JEREMY COPELAND:
The International Toilet Museum
CBC News Viewpoint | July 06, 2004 | More from Jeremy Copeland
http://www.cbc.ca/news/viewpoint/vp_copeland/20040706.html
Delhi is home to what may be the world’s only toilet museum. “You’re joking, right?” was how a German friend responded when I told him about the Sulabh International Museum of Toilets.
Like many people, I find it hard not to laugh and make jokes when talking about toilets, but in India, as in many other developing countries, sanitation is a deadly serious subject. If nothing else, a trip to the toilet museum will make you appreciate the access to toilets we take for granted in the West.
About 700 million people in India don’t have access to proper toilets. It’s a problem that not only looks and smells bad but also poses serious health risks. Untreated human waste can cause many diseases, including cholera, dysentery and diarrhea.
Despite the appalling situation India now finds itself in, it was, according to the Museum of Toilets, the first place in the world to have sanitary toilets in houses. As far back as 2500 BC a community along a northern Indian valley developed a drainage system where water from toilets in each house flowed into a main sewer.
Hinduism, the religion of about 800 million Indians, had written laws for toilet etiquette 3,500 years ago. There were practical rules that included the minimum distance one should be from rivers or water sources before urinating or defecating. There were also some unusual rules, including separate codes for married and unmarried people.
Here’s one example of a rule aimed at someone who is married: first one covers one’s head, and then “while observing silence and facing north in the day and south in the night one could defecate.”
The Romans took a more open approach to relieving themselves. As the man who guided me through the toilet museum not so eloquently pointed out, the Roman approach was apparently based on the philosophy that a country that dumps together stays together. They built public toilets where up to 200 people would sit along the edges of the room and relieve themselves while being entertained by musicians.
It took many parts of Europe more than 1,000 years to get anywhere nearly as organized about dealing with human waste. During medieval times people in many cities would simply empty their potties onto the street at night. Pigs were allowed to roam freely to deal with the waste.
India now lags far behind the West in sanitary matters. Here are some of the smelly facts:
India’s more than one billion people produce about 900 million litres of urine and 135 million kilograms of human waste per day. Many men pee against any old wall, even on busy streets. Anyone who has looked out a train window in India will have likely seen slum dwellers squatting by the tracks taking a dump. They have nowhere else to go.
Sulabh International, which runs the Museum of Toilets, is one of the organizations working to provide poor Indians access to toilets. Since 1970 Sulabh has constructed public toilet complexes across India, making more than one million toilets available.
There is a wide range of types of toilets in India. These include western sit-down style toilets, squat toilets and even toilets that look like western ones but have platforms built on either side of the seat so people have the option to climb up and squat.
There is a cultural gap in the use of toilets. I recently had a group of men come over and install air-conditioners in my apartment. It was a hot day and I gave them water while they worked. After a few hours the men left and it was only then that I discovered the mess they had left in my bathroom. It seems the Indian workers had mastered the art of flushing, but they hadn’t quite grasped the concept of lifting the toilet seat before doing a number one.
But I digress. The museum has many examples of entrepreneurs who over the years have tried different ways to improve the toilet. In 1929, an American electrician patented the first electric chamber pot for use on cold nights. In 1966, a Chicago hairdresser took out a patent for a toilet seat that had a built in “buttock-stimulator” for relieving constipation. Joseph Cayetty deserves special mention because in 1857 he invented that most important of bathroom accessories: toilet paper.
The most modern toilet on display in the museum is the Incinolet Electric Toilet. It was developed by the U.S. naval forces to be used in submarines. The toilet takes the W out of WC (water closet). After using the water-free toilet, you simply close the lid and press a button. Everything in the bowl is burned at 760 degrees Celsius and reduced to about one spoonful of odourless ashes.
The museum has a framed copy of a report from last April’s Hindustan Times about one of the most expensive toilet seats ever made. It was apparently a present Ben Affleck gave to Jennifer Lopez when they were engaged. The seat is adorned with rubies, sapphires, pearls and diamonds set in plastic so J-Lo’s bottom wouldn’t get scratched. The seat reportedly cost more than $100,000. According to the article Affleck told a friend, “Jennifer is my princess and she deserves only the best – even when it comes to toilets.”
I can’t help but wonder if Ben asked not only for his engagement ring but also his toilet seat to be returned when the famous couple broke off their engagement