That sinking feeling

Imagine this hideous thing in your bathroom. With a matching commode and similar fancy-shmancy tiles.

Imagine staring at this for for 10 minutes of every day for the next 20 years of your life.

Because that's what happens if you buy the wrong bathroom fittings. You can sell off dud shares. You can throw away ill-fitting clothes. But junking a bathroom? Next to impossible.

And it's not just the money although yes - it costs a bomb. The bigger cost is your time and your life, both of which get screwed when random workmen float in and out of your house. And keep requiring random sums of money for screws and pipes and what not.

After which you check on the progress made in the last hour and note the shelf is slightly crooked or the tiles don't look like they're stuck on right.

But do you want perfection or do you just want peace? If you're not Monica from Friends, you know the answer!

Thande thande paani se...
...Log kisi zamaane mein nahate the. These days jacuzzis and shower cubicles and all those jazzy '5 star' type bathrooms are yours for the asking. (Even those lovely transparent glass sinks!)

Of course if you are an average dude living in a 900 sq ft Mumbai flat the best you can try for is a shower with jet-sprays. For which you have to spend on installing a pressure pump and a storage geyser and what have you.

Apparently, the real high end stuff sells for as much as Rs 7 lakhs.

The latest in this is a steam shower with transparent glass cabin with two seats and a door. It is equipped with an overhead shower and two bodyshowers. Other installation cabin includes a steam generator, thermostat temperature sensor, lighting and ventilation unit. An automatic fragrance unit is another temptation.

That article appeared in the Chandigarh Tribune and honestly I think that's where the real market for these products is. The last time I was in Ludhiana I was amazed by this 3 storey high shop on the outskirts of the city with model after model of amazing 'imported' bathroom fittings.

I guess they don't pay 1 crore for poky flats in Cuffe Parade and Bandra - they build sprawling kothis. And each bathroom is lovingly done up to reflect one's status in life.

The old joke was you hid your non-tax paid money beneath the bathroom tiles -now the money stares back at you from the crystal plated faucet.

Nah, I don't grudge 'em these small joys. Sanitaryware zindabad. Yes, we want our bathrooms to be 'glamourooms'.

But sadly, you never quite know if it's gonna go the glamour way or the horror way... I myself have one half-finished orange and white bathroom to ponder over. Kaafi bhayanak lag raha hai.

Pray for me.

P.S. On popular demand, I am adding on Google Adsense. Will let you know if and when I make enough to pick up a couple of designer soapdishes!