Below is an excerpt from last week’s column for It’s a Southern Thing. Click here to go to the full column now, or click the link at the end of the excerpt. (For those who are curious, I share the excerpt not because it tickles me to redirect you to the full column but because the column is the property of SouthernThing.com . I share part of it here so readers who follow the blog will know it has been posted.)
It seems India has something in common with the Southern United States: The extreme heat makes riding in cars unbearable in summer months. And one woman’s solution, which recently became a viral sensation, involves materials that are abundant in India as well as the South – cow manure. Buffalo chips. Meadow muffins. Cow pies. Doodie squats. Take your pick.
I mean you can literally take your pick; they’re everywhere.
If you missed the story, here’s the poop: Sejal Shah of India got tired of feeling like she was entering a pizza oven whenever she got into her car so she applied a thin coating of bovine excrement to the exterior of her Toyota Corolla Altis, according to an article on The Daily Mail.
Anyone who has ever had burn marks on the backs of her thighs from sitting on a vinyl car seat in August in the South can understand her desperation. In some parts of India, temperatures have already risen to 110 degrees, according to the Daily Mail. That can make driving a nightmare, even with air conditioning.
Shah merely modified a common Indian method of using layers of excrement to cool houses. Her car now looks as if it is made of terracotta, and Shah even added a decorative trim, much as a Southern mama would do.
She told the Hindustan Times: “The heat was getting unbearable. I have used cow dung in my house for flooring and from that experience I thought of doing something with my car.” She covered every inch except for the lights, windows, door handles and tires.
A guy took photos of Shah’s Cow-rolla and posted them on social media … Click here to read the full column.
KellyKazek.com 