The cleanest nation. The dirtiest people on the planet are people who never wash.

About rubbish mountains, stinking gutters, and the purity of the body and home of Indians

The regular author of Realnoe Vremya Natalia Fedorova continues to talk about her experience of acquaintance with the culture and customs of India. Today's column is about the first thing that catches the eye of a refined Western tourist who comes to this country. About debris and dirt.

About mountains of rubbish and gutters

V large cities India is trying to get rid of garbage in the western way, that is, they are dumping heaps of non-degradable plastic to the outskirts. But even in cities, the farther from the center, the more you will see a lot of garbage lying right on the streets. Trash cans are extremely rare here. Indians can throw banana peels, wrappers and bags directly onto the lawn. And for this they will not be fined, as in a European city. Here this problem is solved with the help of special people, cleaners, who walk the streets and collect scattered garbage in large bags. This is also becoming a way of earning money for the poor and children: they collect plastic bottles on the streets and at railway stations and hand them over for a penny for recycling.

But urban outskirts, towns and villages, as densely populated as many western cities, are literally buried in rubbish. Cans, bottles, plastic bags form heaps in which monkeys, stray cows, dogs and pigs rummage. About the consequences for the health of poor animals this leads, in one of my previous sketches.

The problem of household waste, one of the main ones for our planet today, is hidden from the eyes of most people in western cities. But India has not yet learned to hide the dead end in which a civilization has entered, which cannot cope with the abundance of garbage. Although, in fairness, it must be said that Indians are making their first steps: they are increasingly using paper dishes instead of plastic, bags made of non-woven material instead of plastic bags.

India has not yet learned to hide the dead end in which the civilization has entered, which cannot cope with the abundance of garbage.

Ditches run along the edges of narrow streets in stone depressions. They exude an unforgettable aroma, especially in the heat. This is not only slop, but also feces - the sewage system in many Indian cities leaves much to be desired.

Here it is difficult to forget that the human body itself is very, let's say, physiological. I immediately remember a story told to me in an Indian family. It's called Liquid Beauty. A rich merchant wooed a young, very beautiful girl. She did not want to marry him, but the boyfriend, struck by her beauty, was extremely persistent. And then she asked him to come for an answer in a week. All this time she drank a laxative and everything that came out of her was poured into barrels in the courtyard of the house. When the groom returned a week later, he could not recognize the emaciated and haggard girl as his bride. "Where is that beauty that I fell in love with?" - he asked. “That’s all the beauty that you are fascinated with,” the girl replied and took him to the barrels standing in the courtyard.

Difficulty in adaptation

Later I was told why Indians cannot comprehend the value of garbage cans and throw plastic and other rubbish anywhere. The reason is that until recently India was a predominantly agrarian country, consisting of a large number of villages and villages, in which life proceeded far from cities and without communication with them. The villagers used brass and copper dishes for their daily needs, which were inherited and did not require replacement, and for eating - no porcelain or plastic, only disposable dishes made of clay and banana sheets. This tradition is still preserved in many places. In almost any small town, you can buy a sweet lassi in an earthen glass that keeps the drink cool for a long time. At any roadside café, you can have your tali (a standard Indian meal consisting of a heap of cooked rice and many small plates of stews, sauces and sweet snacks) on a large, wide plate of banana leaves. You can use a spoon, or, as most Indians do, you can eat with your hands, saving on appliances. At the same time, when hot food is placed on banana leaves, they release substances useful for the human body. It is clear that such plates can be thrown anywhere, they decompose quickly and do not harm the environment.

With the same ease, many naive illiterate Indians still relate to the plastic dishes that came to their country not so long ago, not realizing that it will decompose for millennia and pollute their water and soil.

The villagers used brass and copper dishes for their daily needs, which were inherited and did not require replacement.

A similar reason for the existence of "fragrant" gutters. Previously, Indians living in rural areas did not have their toilets in the countryside. According to Vedic traditions, this pollutes the territory and it becomes unfit for worship. Residents left to relieve themselves in the field, away from the village. As Western influence increased, this behavior became considered uncivilized, and more and more Indians are placing toilets in the village for their convenience. These latrines are enclosed recesses in the ground. Well, the gutters are a consequence of the not very close and long acquaintance of the Indians with the sewage system.

