Rains make Chennai very strange

Strange is the ways of the world...

True story this,,

As you all no, Chennai has been under severe weather strains and i have said enough bout the nastiness of the same to the people around me, but anyway, i will recount the strange ways of the people of this city, particularly of the people living in and around Srinivasa Murthy Avenue. Adyar

Water stagnation is a common problem in our city and our street is no different. What is different is that our street actually has pavements, which surprisingly people don't use. Now, because of the rains, the streets are flooded and well one would assume that footpath would be put to good use. But, here is the snag. Couple of days back(last Friday) i think, the street was ankle deep in water. There was this lady who was walking a bit ahead of me. Now when you see ankle deep water and a very narrow patch of dry area(adjoining to a house) what do you do? Take the narrow path right? Yes the path is narrow, one needs to maneuver a bit carefully so as not to slip and fall. But nevertheless, it is the easier path right? But no, this lady waddled in the water the entire stretch of the road, by now i had caught up with her in the sense, i was walking on the narrow pathway and she was in the middle of the road. She saw me, but made no move to come to the dry land. So i thought, maybe she likes to waddle in water..

Then today, due to late night showers the roads were flooded but not that much. Again i took the footpath, but there was this middle aged man who was walking ahead of me in water. I crossed him, he saw me but continued to walk on water. (;p) 

Now, could it be coincidence that these 2 people enjoy waddling and getting wet in dirty murky water? No, This is a phenomena very common on the streets, I have noticed this couple of times elsewhere too. I seek the dry patches. Willing to climb parapets to remain dry but people continue to splash around in muck. 

Truly, Strange is the way of the city of Chennai. 

Seat up! Seat down! Seat around around and around!

Ok. I am a girl. For clarification. No no.. Not invoking Britney Spears. Lets dive in!


As far back as i can remember, i have always left my seat up. What seat? Toilet seat of course. I, as a rule sit on the ceramic part of the potty and not on the plastic. Is that too much information? Well this article is about toilet etiquette.

My backside will weep blood if sit on the plastic for long, and as all my friends/family will vouch, i do take my time in the potty. Not because i have irregular bowels, that too, but often because i read in the potty. :) So if i sit on the plastic for as long as i do, the elliptical shape of the seat will forever be etched on my backside. Now that is not a good prospect. I don't really remember when is started doing that, and i never really paid attention to it, until one Friends episode made me think. Sometime in the later part of the series, don't really remember which season accurately, Rachel asks Joey to put the seat down after finishing his business.   When i saw that episode i thought "Hy, Whats that about toilet seat?" and i figured she (Rachel) was talking about the exterior rim.

Flash forward to 2009.

My roommate during my master's in the US, one day randomly pointed out
"Mri, you do it like a man"
"Excuse me"
"You leave the seat up, like a man"
(See, we have separate toilets, 2 people, 2 bedrooms, 2 toilets. Her's attached, mine not. I was brushing my teeth when she walked by and decided to make this super astonishing statement.After that day, i never leave my toilet door open. Ever. )
"What man?"
"Mri, usually when men use the toilet, they sit on the ceramic, and leave the toilet seat up after"
"Oh?... Oh!" Now i get what rachel meant.
"So, you don't sit on the ceramic?"
"Nope" and she walked off, leaving me in a very pensive mood.

Since then, i have made it  a point to ask my friends/family at random times if they sit on the ceramic, and at all times the reply was "nope". So does that mean i am the only one  that "Does it like a man". Who decided what etiquette men and women must follow when they poo?No one ever told me that I as a girl should sit on the plastic. Do parents teach their children that? I obviously cannot be alone on this issue right?

After all the huffing and puffing and little cursing, i am  just glad that i was able to get it out of my system. Here is where one use the phrase, "The end justifies the means" and it would be just so perfect.


P.s: These days though i am very glad i sit on the ceramic. Imagine while using a public toilet, I will sit on the cleaner part after wiping it with tissue of course and the rest? Yada yada. Even thinking about it makes me go eewwww...Ahahaha.