are permanently buried in mother earth's belly. All of them from a single wedding party.

The wedding lasts for 2 days. The marriage, maybe for 40 years but the plastic? 50,000 years! That's not a very bright thing to do as a species. But it is convenient.

You cannot argue against convenience. We rarely face situations where we have to choose between good and evil in the course of our boring lives. Most of our choices are between responsibility and convenience.

Standing in the queue at the RTO office is responsible. Hiring an agent who will “manage” the process is convenient. Exercising regularly is a responsibility. Sitting on the couch and ordering pizza is convenience. Paying attention to human beings in the room is polite. Staring into our phones is convenient.

Speaking the truth may be the right thing to do. But lying to avoid awkward situations is convenient. Being nice to a stranger requires empathy. Being an asshole is incredibly convenient.

Chasing your dreams is risky. Holding on to that job is convenient. Risking rejection in a relationship takes balls. Stalking the girl online is convenient. Doing something about issues we care about is hard work. Twitter is convenient. Speaking out against injustice is the right thing to do. Silence is convenient.

Selfishness is convenient. Peer pressure is convenient. Giving up our privacy for an online discount coupon is convenient. Sending kids to IIT coaching is convenient. Times of India is convenient. Corruption is convenient. Hypocrisy is convenient. Consumerism is convenient. Patriotism is convenient. Obedience is convenient. Status quo is convenient!

And that is why the Desi Dude pees on the road. It has nothing to do with his education, qualification, culture, sun sign or conscience. Peeing on the road happens to be ridiculously convenient. I am not kidding. If women could, they totally would!

For the record, I am not condoning unabashed public urination. One should not pee on someone's house. I don't encourage that at all. I myself try not to. But if it is very very urgent and there are no good toilets around, what else are we supposed to do?

Convenience is the real enemy.

Flukonomics: Why all terrorists are muslim and more...

chapter 1: Lazy villagers sitting under a tree

There are infinite statistics about how 42% of the people in India live under BIPL (below international poverty line of $1.25 a day). Have you always wondered where all these people are?

source: http://www.kotaku.com.au/

If you go to a fairly backward village during the spring and summer months, there is a high probability that you see the majority of people working for only four hours a day and spend the afternoons sitting under a tree. doing nothing. There is also a high probability that you'll think to yourself that, “if they worked in the afternoons instead of sitting under a tree, they'd be out of poverty by now” It did not make sense that people are lazing around in the mornings and sleeping with a hungry stomach at night.

So I did a little bit of research and found some startling results. On an average, the working male from a poor family consumes about 1650 kilo-calories of food per day (that too a fairly imbalanced diet). We humans need about 600 kilo-calories per day just to keep our heart beating, our lungs breathing and other basic life functions going. That leaves about 1050 Kcal per day which is about four hours of physical work. So what we perceive as laziness is actually helplessness. They cannot afford to work for 8 hours a day which is why they are stuck in poverty!

Chapter 2: The myth of subsidies to farmers

Every time the budget is announced, it is not unusual for tax paying middle class people in urban areas to complain about the subsidies the rural farmers get in the form of water and electricity. So I did some more research to see if their complaint was justified.

source: http://www.pwconserve.org

As per govt policy, every person living in a rural area (source: Planning commission of India's report on Maharasthra) is entitled to a minimum of 40 liters of water per day whereas every person living in a city is entitled to 200 liters of water a day. (we actually flush 50 liters of water everyday!)

This is just the tip of the iceberg. The govt till date has invested Rs. 7000 per person on us (people in cities) to build and maintain infrastructure to give us our 200 liters of water a day whereas it has spent only 1600 per person in infrastructure to provide 40 liters a day per person in rural areas. If they get their 200 liters of water a day, they can use it for their cattle and grow kitchen gardens which will make them healthier (and eventually wealthier).

So the subsidies are in a way giving them their fair share!

Chapter 3: Why are all terrorists Muslim?

source: http://www.ahajokes.com

The answer to this is really simple. Because of the mainstream media! Yes, the mainstream media seems to have reserved the word “terrorist” exclusively for Jihadists. All others who are involved in terrorist activities are given a different name by the media. A name that sounds softer and better.

So terrorists in Jharkhand are called “Maoists” or “Naxals”. Terrorists in the north eastern states are called “militants”. Tamil terrorists in Sri Lanka are dubbed as “Tigers” while the Irish terrorists were “separatists”. The Israleli terrorists are “commandos” and the communist terrorists are “revolutionaries". Terrorists in Africa are “insurgents”, The cuban terrorists were “rebels”, the Hungarian ones were “extremists”, the Chinese terrorists are “radicals” and the American terrorists are “counter-insurgents”. Looks like the Jihadists have hijacked the word terrorist! 

P.S: Inspired by a quick reading of Super-freakonomics :)