A difficult question, and often used as a proof for cultural superiority by one over the other: the practice of cleaning after answering the call of nature.
In India it is clear: water and the use of the left hand, or the middle-finger alone, is the only solution. TP is too expensive, if available at all. But then the healthy practitioner should be aware of the fact that his finger is full of stool particles, even if minutest and washed off carefully. What I do bring from the West is 70% cleaning alcohol, used for disinfection in hospitals, to take care of the problem. If you take a shower before disinfecting your hand, you are apt to wipe the minute particles over parts of your body, unless you discontinue the use of your hand for the rest of your life. Ritually you may be pure, but microscopically you can forget about that. If you use a soap, you'll rub the particles into the soap first etc.
Really healthy persons have a reduced problem because the well-formed stool leaves in such a way that no smearing can occur at the anus. But that is rare.
Also be aware that stool-particles float in the air where people have been doing their business in the open. When you smell it you actually inhale smallest particles which can be worm-infested, as I heard.
That is about India. Just be aware that your practice affects your general health there, especially if you are not used to so much open stool exposition.
As to the West: everyone according to his or her own gusto. But: awareness helps. Or are there rules applying to this too?
QUOTE(nabadip @ Oct 24 2004, 11:04 AM)
A difficult question, and often used as a proof for cultural superiority by one over the other: the practice of cleaning after answering the call of nature.
In India it is clear: water and the use of the left hand, or the middle-finger alone, is the only solution. TP is too expensive, if available at all. But then the healthy practitioner should be aware of the fact that his finger is full of stool particles, even if minutest and washed off carefully. What I do bring from the West is 70% cleaning alcohol, used for disinfection in hospitals, to take care of the problem. If you take a shower before disinfecting your hand, you are apt to wipe the minute particles over parts of your body, unless you discontinue the use of your hand for the rest of your life. Ritually you may be pure, but microscopically you can forget about that. If you use a soap, you'll rub the particles into the soap first etc.
Really healthy persons have a reduced problem because the well-formed stool leaves in such a way that no smearing can occur at the anus. But that is rare.
Also be aware that stool-particles float in the air where people have been doing their business in the open. When you smell it you actually inhale smallest particles which can be worm-infested, as I heard.
That is about India. Just be aware that your practice affects your general health there, especially if you are not used to so much open stool exposition.
As to the West: everyone according to his or her own gusto. But: awareness helps. Or are there rules applying to this too?
In India it is clear: water and the use of the left hand, or the middle-finger alone, is the only solution. TP is too expensive, if available at all. But then the healthy practitioner should be aware of the fact that his finger is full of stool particles, even if minutest and washed off carefully. What I do bring from the West is 70% cleaning alcohol, used for disinfection in hospitals, to take care of the problem. If you take a shower before disinfecting your hand, you are apt to wipe the minute particles over parts of your body, unless you discontinue the use of your hand for the rest of your life. Ritually you may be pure, but microscopically you can forget about that. If you use a soap, you'll rub the particles into the soap first etc.
Really healthy persons have a reduced problem because the well-formed stool leaves in such a way that no smearing can occur at the anus. But that is rare.
Also be aware that stool-particles float in the air where people have been doing their business in the open. When you smell it you actually inhale smallest particles which can be worm-infested, as I heard.
That is about India. Just be aware that your practice affects your general health there, especially if you are not used to so much open stool exposition.
As to the West: everyone according to his or her own gusto. But: awareness helps. Or are there rules applying to this too?
I suppose this really is a cultural/practical issue. As you say, TP may not be available in India, so the most resourceful thing to do is to use the hand.. resultingly, cultural taboos build up around that fact (just like we have in the west.. not many people use/see TP outside the bathroom, and you would usually never touch TP of an unknown origin...)
Personally, I've never found TP to be all that cleaning.. best is 'baby wipes', moistened towelets.. (now thats way more information than one needs to know!)
However, I did want to address this:
QUOTE
Also be aware that stool-particles float in the air where people have been doing their business in the open. When you smell it you actually inhale smallest particles which can be worm-infested, as I heard.
This just is not true.. case in point, most sewage workers do not wear masks, and do not suffer 'worm infestations'. Not that I would recommend hanging out in these areas, but you won't be getting worms from smelling it 
That doesn't mean that sewage is harmless. It usually needs internal ingestion to cause trouble, but that trouble can be extreme. There are a myriad of diseases carried by sewage, and great care should be taken in not ingesting any of it. Its a common cause of water & food pollution.
However I'm certain there are other nasty little gremlins that do. The issue is particularly acute in places such as Vrindavan where you have open sewages, and pigs and what not running around and splashing the stuff all over the place.
, but some do here in the West) to get eggs on one's hand from where the animal licked itself. That would suggest that contamination with worm-eggs is real easy. I am glad if it is not the case as Dharmachakra says.
