Confirmed - Tissue paper is not a basic human need

On the night before we left Nairobi, we went to the Nakumatt lifestyle supermarket to buy a few necessities. I accompanied the ladies, Stella and Susan so I was a very sensible shopper. Spencer stayed in the supermarket for only as long as it required him to buy a suitcase. Peter claimed he didn’t need anything so he waited in our ride for the night – Spencer’s Benz (but do I say!). Since I had professional shopping help, I had no problem in choosing what to buy – and this included an extra large roll of tissue paper, the kind one finds in mall toilets. On enquiring why they thought I needed such a big one, the ladies assured me that it can come in very handy when one is in a faraway land. I rested my case.

Fast forward to one and a half weeks later; that is when Spencer and I arrived in the rural town of Thirthahalli. Our lovely little house had everything we needed – that is apart from tissue paper. We assumed that this was due to our host’s religious affiliations – we assumed he was Muslim and everybody knows that Muslims don’t use tissue paper. It was not a big deal; Spencer was going to buy his tissue paper in the town where one could buy anything from cakes to pure gold rings, and everything in between. After enquiries in about four shops, we realised that the “everything in between” did not include tissue paper. The confused looks of the shopkeepers on our enquiries said it all; in addition to being the first time they were seeing a black man in their village, it was also the first time they had heard of something called tissue paper. So much for Spencer’s assumption that money could buy anything, anywhere!

I wanted to be mean to Spencer and not share my tissue paper. I really wanted him to learn how to use the squirt gun, which was conveniently hooked next to the toilet seat. I later thought against it. It would be our bathroom he would mess up if he didn’t know how to use the gun properly – and chances were high that he had no idea how to do so. I gave in and produced my hoarded tissue paper.

After a few weeks in the town, we realized that there were three main religions; the majority being Hindus, followed by Muslims, and then Catholics. It was now obvious that the lack of use of tissue paper had nothing to do with religion. Our host was not even Muslim as we were to learn later, he was a staunch Hindu (who even does yoga). Much as we didn’t get to learn how to use the squirt gun, we had learnt an important lesson – tissue paper is not a basic human need. It led me to wonder how many things we assume are so important and yet we can comfortably do without them. We stayed with people who have lived generations without using or even knowing tissue paper, but they were no less hygienic than we are, and they are even a trifle kinder than us.