To pee or not to pee?

I was heading to Pondicherry via a series of Govt buses (check - travelling with locals, being stared and pointed at constantly and not minding) when I had my loo epiphany.

I'm not sure what brought it on - my experience of the public loos at the bus station in Kodolone was no more hideous than usual - well, to the untrained eye it would've been vile but now I'm a seasoned loo tolerator I find myself in new territory...loo situs just don't seem to bother me anymore.

It's like I've turned a corner. I feel like a different person. I don't recognise myself anymore. Back in the UK I would have a hissy fit if there was loo paper on the floor, I'd roll my eyes at the cavalier attitude of staff and their low standards of cleanliness and vow never to visit the loos of certain 'five star' establishments ever again.

My first 6 months of travelling and the various loo situs brought tears to my eyes. I actually wept in Tibet when faced with possibly the most poorest excuse for a public toilet - I wouldn't let an animal pee in there. My how things change.

I knew I was in for an interesting loo experience simply because of where I was travelling. Compared to Kerala, Tamil Nadu (south east of India) is rougher, poorer, dustier and generally dirtier. The people are lovely though which makes it all the more interesting. Just when I'm about to dry wretch someone smiles at me, says hello or asks me where I'm going - everyone wants to know where I'm going - which more than makes up for a few smells!

Back to the loo - warning bells stated ringing as I staggered (had my back pack weighing me down) to the loo and a million flies were buzzing around me as I got within 50 metres of the place in question. I'd just like to add at this point the loos are actually situated next to the veg/fruit stands in the bus station which makes apples and bananas all the more appetising don't you think?

I gingerly entered the loo - it was an open toilet in the sense there were no doors, just four walls, a floor and a pitiful attempt at a trough. There were a large number of 'presents' on the floor (runny ones at that) and a million flies buzzing around...the stench was out of control.

Did it bother me? Well no. There I was squatting on the floor among my other fellow squatters (check: beggars, fruit sellers etc), thinking that despite the the runny presents, flies and general stench it was actually quite nice that the public loo was actually open air. There was no roof. And I complimenting the designers for that simple fact.

You see I no longer wince at public (literally) loos, presents, flies and the like. Over the last seven months my loo barriers have totally disintegrated. I think I can safely say that nothing, and I mean nothing, shocks me when it comes to the status or rather cleanliness of the loos I come across. And that's when it dawned on me - the tied has turned, I've been worn down...peed out.