Yep. The usual practice in the villages where there is no indoor plumbing is to grab your little pitcher of water, hike out to the field, and squat. Even where there is running water, you will sometimes not find toilet paper in bathrooms. Many Indians who have not been exposed to western paper product use feel the same way you do: :eek: I’ve heard from more than one person that using toilet paper is a dirty habit and that you can’t properly clean yourself with it. So offering anyone your left hand is beyond rude. But this has entered culture- even those who do use western-style toilets and toilet paper refrain from eating or shaking hands with their left. (Much traditional Indian food is eaten with the hands, or using pieces of bread as a kind of scoop. It’s messy, but some of the greatest food you’ll ever eat.)
Don’t even get me started on the bathrooms (or lack thereof) on trains. You haven’t lived until you’ve tried to balance yourself over a small hole (open to the track beneath, mind you) on a shaky train with about 50 strangers smiling at you and being encouraging.