Toilet

I am not going to talk about Akshay khanna starrer film about the toilet in Indian orthodox households. My story is about this topic in the Nextflix show called "Grace and Frankie"

Grace and Frankie are older women. They know each other and dislike each other for centuries as their husbands are buddies. But now they are forced to cohabit and befriend,  because Robert and Sol- their husbands have decided to leave them and marry each other. 

Yes, they are and were gay for all these years. 

And diametrically opposite Grace and Frankie fight a lot in the beginning, then become friends, then best friends blah.. blah.. blah. 

But now comes the interesting part.  One day Grace realizes she can not get up from her commode. She can't possibly shout out "ma... I am done, wash me". Because her mom - bless her soul, is in a better place. She can’t call her newly married spouse. It will be too embarrassing.  She can't use her hands and manoeuver, get up too. 

She notices at a statue in her front and throws her shawl to it and gets up using shawl as a rope. 

I can totally relate. Though I can get up from a commode unassisted, as of now, I can’t  from Indian toilets. 

That is yet another reason why I hesitate to visit relatives. The first reason being social anxiety. 

We go there, we talk a bit. We eat a wonderful meals served with lots of love and affection. But at some point, I have to pee. And they will have Indian toilet. I can with some difficulty squat on such a toilet. But how do I get up. I can't even use my hands to lift me up as I would do when squatting on floor. I can't call my relative "Dear lady, thank you for your hospitality. Now please come and lift me up from my misery. Oh, I can't open the door for you, as I can't reach it unless I get up.". You see the tragic ridiculousness of the situation. Old age is cruel.  

Coming back to Netflix show, when Grace narrates this story to her best friend, Frankie devices a new idea "a commode which lifts one  up when one  done  business". 

That got me thinking. I wouldn't want to sit on that. If the seat on which I sit, lifts me up and hurls me out, I would be too scared to death. Why can't they use some handle? But the handle should be in front of the commode. Which is in the thin air? Not possible. They could use a hanging ropey thing next to the commode - like what they have in our public buses in India. Or there can be a stand with rods fixed next to the toilet in the bathroom.