JOIN USI have heard of paperless offices and experienced them too. But waterless loos? Well, 21 days in Europe exposed me to this harsh reality. Not that Europe has shortage of water that has forced them to go in for tapless toilets but they prefer paper to water. And for a die-hard Indian like me it was blasphemous to use the roll.
True, my daughter had warned me about such a predicament before I emplaned for a five-nation trip but somehow I had not taken it seriously. It was only when I checked into a hotel at London, my first halt in the European yatra, that I realised the gravity of the situation.
The toilet was spotlessly clean – in fact embarrassingly clean from Indian standards and to be frank did not feel like dirtying it by using it. But then in life you cannot avoid lavatory and cemetery. So I was forced to step in and close the door. But hey! Where is the bucket? And the mug? All that I could spot was a roll of toilet paper hanging from the wall. I was horrified yes but I had to find a solution as time was running out. I needed a bucket and a mug but surely could not phone the room service and place an order for the two vital necessities.
How do I explain to them why they were needed? I had to be fast, innovative and practical. I dashed out and looked around the room and a plastic waste paper basket under the table caught my eye. I transported it to the toilet. Half eureka! 50 per cent of the problem had been solved. The hunt for the mug ended with the water bottle that the airlines had given me during the flight. I let off a sigh of relief loud enough to reach the reception desk. But wait, there was no water yet. So I had to barge into the bathroom to fill the WB with water from the wash basin and rush back to the WC to complete the formalities. While going out for sight-seeing it dawned on me that the WB was still in the WC. What if the hotel cleaning staff find the odd positioning of the WB and started enquiries? So I had to restore the WB into its original slot – i.e. under the table.