Have you used a (western) toilet? “Yes, Of course”, you say.
Have you ever fixed an overflowing western toilet bowl? “NOOOOO!!!!”, I hear you shout.
After spending an hour trying to fix one of our’s last night, Lemme tell you, you dont want to be doing that. Thankfully for us, it was overflowing before use. Lets not even imagine what would have happened otherwise. In this enticing experience I learned how the toilet bowls/flush work ! Thanks to my personal librarian(who else? google, hehehehe!), I had already edified myself with some literature about fixing toilet bowls before I let lose the left over mechanical engineer[I made a futile attempt a few weeks ago trying to replace a flat tire in my lovely Honda Accord] within me. I soon realized that my beloved toilet bowl’s uninformed tantrum was little unique and a solution for that has not been documented ever. Apparently, the smart guy who lived here before us had put a quick temporary fix to whatever has happened before. To fix your own mess is onething, to fix someone else’s is totally different. Its harder than it looks! Besides, the few little parts are so meticulously placed within a 6 inch wide tank, there is hardly any place to stick your hand inside. [I had just then read this section on the same webpage about how LA police had to rescue a man who had his hands stuck inside a toilet bowl!!! Poor cops had to unscrew the whole toilet and drag the man with his hands still stuck to the toilet to a firestation before they could free him of his mischief!!] So I was ultra conscious, though I was working with the tank and not with the toilet bowl. I finally managed to take out the small strip of wire that was broken, internally connecting the handle to the water outlet cup. After that it was business as usual. I fixed it, put it back and tightened the two ends with extra care. Followed it with a series of performance testing by flushing the toilet thrice within a span of 30 seconds[should say stress test isnt it?] and ensured that the mechanical engineer is still sane.
An interesting observation came out of this. This toilet has shown its ugly face only twice. And on those two occasions, we had a guest. I figured its got to be the guest somehow screwing it up. So its got to be the pressure with which they push the handle down, that breaks out the smart patch wire!!! YES, Its got to be. I now realize how much we both have learnt to live in harmony with our toilets??? Our broken toilets and us co-existed peacefully with so much understanding and an darn alien disturbed our peace!
So, the next time you use a toilet at someone else’s place – touch, hold and press the handle with tender care – He might have worked his ass off to fix it the night before!!!
PS:Did you notice the link I had put on Honda? Turn your speakers on and check that simple but mind blowing ad/movie for Honda Accord and if you arent amazed…I suggest u see it again.
