...here are some very sad truths about our (sometimes so proud!!) desi people and Indians...this sad reality also concerns Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Nepalis, etc....and those living in Europe and America and elsewhere...
...In Gandhi's autobiography written in the 1920s, there are long passages about the lack of sanitation among Indians and their unhealthy/dirty houses and habits. Gandhi was extremely angry about it because cleanliness dfoes not require wealth and money. It is not a luxury. One can be very poor and can still live in very clean spaces and facilities. Dirtiness and poverty do not go together. Even today, when one goes to many "important" places like the posh and trendy restaurants, hotels and touristic places in India like the Taj Mahal and the like (it is probably the same in Pakistan, Bangladesh and the rest of South Asia), one is often appalled by the sheer lack of clean toilets and bathrooms not to speak of a simple clean bar of soap. In 2008 India, it's simply UNACCEPTABLE !!
Mounir Nassor
From the Times of India (September 14, 2008)
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/3480835.cms
NEW DELHI: Ever dreamt of a squeaky clean home with gleaming floors and glittering lampshades? Where germs and microbes are wiped out with a vengeance? You won't get it in India, according to a seven-country survey by the Hygiene Council, a global initiative that brings together experts in microbiology, virology, infectious diseases, immunology, and public health.
Indian homes are the dirtiest in the world, except for Malaysia, the survey said. The cleanest are to be found in Saudi Arabia, said the Council, headed by Dr John Oxford, virology professor at Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry. The survey was conducted in UK, US, Germany, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and India.
The results were computed on the basis of swabs taken from eight frequently-touched surfaces in the home — the bathtub, kitchen sink, taps in the bathroom and kitchen, a child's plastic toy, fridge-handle, a dishcloth and kitchen worktop. One-hundred and forty samples were taken from families across the income spectrum.
[for the rest of the article: click on the following link: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/3480835.cms]
