Lord of the Bucket

The plastic bucket is the new duct tape. Duct tape was always the functional fashionista's "little black dress." Appropriate for all occasions.  However, Anna Wintour, take note...Duct tape is out. Plastic buckets are in.

In San Francisco, I do not own a bucket. Not one. A month ago, I came to this realization when Alfredo asked me for a plastic bucket to clean his kitesurfing equipment. The fact that I didn't own one never fazed me. A hose or a large cooking pot works just fine.

In India, that answer would not stand. My lack of buckets is an admission of barbaric behavior. A bucketless room, let alone a bucketless house, connotes a unfathomable lifestyle, unquestionably involving filthy bizarr activities.  An Indian version of Alfredo might easily conclude that I don't shower, don't wipe after going to the bathroom, don't clean my house, don't cook regular food, don't support my house cleaning staff...the list of offenses goes on.

Colorful plastic buckets are a linch-pin to daily life here. Without them, you are gross and backwards. Fortunately, my hotel room at the Online Suites in the Bommasandra Industrial Area (I'll provide pictures when I find my camera adapter) and my new serviced apartment under the Ruby Corporate Group provide savage Westerners like me plenty of buckets.

Let me introduce you to my current plastic bucket collection. There is shower basin bucket, washcloth bucket (ie. the bucket is my washcloth..see image below), tv-stand bucket, breakfast bowl bucket, measuring cup buckets and washer/dryer bucket. There might be more, but I haven't had a chance to look through all the cabinets yet.

Here is a picture of my shower basin bucket and "washcloth" bucket.

Note the attractive blue and clear combo - like a summer afternoon sky. The benefit of a clear washcloth bucket is that I can see whether the water is brown, yellow or clear before throwing it on myself to wipe off soap suds. Genius. In light of my new appreciation for water color varietals, my previous hotel's choice of only opaque buckets seems intentionally obfuscating.

Beyond cleaning, I've also witnessed buckets used as furniture (chairs at a cafe, tv-stands in an apartment), transportation (an infant's car/motorcycle seat), clothing (purse, briefcase) and kitchens (large rice dispensers, mortars for spices). Large and small, bright and bland buckets are here to stay.  Please share your own bucket images.

As a final note, I would really benefit from tips on how to use my bucket collection more effectively. For example, when showering do you fill the bucket with clean or soapy water? Do you stand or crouch when rinsing with the washcloth bucket? Do you wash your hair in the bucket or under the spigot? Sounds trivial but there has got to be a trick to bucket empowered bathing. Until I learn the tips and tricks I'll continue giving my entire bathroom, including the toilet, an unintentional rinse each morning.