God will not come to a dirty house

But do not immediately accuse the Indians of uncleanliness. I will now say the exact opposite thing: basically, Indian culture is the cleanest in the world, and Indian historians will confirm my words. The problem is that to this day it has survived only in educated families and individual villages where people still honor their traditions. Strict rules for cleanliness are given in scriptures and passed down from generation to generation. We, who grew up in Russia, may not understand the abundance of different restrictions, but their purpose is as follows: by maintaining the physical purity of the body, at home, and so on, a person gets the opportunity to purify himself mentally and spiritually. Hindus say that the Lord will never come to a dirty house, while in a clean house he is always present. The same is true for the body.

So, I will share some of the rules of purity that Indians follow. Traditionally, they perform full body washing several times during the day: in the morning immediately after waking up, in the afternoon and in the evening, as well as after emptying the intestines. Whether it's winter outside or summer. In the villages, there are wells for this, both for public use and for private use - in the courtyards of houses. They take ablution, pouring themselves from a bucket, in clothes, which are then immediately removed, rinsed and changed into clean and dry clothes.

The floor in the house is washed every day: in the morning and also before cooking and after eating. There is a whole set of guidelines for keeping food clean. I saw with my own eyes how all these precepts are followed in Indian families, and I learned it myself. The fact is that religious Indians will never eat food that has not previously been offered to the Lord. The altar is an important part of every home. And in order to offer food on the altar, it must be clean. Therefore, the kitchen in the house is a sacred place. It is separated from the dining room, no one tastes food during cooking, the dishes must be very clean, and there can be no question of animals entering the house.

There is a whole set of guidelines for keeping food clean.

They wear clean clothes every day, because yesterday's clothes are considered defiled. The same applies to towels: here they are dried with gamcha, a thin cotton cloth that is rinsed after each bath and dries quickly in the sun.

Another interesting point: you need to drink water without touching the glass with your lips, but throwing your head back and directing the stream into your mouth. After some time living in India, I learned to do what even children can do here without spilling all the water on themselves. I must note that this not only protects against infectious diseases, but also looks aristocratic. As for water, in no other country in the world you will see water taps located almost at every step. Yes, yes, right in the middle of the street in the city you can see a sink adjacent to the wall and a faucet with water, drinking or just for washing hands, and sometimes a lower faucet for washing your feet. This phenomenon is associated not only with the need to often wash hands in tropical countries, where a variety of diseases spread, but also with another rule of cleanliness in India: after any meal, you need to rinse your mouth, otherwise a person is considered defiled and cannot enter the temple and touch clean items. However, any dentist will confirm the benefits of rinsing your mouth after eating.

These and other rules of purity are especially followed in the educated part of society - among the brahmanas. Education in Indian culture was not considered the prerogative of only urban educational institutions, an educated person is one who is well versed in the scriptures, knows Sanskrit and leads a pure and simple life, not complicated by unnecessary comforts. Such people in India are revered and even considered saints, people come to them for advice and blessings.

For those who want to learn more about the everyday life of Indians, I recommend reading the fascinating book by Bhakti Vikash Swami "A Look at Traditional India", which consists of interviews by an Englishman with people who grew up in traditional Indian families. It was written in popular science in the 1990s. When I read it, I understood a lot about the mentality of the Indians and their culture. For example, I learned the following details about life in Bengali villages: “Drinking water holding a glass in your left hand is considered inappropriate, since it is customary to do something unfavorable or unclean with your left hand (for example, to wash yourself), while your right hand serves everything that is clean and favorable. Therefore, giving or taking with the left hand is considered an insult. "

Religious people who believe in spiritual reality more than in their temporary lives do not pursue success, money, and entertainment. Photo by Indradyumna Swami

Degradation reasons

What happened? Why is this wise culture so degraded today? All from the same book, and later from the Indians themselves, I learned that it all began in the 20th century, when the country headed for industrialization. This idea was present also during the British colonization, but later, having achieved independence, India did not want to be among the lagging countries of the world and very soon built a huge number of factories and factories around the country.

