13 September 2026

Triggering Bowels

You can always drink water 
or tea to trigger your bowels.
I guess most of India does that.
But for some, it’s beedi or 
cigarette, or khaini or gutka.

I know someone who needs 
a newspaper to set things
in motion-
As if his posh gut needs
Faces of politicians,
Bombings in Palestine or 
A statement by Sitharaman 
to get it going.

Perhaps outrage is a better 
laxative than anything they 
sell at the pharmacy.

One of my uncles can't 
do it in the toilet. 
He has to go in the open.
The way he talks about 
the wisdom of open fields,
he's one step away from 
becoming Bear Grills.

From mint of toothpaste 
to early morning bhajans,
to cranky sound of an
old radio- the diversity in
triggers was a thing.

Then smartphones started 
going inside the toilet.
And you, me and everyone 
sat on the commode scrolling-

A reel of a motivational speaker.
Then of of a wedding.
In the next someone is 
doing something impossible
with a watermelon-

And by the time when 
it's fiftieth or sometimes 
ninety ninth reel-
From scaring you into your
own impotency to teaching 
how brinjal could be a
promising aphrodisiac-

Something inside you 
loosens and the body learns 
the art of letting go,
and that's how the day 
could start on a good note.