A "long drop" indeed!

 

In Africa, when one digs a latrine for use in the bush, there are different ways of going about it.  A "scrape" is literally that - scrape away the surface dirt, do your business, and cover it with the dirt you'd previously removed.  If you're planning a longer stay (e.g. overnight), or if multiple people want to use the same facilities, a "short drop" is called for - digging a hole a foot or two deep, using it (with each successive user scooping a little dirt over his or her "deposit" to control odors), and then filling it in before departure next day.  A "long drop" is for longer-term use, several days or weeks in the same camp.  A hole is dug at least four or five feet deep, sometimes more, depending on whether the soil is firm enough not to collapse into the cavity.  It's often surrounded by a thatch shield, so that ladies can use it in greater privacy.

(I could tell a rather embarrassing story against myself involving a long drop, a snake, and a double-barreled 12ga. shotgun . . . but I shall refrain.  Ahem.)

At any rate, it seems an unfortunate resident of Mumbai in India inadvertently discovered another meaning to a "long drop".  In fact, it's probably the longest drop of all . . .

A 52-year-old man with an upset stomach died after falling from the 18th floor of a building in Mumbai on Sunday while defecating from the edge of a shaft, an official said.

The incident occurred at the 18-storey Matoshree Sadan building, Wadala, in central Mumbai, said the official from RAK Marg police station.

The man, a resident of the high-rise, had been suffering from dysentery for the past few days.

"The victim, who was jobless, lived with his sister on the 18th floor. Someone was using the toilet in their house when he lost control of his bowels and rushed outside," an official said.

He sat to defecate on the edge of a shaft near a lift but lost his balance and plunged into a pit on the ground floor, the official said.

There's more at the link.

A tragic situation, and I'm sure his family is devastated . . . but I can already hear the jokes around campfires the length and breadth of Africa!  Unfortunately, Indians are not popular in Africa because they run many of the local stores that are regarded as interlopers and profiteers, so the jokes will be rather barbed.

Peter