To answer a call of nature

We, as you may all know by now, has this bad habit of eating junk food. And as usual we were out hunting for our lunch. This time at a well-known hotel in the heart of Colombo. We went straight for the coffee shop.

But at the last minute Anuki had a pang of health consciousness and decided to buy a packet of rice for lunch. But as usual we had another problem that needed immediate attention.

Usually it’s me who always face this problem, but this time it was Anuki who wanted to answer a call of nature. So we inquired from the cashier of the coffee shop where the ladies room was and he pointed out the direction. We entered the washroom and Anuki went in first.

I went in and was looking for the ‘flush button’ and was very embarrassed to see the commode had no such device. I was wondering whether the architect was senseless enough to ignore fixing such an essential fitting into a commode. Well, the only way out once again was to seek help from my buddy.... Samadhi.

Only a few seconds after she had entered I heard her bellow something to the effect of “I have no idea...” from inside the toilet. When I knocked she opened, and I realised within two seconds what was going on.

Instead of the conventional ‘flush button’ or lever, there was a box like metal structure attached to the wall. We looked at each other, to find that both of us were puzzled. We had no idea how to flush the toilet.

Thank god Anuki checked it out before actually answering her call of nature. Good for her, because if it was me, I would have only checked afterwards. Why do architects have to make life difficult on purpose?

The metal structure on the wall was made of two metal blocks and on instinct, like a treasure hunter pushing a brick on a wall to open a trap door, I pushed one of the metal blocks. A....nd o...pen sesame...... it flushed with such sudden and tremendous force that Anuki almost jumped out of her skin. She shrieked so loud, it even made me jump out of my own skin.

Well thank god we solved that. I washed my hands and typical of myself, only looked for tissues afterwards. I saw a hand drier on the wall and looked underneath for a button, I could press to activate it. No luck. Just when I thought that the adventures were up for the day. Anuki came out just at the nick of time to catch me looking underneath the drier.

I said “No tissues.” and she said of course there are no tissues there, that’s a hand drier!’ Of course it’s a hand drier and of course it doesn’t have tissues, I knew that. So I said. “Oh, I know Anuki, but there are no tissues any where in sight.”

She threw her head back and laughed and told me to take some toilet papers. Good idea. It’s a wonder that wherever we go we always end up with something to laugh about. It’s either food or an act as simple as ‘answering a call of nature’.