Humans are just such passionate creatures. All of us settled in our own corners defending causes with impassioned emotions. Everybody in a camp protecting their special spot. The world’s social fabric seems to be fraying along lines of language, cultures, food and traditions. In these exceptionally fraught moments when I marvel at the cultures around the globe I wonder what you think about toilet paper.

For me it is just another one that divides us people.

Think about it for a moment. All tied up in a deeply personal habit the toilet paper has varying degrees of popularity across regions. There are those who cannot imagine life without a handy ample supply of high grade tree product. And then there are others who have figured out that water can efficiently do the job and cannot fathom how paper can be a good substitute.

As I see it the two camps have staked out their positions with fervor.

As an immigrant living in the US, during the pandemic of 2020 there was much ado about the run on toilet papers in the stores. Then whole supply change got skewed because there was excessive demand which fostered greater production which lead to glut in the inventory. Because ultimately pandemic or not the amount of toilet paper really does not have any peaks or troughs. It is a product that has a steady demand curve in economist speak. For the believers its absence can be panic inducing hence binge toilet paper buying is understandable. But is it really? There is no single story on this matter. The debates could be hard to resolve, as each side stakes out its positions.

The journey of the discovery of toilet paper is wrapped in capitalism and the “civilizing” influence of certain cultures. A quick internet search reveals that among tools people used in the past were moss, sponge on a stick, ceramic pieces and bamboo ‘spatulas.’ Commercially available mass-produced toilet paper did not make its appearance till the mid-1800s. Then we moved to the modern equivalent of three-ply and bamboo toilet paper. And now globally toilet paper production uses 27,000 trees daily. Before toilet paper became commercially available on a mass 

Story of the bidet

I say why use paper when there is water.

The world needs some converts, maybe this can be a unifying force in the world. Explore the option that toilet paper is not a need but just a 20th century invention.