What evidence of cleanliness did Pearl Buck find in the Indian villages ?
Ans Pearl Buck made journeys to some Indian villages. Her hosts were
important well-to-do and educated persons. So her impression of the Indian
village life is not fully realistic. The writer is so much in love with India and her
people and their ways of life that she sees only the bright side of things. In the
matter of cleanliness she is very much impressed by Indian people's cleanliness.
Even the paralytic man was very neat and clean. His cotton garments were snow-
white. She also saw in her host's house clean home-spun towel to cleanse to
hands. What impressed the writer most in this respect was the custom of taking
boiled rice on green banana leaves rather than in plates. She felt that this was a
very clean habit. The rice piled on such green leaves was pleasant to look at. It
also stimulated appetite. Again the writer thought the habit of taking food with
right hand a very clean habit. To begin with, the right hand is reserved for doing
good work where as the left hand is for doings lowly works. So the right hand is
all along clean. Still it is washed before it is used for lifting food. All these
showed Mrs. Buck that Indian villagers were clean people.
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