This
is about spitting habit of many Indian. Some agencies want to ban
spitting in public places and on that we discussed the many aspects
of this habit of many Indians.
After
crazy ban on slaughter of bovine our government is thinking of
banning spitting. This reminds me of foolish attempts of American
Senates in the nineteenth century of puritanists. In our country
spitting is a part of our culture, people spit to indicate their
disgust or displeasure for some body or something. Spitting is used
to show disregards, contempt; spitting is used to insult people
without showing insult. Particularly when a servant wants to show his
disregard towards his employer spiting is the way. Some observers
suggest that spitting habit became more common in India ever since
Muslims came in India. It is a silent gesture to show that the thing
is not acceptable. During Muslim rule spitting was widely used by
servants of nobles to indicate their disapproval. To make spitting
appear a normal behavior people began to chew betal leaves with
tobacco. As swallowing tobacco juice is not good for health
therefore, spitting that became a common practice. On that the owners
could not object to such spitting as they knew spiting is essential
when one chews betal leaves with tobacco. Later on this was found
convenient by many servants and other types of subordinate employers
and spitting tobacco saliva became a very common thing amongst betal
leaves chewers. Betal leaves without tobacco is not spat because,
that is not objectionable for health. As a part of culture spitting
has many styles. One observation shows that position of spitting
shows how the spitter wants to show disregard. Spiting in front is
very bold insult. Spitting on side is indication that it is disregard
for the person's position or amounts to say, "I do not care for
you", some times we observe that spitting is done at spatters
own foot. Some times one spits on back side of his/her to show that
it was not for showing any disregards but he/she spat because it was
necessary. Spitting on side is very common amongst spatters. There
are many stylized ways of spitting one is to spit by holding two
fingers on lips and throw the spat to some distance. This spiting is
used by owners to show their disregards for their subordinates. Long
spat is indication of their superiority. Thus we see that spitting is
a part of our culture, it is a type of lingo. in fact it is a way to
express strong reactions to others. Some say spitting came in India
from Turks who have this habit to show insult to superiors. Spitting
is not done to show disregard or insult to fellow people. Some
disagree and say it is an original Indian habit existing much earlier
to show disregards for dominant Brahmans. Spitting is a type of
language used by superior to condemn inferiors.
Apart
from this cultural aspect to spitting there are other reasons why
people spit. To clean one's throat some prefer to spit out cough.
During cold illness many spit out cough to cleanse their throat
before they want to talk. People suffering from some diseases such as
Asthma, TB need to spit out cough regularly. I observe that generally
spitting of ordinary saliva or cough is not very objectionable as it
is not very evident but spitting of tobacco with red Kattha is
objectionable because it colors the place where spitting is done.
That red stain is the cause of objection. These red stains make the
place look ugly. Particularly we see these spatters spit on staircase
corners making that portion look very indecent. I feel if people eat
paan (betal leaves) without Kattha in it that spatters will not be
visible and so not so much objectionable but the paan chewers cannot
accept that paan without katha. So this observation shows that
spiting is not really objectionable if it is not evident.
When
I discussed this issue with some medical people they told me spiting
unnecessarily is bad because the saliva is an important digestive
fluid in our body and the more it goes in our stomach the batter it
is. From that point of view spitting is not recommended. Spiting we
learn from our childhood as we observe our elders do it frequently.
This habit becomes the part of our daily life. Particularly the
cultural part is something we cannot remove easily. I have observed
that those people who do not spit their children also do not spit.
That shows that our spitting habit is hereditary. If seniors stop
spitting juniors will not develop that habit.
To
mention habits of our Muslim brothers we see they spit out saliva
during their Ramdan fasting month. They told me that during fast they
cannot even swallow their saliva and so they have to spit it out
frequently. However, some authorities told me since saliva is not any
food during fast one need not spit saliva. Fast is only for outside
food and not against one's own body fluids. Nevertheless, habit
developed during fasting month continues thereafter!
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