The predominantly rural, calm and measured life of the Indians hindered economic progress. Adherence to traditions did not allow the introduction of new methods of tillage and harvesting. Religious people who believe in spiritual reality more than in their temporary lives do not pursue success, money, and entertainment. Therefore, it was necessary to kindle a passion for profit in them, which radio and television successfully coped with.

Brahminical culture that was the mainstay ancient culture, and suffered greatly. The children of brahmins do not continue the work of their fathers and grandfathers, they leave to study at city colleges, and then to the United States and the United Arab Emirates, become good IT specialists thanks to their natural intelligence. Like the rest of the world, India has yet to comprehend what its culture and ecology has lost due to technological progress.

Natalia Fedorova, photo by Ananta Vrindavan

The inhabitants of Russia took one of the first places in the world for cleanliness, second only to the Indians and Americans. According to sociologists, the majority (35%) of Russians take a shower or bath every day, and 11% of our compatriots - at least twice a day. The inhabitants of Europe have long abandoned the medieval habits of washing twice in their lives, but still avoid taking a shower too often. On average, British and Germans bathe twice a week. Environmentalists argue that frequent washing habits can lead to environmental disaster- stocks pure water in the world are being depleted at a catastrophic rate. It's hard to believe in this after a trip in the metro at rush hour, but here's the fact - Muscovites are the cleanest people in the country. 55% of them wash themselves daily, and 18% more than twice a day. Moreover, washing takes at least 20 minutes a day, Novye Izvestia cites data from a study conducted by the Public Opinion Foundation. The average Russian citizen is becoming more and more clean. According to FOM, 35% of the inhabitants of our country wash every day, even when hot water is turned off - they go to the bathhouse, heat water in a basin, use a column and ask to visit friends who have water heaters. Once a week, only 19% of the inhabitants of our country go to the shower - these are mainly rural residents who do not have a running water supply.

The British and the Germans do not wash more often than a couple of times a week. For Americans, showering twice a day is a must. A person who has not washed for two days, has not changed his underwear or shirt, is considered a marginal in the United States. According to hygienists, Russians' passion for bathing is explained by a change in our mentality: through TV shows, films, books and other objects of mass culture, the American way of life and all the habits of US residents, including frequent washing, are actively adopted. The cleanest nation, however, is not the Americans, but the Indians. They wash their bodies and hands twice as often as the Germans and one and a half times as often as the Americans. Hindus go to the bath after sneezing, and after contact with a pet, and after going to the toilet, and always before eating. However, in India such cleanliness is fully justified: intestinal infections are raging in the country, the best protection against which is soap in the hands.

Experts are convinced that we love to take a shower so often, because we do not know the price of water, and the passion of Russians for bathing leads to an environmental disaster. Meters in Russia, in contrast to Europe, are still in only a few houses, while the majority of Russians pay for water at an "unlimited tariff". Meanwhile, in order to take a shower, on average, about 50 liters of water are required, and a bath - 120. Against the background of the global shortage of water resources, the habits of Russians look insanely wasteful - unlike Europeans, we do not even try to save water. However, experts give an economic explanation for this: We spend about 135 billion rubles a year on collection, purification and distribution of water. The paradox of our system is that with an increase in this figure, our GDP increases. In fact, the current economic model in our country is not interested in reducing water consumption.

Do you complain about the poor environment in the country, think that it could not be worse? We hasten to dissuade you, the state of the environment in some countries is more critical. However, this does not bode well for us, because we all live on the same planet. Someone constantly makes ratings of cities, states in terms of ecology, cleanliness. The most environmentally friendly countries are always considered: Switzerland, Luxembourg, Norway, Latvia, Sweden, Austria, Italy, Costa Rica, Great Britain. There are many more world countries with poor ecology, but let's dwell on the next ten, which often fall into the lists of the dirtiest states.

The situation is especially acute because the population of China is 1 349 585 838 people. On the one hand, all of these lives are endangered from environmental pollution. On the other hand, such a number of inhabitants causes huge volumes of consumption and waste.

