To my knowledge, bathing soaps could come in four different shapes: the old popular rectangular ones, the stylish boat shapes, round ones, or the liquid ones in dispensing bottles. Who designs soaps, anyway? Can they be made friendlier?

First, let me talk about the bathrooms. In the early stages of my life, the bathing room and the toilet were always separate. The bathrooms would have a simple tap with skid-free cement floors. A small tap, a bucket, and a mug. Fill it up and enjoy the bath, mostly in a squatting position. Did this pose strengthen my muscles? Then came the luxury of the shower. It felt so cool, modern, and thrilling.

The flooring changed over time. It moved from mosaic to vitrified tiles to Italian and so on. With South Indians used to having regular oil baths, we had to be light stepped to avoid skids. Ballet started there.

And then the soap itself, the cleanser. How do I apply it to my entire back? There is one particular area on my back that both my hands cannot reach. So, I will drop the soap from one hand to the other across this unattended area of my back. Lucky if I make it without disaster. The soap will fall down. And being slippery itself, it smoothly slides and hides in one corner. With soap in the eyes, hands brushing the floor, I play the treasure hunt game. Invariably, the soap would be full of particles of dust and God knows what. Being very obsessive about cleanliness, I start ‘washing’ the soap. Whether I can lose weight or not, the soap will. If this happens, the soap will become so famished that nothing will come out of it. Throw.

This soap-falling-into-the-floor routine can happen when the soap is very new, especially if it is big-sized. Such soaps have a sly way of escaping the clutches of your weak fingers. Funny, the same thing can happen if the soap, with usage, has become thin. The same sly route to escape will be used by the soap.

And do not forget, such falling-off and escaping routines can make the floors more slippery and make you ballet-dance to escape your own fall.

Continued in 224. Ballet In the Bath - Part 2