1-04/10WELCOME TO MY BLOG!
As kids, we all would have come across lots of euphemism in baby talk which may now sound gibberish. Mothers have a tendency to simplify languages so that their babies can understand their mother tongue in a simple form. In all languages we have some form of a simplified version for kids and this has come over generations. As a kid when I felt like going to the toilet, I would have been really perplexed if my mother, who used to teach in schools, had used a chaste high flown line in Tamil to guide me to the toilet, “Magane, malam varugiradha? Kazhipiddam cellavendumaa? (Literally translated would mean – Son, do you have bowel movements and feel like defecating? Do you want to go to the toilet?). Instead, my mother would ask, “Kuckka varudhaa?" In colloquial Tamil we still use the word “kakka” for defecation and “Kuckoos” for toilet or latrine.
Kuckka, kaka or kakka is the euphemism for the word defecation. I initially thought that the word ‘kaka’ was used only in Tamil but after a small research, found to my surprise, that the word ‘kaka’, used as an euphemism for defecation in Tamil, has a pan-global usage. The word ‘kaka’ is traced back to Indo-European roots*. Extensive research has been done on the etymology of the word ‘kakka’ and ‘kakos’ and has been traced back to the work of Homer’s Illiad**. In the language Sranan (Surinamean tongue) kaka means -defecate, dung, rooster and you have variants of the word ‘kakka’ in Afrikaans - akka (dung). Kakka means to defecate in Creole language spoken in the Carribeans. In the Australian English of Torres Strait ‘Kakka’ is euphemism for defecation and ‘pipi’ for urination. The English-Basque*** Dictionary has many variants of the word ‘Kakka’- Kaka- noun means excrement, feaces, crap, shit. Colloq: Kaka zaharra!! Means shit!!! Kaka egin: verb transitive:to defecate, to have a bowel movement, to go to the bathroom, to shit…Kakagale/ kakagura, desire to defecate. Kakagaletu, to want to defecate. Kakalarri- diarrhea. In the Turkish language ‘kakka yapmak’ means to defecate in kids language. ‘Kakkaty’ in Ukranian language means to defecate.
Euphemism was always a pretext to avoid words which were considered tough or harsh. The best examples in common English are words like ‘loo’ for toilet and ‘pi’ for urinating. “Vocabulary of this kind seems to change because of the need to conceal what is being referred to. A euphemism is a word under pressure. It must make the recipient aware of what is being denoted, while seeming not to refer to that thing. However, as a euphemism becomes commonly used, perhaps over a span of generations, it looses its concealing power and simply denotes what it was supposed to partly conceal. The word becomes vulgar, and is replaced. Also these words are unstable.” – writes Giles Goodland in a very nicely written article****.
Now, you may be wondering why on earth is this fellow writing about kakka or ‘Kuckoos’…...its shit anyway!!! Why should anyone have shit in ones mind when we all religiously flush it off down the drain daily? Forget it. I have a good ‘Kuckoos’ and that’s it and I do not have any problem with my kakka whatsoever and so why bother at all? This could be probably anybody’s reasoning to not talk of shit. Just take a little more time and go ahead with the lines down to know why I am interested in ‘Kuckoos’ (toilets)…
I do not know how many of you would have noticed this news item that was flashed across the country some time back. A recent report by the WHO-UNICEF reveals that of all the people who defecate in the open in the world, our country has 58% of them. Although one would heave a sigh of relief after finding out from the report that open defecation worldwide is on decline from 25 per cent in 1990 to 17 per cent in 2008, the stark naked truth however remains that 54% percent of India’s population still defecate in the open.
A complacent way of looking at the whole issue would be- “Why the heck should I bother about all this when I have a good toilet? People have been shitting outside for generations and it is a way of everyday life in villages. So why bother about it?” This could possibly be a typical attitude out there.
The report also shows that around 638 million people do not have access to toilets in India, followed by Indonesia (58m), China (50m), Ethiopia (49m), Pakistan (48m), Nigeria (33m) and Sudan (17m).
Another cynical attitude could be “Are we alone in this act? What about the rest of the 42% across the globe who shit in the open?”
There is NO room for any complacency or cynicism in this matter.
As a responsible nation we have virtually thrown a Nelson’s eye on this matter all these years. The Government and the NGOs have made only a small dent in this matter all these years. If there has been any improvement from 67% of Indians not having toilets in 2002 (NSS 58-2002 survey report) to the present 54% it can be attributed to some of the Government sponsored programs. Does anyone have the statistics of villagers who have new toilets but still prefer open defecation?