And also a developing industry - heavy, mining, energy... The greatest threat is posed by pollution atmospheric air... Thus, in large cities, the incidence of lung cancer is 3 times higher than in rural areas.

This country ranks second in terms of population - 1 220 800 359 people, some of the factors causing pollution are similar to China, and air pollution is also catastrophic. Experts estimate that 40 years later, more than 3 million people in the world will die due to "dirty" air a year, and most of them will be residents of China and India.

Despite the fact that South Africa is the most economically developed country in Africa, it cannot boast of intensive development methods that are safe for the environment.

Mexico's problem is water pollution. Fresh water reserves in the country are already limited, while untreated wastewater - industrial, sewage - gets into the rivers. The problem of deforestation is also topical.

Tourists from all over the world travel to this tropical paradise to have a good time and admire the outlandish landscapes. Yes, in the resort areas of Indonesia everything is so. However, other areas are suffering from different types pollution, moreover, the problem of waste disposal is ineffectively solved.

The modern Japanese government pays enough attention to environmental protection, Japanese corporations are developing the best environmentally friendly technologies, but the population will pay for the mistakes of the past for a long time, for example, for the rapid growth of industry after World War II, the overexploitation of natural resources.

7 - Libya

In Libya, the tense ecological situation is caused not so much by industry as by the political situation and military actions.

The state in southeast Asia - Kuwait - has 9% of the world's oil reserves. Hence the developed economy, the downside - environmental problems.

9 - Uzbekistan

There are many environmental problems in Uzbekistan. The drying up of the Aral Sea, which is an ecological catastrophe, is especially vividly demonstrated.

10 - Iraq

Military operations in this country did not pass without a trace. The population is now suffering from the deterioration of the ecological situation in Iraq, and this is no less than 31 858 481 people.

Culture

Russian citizens rank third in the world among the cleanest and tidiest countries after Indians and Americans.

Most of Russians (35 percent) take a shower or bath every day, 11 percent of Russian citizens take a shower twice a day. Europeans have long abandoned the medieval habit of bathing twice in a lifetime. However, they still choose not to shower too often. the British and the Germans bathe twice a week.

Environmentalists argue that the habit of taking a shower or bath every day can lead to an environmental disaster, as the planet will quickly run out of fresh water supplies. Muscovites are the cleanest people in Russia, although it's hard to believe after a trip to the metro. 55 percent of Muscovites take a shower every day, 18 percent of them wash twice a day. A recent survey showed that on average, one bathing session lasts about 20 minutes.

The average Russian citizen is also getting cleaner. About 35 percent of Russians wash themselves daily, even in the summer, when access to hot water in connection with planned works. Only 19 percent of Russians take a shower once a week, but these are mostly rural residents who have no water at all in their homes.

The average American shower twice a day is a sacred ritual in the United States. A person who does not bathe or change their underwear is considered an outcast in the United States.

Experts say that Russians have developed a passion for cleanliness through TV shows, films, books and other objects of mass culture that actively imitate the American way of life.

Hindus are the cleanest nation in the world. They wash their hands and body twice as often as Germans and 1.5 times as often as Americans. A Hindu will always go to the bathroom after sneezing, touching an animal, or visiting the toilet. This purity is justified in India, because in this country the most favorable conditions for the spread of intestinal infections. Therefore, a bar of soap in hand is the best protection against infections in India.

Experts say modern countries develop a love of cleanliness because they don't know the value of fresh water. Such a passion in Russia can really lead to an environmental disaster. A very large number of residential buildings in Russia do not have meters for hot and cold water, people pay a fixed amount no matter how much water they use.

It should be borne in mind that a regular shower takes 50 liters of water, while a bath requires 120 liters. Such a habit looks like madness against the background of an acute shortage of fresh water in the world. Unlike Europeans, Russians don't even try to save water.

It is almost impossible to meet a person who would not like cleanliness, which is also welcomed in every religion and society. And since we are human beings, intelligent beings, then we need to take care of its maintenance. We must not pollute the environment. Each of us must understand that dirt can have negative consequences for our environment.

