Some embarrassments last a life time.
This 4 year old boy was obviously toilet trained but it was his first week in the lower kindergarten and he was told he was getting late while he was taking it easy in the toilet accomplishing the only important mission of his day. The boy had no idea of what being late meant so he continued with his fantasies disregarding his father's shouts from the other side of the slightly ajar toilet door. At one point the shouts got pretty threatening for the boy and he decided to make a long affair short by simply sliding his pants up. The father was astonished that the boy could come out so quickly and suspecting that the last part of the job was left undone, questioned the boy about it. The boy lied. The father asked for the son to be inspected- full monty. And there it was in all its pristine glory- the job left undone. The rebuke that the boy got that day still reverberates in his ears, now in his fifties.
That boy, now the adult man that he is, reports that cleanliness has been a death and life matter for him and it rules his life beyond all known concepts of Godliness. He is petrified by any thing whatsoever that faintly suggests his being low on his self calculated cleanliness index - and this index keeps on scaling new heights every day. Obviously he is hard to live with and live upto for his family members now. The curse of cleanliness.
***
A sophisticated lady, then a prematurely retired consular staff, underwent a surgery that precluded getting up for toilets atleast within the first 12 hours after being out of general anaesthesia. The risk of a fall while one is groggy from the persistent after effects of anaesthetic drugs are significant and patients are routinely advised to be careful and ask for assistance for any toilet related calls. This was completely unacceptable to this lady and against all odds and with significant aggravation of pain in her operated part, she got up and finished her ablutions, minimally assisted by the attendants. Not only this, she had her bath, wetting her operative site dressing, much to my consternation.
Shyness and dogged insistence on personal but superhuman cleanliness was the drive behind this rather completely bypass-able situation. We will never know if she was embarrassed in her childhood; but chances are she came from a family of cleanliness freaks. The curse again.
***
Now about a freak himself. This man consulted me after having consulted a few doctors for a shoulder condition. He said he understood that his condition had only one solution- surgery. However, he said he could not tolerate personal stink that he feared would arise if he did not clean himself on the operated side. I reassured him that even that was possible- the cleaning. But then he said his standards of cleaning were such that he had to raise his arm to clean himself; and that - atleast in the first few weeks postoperatively- was forbidden in his case or else the surgery would come undone. He said he would rather live with a dysfunctional shoulder than tolerate personal body odor.
Seeing that things would not work out in a manner of his liking, he got up to leave; as he was stepping out of the room, he declared, "doc, the day I stink, I will jump off from a train and finish my life."
He worked by liaising with the railway ministry, facilitating contractors- an unclean job done by an ultra-clean man. The Clean Curse.
***
Are you this clean? I hope not- be blessed!
Though an unhygienic life style takes it toll, people with obsession about cleanliness suffer no less.
_________________________
Note:
India is bang on in its mission of 'Swachh Bharat'. The purpose of this post is different. The writer hopes that this comes through.
This 4 year old boy was obviously toilet trained but it was his first week in the lower kindergarten and he was told he was getting late while he was taking it easy in the toilet accomplishing the only important mission of his day. The boy had no idea of what being late meant so he continued with his fantasies disregarding his father's shouts from the other side of the slightly ajar toilet door. At one point the shouts got pretty threatening for the boy and he decided to make a long affair short by simply sliding his pants up. The father was astonished that the boy could come out so quickly and suspecting that the last part of the job was left undone, questioned the boy about it. The boy lied. The father asked for the son to be inspected- full monty. And there it was in all its pristine glory- the job left undone. The rebuke that the boy got that day still reverberates in his ears, now in his fifties.
That boy, now the adult man that he is, reports that cleanliness has been a death and life matter for him and it rules his life beyond all known concepts of Godliness. He is petrified by any thing whatsoever that faintly suggests his being low on his self calculated cleanliness index - and this index keeps on scaling new heights every day. Obviously he is hard to live with and live upto for his family members now. The curse of cleanliness.
***
A sophisticated lady, then a prematurely retired consular staff, underwent a surgery that precluded getting up for toilets atleast within the first 12 hours after being out of general anaesthesia. The risk of a fall while one is groggy from the persistent after effects of anaesthetic drugs are significant and patients are routinely advised to be careful and ask for assistance for any toilet related calls. This was completely unacceptable to this lady and against all odds and with significant aggravation of pain in her operated part, she got up and finished her ablutions, minimally assisted by the attendants. Not only this, she had her bath, wetting her operative site dressing, much to my consternation.
Shyness and dogged insistence on personal but superhuman cleanliness was the drive behind this rather completely bypass-able situation. We will never know if she was embarrassed in her childhood; but chances are she came from a family of cleanliness freaks. The curse again.
***
Now about a freak himself. This man consulted me after having consulted a few doctors for a shoulder condition. He said he understood that his condition had only one solution- surgery. However, he said he could not tolerate personal stink that he feared would arise if he did not clean himself on the operated side. I reassured him that even that was possible- the cleaning. But then he said his standards of cleaning were such that he had to raise his arm to clean himself; and that - atleast in the first few weeks postoperatively- was forbidden in his case or else the surgery would come undone. He said he would rather live with a dysfunctional shoulder than tolerate personal body odor.
Seeing that things would not work out in a manner of his liking, he got up to leave; as he was stepping out of the room, he declared, "doc, the day I stink, I will jump off from a train and finish my life."
He worked by liaising with the railway ministry, facilitating contractors- an unclean job done by an ultra-clean man. The Clean Curse.
***
Are you this clean? I hope not- be blessed!
Though an unhygienic life style takes it toll, people with obsession about cleanliness suffer no less.
_________________________
Note:
India is bang on in its mission of 'Swachh Bharat'. The purpose of this post is different. The writer hopes that this comes through.
