FEB 24, 13 .. PONDICHERRY .. INDIA .. SUNDAY
I MUST GO BACK to my POST of yesterday and add to my comments therein concerning personal hygiene !
IN yesterday’s POST .. down towards the end of the writing .. I get into the fact that I arrived here into Pondicherry pretty grimy and dirty and sweaty and generally unkempt !
Since writing yesterday’s POST I have done considerable thinking (READ A LOT OF THINKING!) about this personal hygiene issue for the world travelers and came up with TWO WORDS that encapsule the entire problem of personal hygiene !
C L O T H E S W A S H I N G ! !
HERE IS THE PROBLEM ! MOST ( if not ALL ! ) serious world travelers carry two (2) and ONLY TWO (2) sets of clothing!
One set of your two sets of clothing you are WEARING ! And gradually this set of clothing gets sweaty and dusty and grimy and just RANK IF you are on-the-road for a few weeks without stopping!
THE other set of your two sets of clothing is the clean set that is nicely residing in your baggage !
YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE CARRYING A DIRTY SET OF CLOTHING WITH YOU IN YOUR BAGGAGE !
So you ONLY do a complete batheing (or you tend this way!) when you can PUT ON YOUR CLEAN SET OF CLOTHING! Who wants to completely wash up and then put back on filthy clothes?!
So you ONLY fully bathe WHEN YOU CAN IMMEDIATELY WASH THE DIRTY CLOTHING YOU HAVE BEEN WEARING!
BECAUSE IF YOU put on your one (1) clean set of clothes and are not able to immediately wash the dirty set you just took off .. WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOU HAVE TWO (2) SETS of dirty clothes to wash? What do you put on to wear while two (2) sets of your only clothes are DRYING?
So the PROBLEM becomes one of WASHING CLOTHES!
IF for many reasons you can NOT do a complete clothes washing ( you do NOT have the time it takes for washed clothing to DRY .. with high humidity we are talking a day or possibly more for clothing to fully DRY ! .. what is the condition of the water you have available to wash your clothing in .. does your room lend itself to washing clothing .. many rooms are tiny and DO NOT LEND themselves to washing a set of clothes much less having space to hang-them-up-to-dry! .. do you have laundry soap on hand ready to use .. etc ..) .. then you simply have to GUT-IT-OUT and get dirty and grimy and sweaty and unkempt !
NOT a pretty picture is it?
See I left Detroit Michigan CLEAN on Monday January 28th. I got to Hong Kong CLEAN ! I left Hong Kong CLEAN ! Then February 6th still pretty CLEAN into India I roll with its dust and dirt and polluted air and some heat! Still CLEAN I did not need to do a full clothes washing in New Delhi .. BUT over the next few train trips and the stress associated therewith .. ( ‘ZILLA you can NOT wash clothes on the train NOR can you effectively wash yourself on the train! ) .. my personal hygiene began to SERIOUSLY DETERIORATE!
SO IT IS WONDERFUL TO BE CLEAN AGAIN! I DO NOT LIKE BEING SWEATY AND DIRTY AND DUSTY AND GRIMY AND UNKEMPT !!
AND NOW I CAN KEEP MYSELF CLEAN ! Because I can bathe and I can freshen up daily THUS KEEPING MY CLOTHES CLEAN !
AND IF you go to .. bobba caps doxology .. you will SEE my wonderful room here at MOTHERS GUEST HOUSE with nice facilities for clothes washing .. check out the enormous bath room .. and they even HAVE TWO clothes lines erected for us!
GEEZ Captain these people are going to think that you are TOTALLY LOSING IT!
MAYBE I AM! BUT I AM HAVING SOME FUN .. SMILES .. CAP ..