When we import alien contraptions, we lose our bearings. Southasians, particularly those in the monsoonal Subcontinent where water is abundant, like the idea of wet bathrooms. Wholesome water, from the well, step-well, pond or rivulet, is used copiously for bathing and ablutions.
Enter the dry bathroom and we lose all mooring. There is the shower to mimic weak rain, but the greatest pleasure of all – the full bucket of water to wash over one's head, shoulder and flanks in a rush of cleansing, splashing aqua – is wrested. There used to be copious use of water to keep the potty surroundings clean and odourless. Today, the middle class tries rather unsuccessfully to marry its water-filled past with the demands of an arid, waterless washroom, where the floor is tiled and even carpeted, you are meant to sit rather than squat (do not even talk about the rigidity this introduces to the Southasian spine), and the commode warns you not to spill, divert or reroute. The menfolk, in particular, have not been culturally groomed for this, which brings us to the topic of: What to do with the toilet seat in Southasia?
The sitting commode was adopted and popularised in the West, where presumably the majority of the menfolk have been taught – or threatened – to keep their urine from splattering the seat. The males too have to go there on occasion, after all, while the womenfolk always have to. So it is a legitimate, correct demand of the ladies that the menfolk lift the commode seat when they urinate. More importantly, the vehement demand is that the menfolk return the seat to the sitting position to make the seat available for the next lady who comes along, ensuring in the process that the seat is sanitary, and without the totally unhygienic and aesthetically horrendous spots and stains that we all know so well.
Of course, I have no problem with the philosophical wellspring of the above procedure, which the ladies in Southasia ladies also tend to demand of the male users of the commode. However, there is a problem that has to do with the cultural distance the Southasian male has to travel to get to where you want him to stand.