Hundreds of harmful diseases, which can even cause death, accumulate in the dirt that we either create or do not fight with it. In some countries of the world, the garbage problem was solved by introducing a system of fines for people who throw away even an ice cream wrapper or a piece of paper in the wrong place.

Now let's take a look at the top ten best countries peace in terms of purity. These states are considered to be truly clean and pleasant for people than others on our planet.

The most clean country in the world

10. Norway

Our list starts with one of the tidiest and cleanest countries in the world - Norway. This country is well known all over the world for its powerful economic system. The reason for such a reverent attitude towards the environment and the fight against waste is the friendly cohesion of people. But scientists also single out the cold climate as one of the reasons: if you throw garbage on the snow in winter, then in the spring, when the snow begins to melt, this garbage along with water will spread throughout the city.

The next country on our list is Sweden. It, like Norway, belongs to the Scandinavian countries. Sweden's clean ecology is due to the same reasons as in Norway, only one can add one more - huge investments in the fight against negative consequences from industries (mines, factories). This means that business leaders are investing a lot of money to buy cleaning filters, new cleaner equipment, and more.

8. Austria

Austria is considered not only one of the cleanest countries in the world, but also one of the best places where you can live a long and healthy life. Also, scientists note that Austria is a very calm state in which crime is reduced to a minimum. The main reason for the cleanliness of the ecology is the absence of large enterprises and the presence of a large number of mountains and forests on the territory of the state.

7.Spain

Spain is another neat and clean country in the world. In our list, she is in seventh place. In Spain, everyone will find for themselves calm atmosphere... Since this state is considered one of the most developed, as well as a system with great progress in every area of ​​life, Spain is simply forced to maintain cleanliness. Also, cleanliness is the key to tourist visits.

6. Germany

Germany could be ranked first as it is a country with strict environmental regulations. Anyway, this is one of the most developed countries in the world with all the amenities for its inhabitants. But large industrial enterprises still make themselves felt partially, well, and a large number of cars on the roads.

But still, a large number of people visit Germany every year as tourists to enjoy the German lifestyle and spend a couple of days in a relaxed atmosphere.

5. Czech Republic

Next on our list is Germany's neighbor, the Czech Republic. This is a really pleasant and clean country, as not only locals, but also visitors speak about. The Czech Republic is economically and technologically advanced than Spain or Germany, but still the government of the state has managed to maintain high environmental standards. A peaceful lifestyle and mentality is a guarantee of Czechs to maintain cleanliness on the streets of their cities.

4. Singapore

Probably. you didn't expect to see Asian countries in this ranking, but Singapore is an exception. As for tourism, this country is truly a paradise and this is not only due to the beautiful tall buildings(of which there are really many in Singapore), attractions, but also thanks to the clean air and streets throughout the country. Singaporeans are unusual Asians, they can be attributed even more to Europeans. Also. What is noteworthy is that in technological development, Singapore does not lag behind Germany, but the pollution of the environment in the Asian country is much lower.

3. Australia

The three leaders are opened by Australia - a green continent, in which, probably, the best climatic conditions in the world, it's only a pity that New Year Australians celebrate on beaches in 30 degree heat. Also, it is worth noting that Australia is quite high in the ranking of the richest countries in the world, and from this we can conclude that the country's government certainly does not spare money to maintain the environment in good condition.

2. Luxembourg

Tiny Luxembourg got a very profitable geographical position, in fact, surrounding itself with forests. The population in this dwarf state is less than in most cities in our country. And proceeding from this - there is no one to litter and then, yes and no where. But, if we speak realistically, tourists have repeatedly noticed how clean the reservoirs and air in Luxembourg are. The inhabitants of the state also took a significant role in maintaining the cleanliness.

1. Switzerland

The undoubted leader and the cleanest country in the world is Switzerland. This is confirmed by the fact that Switzerland is one of the most visited countries in the world. Every year a large number of people visit Switzerland to enjoy its atmosphere and cleanliness of the environment. Also, remarkably, the clean environment ensures a healthy and peaceful life and this is confirmed by the high life expectancy of the Swiss.