Morning Potty has always been a time for thought... I have always found them to be my most creative and imaginative thought process time... It's almost as if you are asleep and dreaming solutions to your everyday problems or searching for an inner meaning to even the smallest of things in life that you wud usually ignore...
Right from my childhood days of indian commode habits I remember using this time to experiment with my various muscles and joints, in my legs, trying to see how long they hold still, when exactly do they start hurting, how much water I am using and how efficiently can I use the water while I also keep a constant flow to keep the commode from drying up...
Recently facebook, whatsapp and ebook readers (and some games too yes) have stolen this precious time from my brain exercise schedule I realise...sadly...
Potty in this era of smartphones, has changed from being 'an extremely private and intimate time spent by a person completely inside their head and body, pushing out creative thoughts and 'not so creative' (some may disagree) body excrements' to a time when we connect with family and friends...
It is not even funny anymore and in many cases true even, if you were to imagine your friend on their respective bathrooms and replying to your messages and watching the videos you shared...which is sad... Not just because it's not funny...
That said, try as I may, my hand automatically picks up my smartphone the minute I feel my bladder full or my rectum signal...
Times when I realize my battery is dead but I need to potty are almost emergencies where I borrow Suresh's phone shamefacedly (for the fact that I forgot to charge it).
From a girl who never opened her mouth to respond to any questions/conversations or provocations from outside the door while at potty to one who utilises her time on the potty connecting with people vie e-media is quite a (still quiet) transformation that I believe many women of my age and era wud agree...
And in fact this blog and the thoughts for it started this morning while at potty...
Now what prompted me to write was a little insect I killed because I couldn't watch it buzzing around me... All I had to do was pour a few drops of water over it and it fell down twitching. Then I couldn't watch it die nor accept that I did something that bad that I was torn between letting it go and ending its suffering (yes mahatma's words - or so I have been told - echoed in my mind) and I poured more water on it swearing (for the thousandth time in my life) that I wud never do that again...
So I was going to post on FB at once of my
Morning Potty realisation #10000 or something...
One who controls the urge to kill an insect just because it's buzzing around or in sight is a person of supreme self control!
One who does not feel the need in the first place to kill an insect just because it's buzzing around or in sight is a saint!
One who tries to get the insect out or find a way to let it out without harming it is a supreme being!
This does not include non veg food. I am talking about killing insects just because you see them or because they are flying around (and again you see them)...
(Based on the famous padayappa lyrics of the song 'vetrikkodikattu')
(Lines of the song)
இன்னொர் உயிரைக் கொன்று புசிப்பது மிருகமடா!
இன்னொர் உயிரைக் கொன்று ரசிப்பது அரக்கனடா!
யாருக்கும் தீங்கின்றி வாழ்பவன் மனிதன்...
ஊருக்கே வாழ்ந்து உயர்பவன் புனிதன்!!
(Lines of the song transliterated)
Innor uyiraikkondru pusippadu mirugamada!
Innor uyiraikkondru rasippadu arakkanada!!
Yaarukkum theengindri vaazhbavan manidan!
Oorukkae vaazhnthuyarbavan punidan!!
(Lines of the song translated)
Who kills another life (form) to eat is an animal!
Who kills another life (form) and enjoys is a demon!
Who lives without harming another life (form) is a human...
Who lives for (the good of) other life (forms) is divine!
But then it also occurred to me that even this has an exception. Two... No some exceptions... Or may be I am just not a person of supreme self control.
And in my mind the exceptions are:
Mosquitos
Cockroaches
Rats/Some viscious spiders and poisonous insects where it's either that dead, or you!!
Definitely in that order...
Definitely won't add lizards to the list...they are NOT harmful usually...
Thankfully though, for now I don't suffer the exceptions... But I know this is a global problem... Like poverty and illiteracy...
So there goes my Morning Potty Realisation for the day number #ohsomanythatidontkeeptrack