Jootha?

An interesting conversation in Big Boss caught my interest. Salman Khan asked Manoj Tiwari why he disagreed to inmates eating from each-others’ dishes. He asked if Manoj found something wrong in the practice. I became curious. Indian/Hindu culture is unique in many aspects and Indians/Hindus maintain the highest aspects of ‘personal hygiene’ (as different from public one). And we have this concept of not eating other’s jootha – a word for which there is no English translation available at all! I support this practice – it’s anyone guess that eating someone else’s jootha may result in disease contraction – as jootha would contain traces of saliva; and contamination - we never know if the other person had properly washed hands or not. Salman Khan may not be knowing the background, or maybe he was casual (or tricky?) in his question. Anyways, so what did Manoj reply?

Manoj Tiwari’s reply was something like this: “I have no problems as such but I think we should not eat from someone’s plate until we know him/her properly.” He went on, “Also, I protested against them tasting the food in kitchen itself before it was served, which I found to be improper (unhygienic).” Interesting answer! It doesn’t offend anyone (which a lecture on culture or hygienic benefits would have done), and yet it is precise at the same time! I think such an art of speech really makes one very popular. And it is not everyone’s cup of tea.

- Rahul