Bathtub Blues!!

You must be wondering whatever could be making me write the title as Bathtub Blues!!

I have always liked the idea of a Bathtub. Never stopped wondering why there is no standard practice of a bathtub fixture in Indian bathrooms. Again this never mattered really because, I never got a chance to see one in most houses.

Our house in Muscat presently has a bathtub. Wow!! was my first reaction. Then, when it came to the practicalities of filling up the tub with unimaginable volumes of water, we decided not to use it at all. When you live in places where water is billed, you must understand that it is only prudent to use resources frugally, especially resources like water. It may seem like we are contributing to keep treated water resources intact for the country, but honestly to spend on water ( still unbelievable) is very difficult for us India-bred people.

So, that said, the bathtub remains where it is and we are going about using the rest of the fixtures in the bath room. One day, I looked carefully ( for the first time) to see that there were a lot of brown patches in the huge bathtub. The rest of the bathroom looked spic and span and for some reason my eyes didnt mind this brown color all these days, I guess. On a close look, I figured out that though unused, dirt patches do get accumalated in the bathtub.

I set out cleaning the bathtub. It seemed larger than I can handle and the effort seemed too much at the first look. So, I scrubbed one half of it and finished cleaning it. The feel-good factor was good. The next day, did the second half. The feel-good improved. It is not complete yet because the brown patches keep coming back and it is not practical to spend lots of water on cleaning a tub that you do not use at all. So, I have decided to do this thorough scrubbing only once a month and as part of the everyday cleaning, I pour plain water with Antiseptic to keep it germ free.

After I was finished with the seemingly toughest task,I wondered why I was feeling like I have done the major task of the day.

Answer was simple: I am paying heavily for what I have not done!!!! We all hate to be blamed or punished for what we are not responsible. Isn't it true? That is exactly the case with the bathtub. I clean a bathtub that we don't use.

If I can accept cleaning an unused bathtub for my own home-making policies and hygiene reasons, why do I hate to be blamed/punished for what I am not responsible? Wonder why there is no acceptance in such cases with all of us?

Bathtub Blues ended up as a major question mark in my mind. I guess, the next time I am faced with any situation where I have to take a blame for something that I have not done, after an initial effort of convincing people, I guess I will remember the bathtub and keep quiet. Sometimes we need to do certain things just to keep our policies and personal hygiene ( read mental hygiene here).

As an aside, I wonder why in places where water is paid for, people have such resource-wise expensive bathroom fixtures? And why in countries like India, where water was an easy-to-get resource in the past, bathtubs have never been in practice?