Writing about the plight of sanitation in our country, one of India’s leading newspapers, the New Indian Express editor has this to say: “Two aspects need to be highlighted. The first is suggested by Corinne Shuster-Wallace, co-author of an UN University Report, “Even the word ‘sanitation’ is sanitised, perpetuating ancient taboos about discussing human waste…” How many people would discuss sanitation over the morning coffee? The second is the failure to create the awareness needed to drive home the importance of sanitation. Nor has the government focused sufficiently on bringing down the cost of a usable toilet and its long-term functioning. At the micro-level city corporations and panchayat bodies have given no thought to building public toilets. The few that are found are terribly maintained. How many of the bus/railway stations in our cities/towns have toilets — leave aside their condition? The government could take a leaf from private organisations that build and operate toilets in many of our cities and towns.”*****
I for one strongly believe that constructing individual toilets should be the prerogative of the user him/herself and should never be thrust upon anyone just to fulfill targets or to satisfy any vested interests. Villagers have to prima facie realise the importance of defecating in a confined private place and this would need a massive effort in educating them about the menace of open defecation.
As a person who has been taking a special interest in educating villagers on the health hazards of open defecation for over a decade, I am again looking at sanitation seriously. Earlier, I have also had the opportunity to extend financial assistance for construction of toilets through the microfinance institution in which I was the CEO way back in 2000. I am now planning a massive drive against open defecation and this would need the support of all those who have a concern for this huge problem. This drive of mine would not be symbolic like declaring a day as Toilet Day, or standing up for toilets or queuing up for toilets or getting a donor to build free toilets for the needy. This drive would be in such a way that each Indian who feels strongly about this menace will have a chance to get involved in each action of the entire drive- from educating the villagers, providing assistance in constructing toilets, teaching the importance of hand wash, menstrual hygiene for girls, and providing guidance in maintenance of the toilets. In short, this is a chance for all of us to fight for a cause which will make our country lift up its face from the shame that has been thrown on us due to our own negligence.
Five years from now let us not give a chance to anyone to point at even one person defecating in the open when on the other side we will have the first Indian landing on the moon!
The KUCKOOS campaign, with all your support, will set right this anomaly of taking pride of our GSLVs on one hand and the curse of open defecation on the other hand.
The campaign has been aptly named ‘KUCKOOS’.
Kuck- ----- Pronounced as in luck, suck, duck, muck, tuck...
-------oos- Pronounced as in loose, goose, noose.
In a few months from now I am planning to provide each one of you, who has come forward to endorse this campaign, an opportunity to get involved on a one to one basis at the grass root where the real change is going to take place. I am pleased to inform you that I have already elicited endorsements from my local friends and now I am inviting you to take part in this massive campaign.
The best way for you to endorse the KUCKOOS campaign would be on the Blog itself.
If you have a g-mail account it is very easy for you to endorse the campaign by becoming a follower by clicking on the icon on the right side of the Blog page. This method would be my most preferred one for the endorsement.
I would also appreciate your valid comments on the blog post at the end of the write up.
Alternatively, you can write to me at udaywg@gmail.com expressing your interest in the campaign.
P.Uday Shankar
Coimbatore-INDIA.
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* Word : kakka. Meaning: Also kaka-. To defecate. Root imitative of glottal closure during defecation. 1. cucking stool, from Middle English cukken, to defecate, from a source akin to Old Norse *k ka, to defecate. 2. poppycock, from Latin cac re, to defecate. 3. caco-; cacodyl, cacoëthes, cacophonous, cacophony, from Greek kakos, bad. (Pokorny kakka- 521.)
Source: The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.
** Kakos is the ancient Greek word for “bad” and “evil,” while ergon is the word for “work” or “deed” (it is the etymological root of the word energy). The etymology of kakos can be traced back to the Proto-Indo-European word kakka, “to defecate”: Kakos means nothing nice or good. Its additional meanings are “ugly,” in terms of appearance; “ill-born,” in terms of birth (so the heroes in the Trojan War are all of “noble birth,” gnesios); “cowardly” (think of this meaning again in terms of fighting on the battlefield); “worthless, unskilled, sorry” (for instance, of a sailor or doctor who is “bad” at what he claims to do); “base, evil” in a moral sense; “abusive, foul,” of words. Used as a noun (and in the neuter gender—nouns in ancient Greek can have one of three genders), kakos has the additional meaning of “harm” or “ill,” in the send of “evil coming to a person.” Kristina Chew, PhD. 2006.
http://www.autismvox.com/the-meaning-of-kakos-disability-in-homers-iliad/
***** “A nation with too few toilets” Editorial of the New Indian Express Dtd. 20th April 2010.
JOIN THE KUCKOOS CAMPAIGN- a crusade to dissuade the last person squatting in the open before the first Indian lands on the Moon.
