Content area
Full Text
Waiting to be seated in a restaurant in Delhi, patrons are likely to see pictures of Ganesha, Lakshmi, and Mohandas Gandhi and a plaque with the phrase "Cleanliness is next to godliness." Ganesha, the elephant headed deity, is the remover of obstacles but may owe his place in the eatery to his fondness for sweets and his great belly. Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, sits next to the cash register. Gandhi, who perfected hunger as political protest, is the odd one in the bunch; hollow cheeked and lean framed, he was better known for his fruit and goat's milk diet than for worldly cravings. It is his experiments with sanitation, rather than his status as the "father of the nation," that justify his presence next to the sign and the gods. Oppressed by the stench at a session of the Indian Congress in Calcutta in 1901, he assigned himself the task of cleaning the latrine.
Delhi is getting ready to host the Commonwealth games in October. Joining the many concerns that attend major sports events worldwide-security issues, traffic bottlenecks, and hotel room shortages-is one that frequent visitors to the city know well: "Delhi belly" (traveller's diarrhoea). The...