Nobody knew as to why and how the whole city became so spit-and-sawdust. They realized when they felt their feet splashing in it. However, they soon discovered that whatever they emitted had gathered in layers and layers. It was everywhere, in streets, in houses, in parks, even in sacred places. But the research committee added a significant information emphasizing that big colonies, where worthy personalities inhabited, had less density than the smaller ones. Another thinkers’ panel concluded that the reason of this difference, after tracing out by due consideration and on the information achieved by the people was that those personalities seldom spitted in their homes. Whenever they felt the urge, they always chose the smaller places. And this was very wise of them.
For the question as to how it happened? Many reports, almost all of them agreed that it happened because they all spat and there can be no other logic behind it. Those who contented were two different groups. One, which was much Calvinistic, affirmed that it was bound to happen. The other stressed that it was due to certain diseases in the people… however to this response people spat and stressed them down quietly. And there was no fuss because the majority wisely used all their rights. And about the former group, people respected them and accepted them saying, “O.K, they do exist and that’s all”. Hence they unanimously agreed that it so happened that they all spat and that’s how it started.
A certain group of worthy personalities, famous as Policy Makers, soon printed an article pointing out whether this condition will cause troubles or not. They discussed this hypothesis and concluded that and acute enquiry would be continued. A week after this article’s publication, all the articles had disappeared and there was just one left completely engulfed by the spit. The disappearance of the article thus and the existence of just one copy proved very dramatic and worrisome for the people. They finally labelled it as dangerous and completely problematic for the community. Nature does not want that. Later on, no news was heard of the policy makers even when the upper layer of spit had started to touch the ankles. The city looked like the one in the wake of industrialization when long shoes were worn by the gentry to walk in the muddy unpaved streets. In the current case it was the spit that compelled them to wear long shoes.
And as to the question why it happened? There came lots of legends about it. According to one story that, out of hatred, a man named Bashir, a drug addict, spat on a policeman, who thrashed him so well that he broke his leg. He was presented before the judge who silenced him for two years by gluing his lips. But soon after his liberation, he started doing it. In effect to this many of his fellows who were also addicts also started doing it and became addicted to this act. Within a year it developed into a fashion and soon whole society could be found doing this. Another source of history confirmed that it was a professor who first did that. He wasn’t kicked out of the university. Soon the students acquired this habit. Then it moved towards the working class and finally it became a confident attitude that every sane person must spit. And those who didn’t were labelled as insane and were admitted in hospitals for better treatment. Many succumbed to the treatments but still there were very few who were declared as incurable. Many died during this operation, who were buried out of cemetery, out of city so that their souls should not disturb the sane citizens. Yet there came another legend which was not much considered and was deduced as a fake one.
According to this the trend-setter of the habit was a governor who was first noticed in a private hotel’s room. In that very hotel, he spat thrice and fell down. He was popular as a genuine ‘noble’ man out of a very noble family. In his commemoration people adopted this habit.
According to the laws, this action was confined to the nobles because it was lawful only for them. But later on after lots of protests by the liberators who voiced that the noble actions must be equal for everyone. Though the liberators were low in status but as they were many so they were also given the authority which soon spread to everyone and the city was applauded as the city of the liberators. According to certain strong resources that the think tank also maintained another conclusion concerning the question of why? That’s why spitting became a passion. The individual psychologist agreed that every individual has his own case history behind it. However few reasons are very common:
- Some spat for the sake of spitting.
- Some spat for pleasure and they claimed that they got ultimate happiness.
- Some spat that they were much impressed by others
- Some spat that they believed that while in Rome, do as the Romans do
- Some spat for they were afraid of insanity and the punishment they might get for it
- Some spat for they wanted to win other’s favors
- Some spat for they were addicted to this habit. Some also claimed that it was their childhood habit
- Some spat because this is how they felt their tensions away from their existences
- Some also spat because they wanted to teach others professionally as to how to spit in the most subtle, delicate, and sophisticated manner. For it was going to be included in annual sports. Many other types of games were also going to be included based on spitting.
Many new innovative as well as creative ideas were being added till the layer of spit touched the knees and it became a bit difficult to walk. However, the people managed to walk through it with the invention of special boots, mostly costly and mainly for worthy personalities.
On the other hand, sociopsychologists agreed that it lay in the unconscious of people from the very beginning of their evolution. They also devised a particular analytic technique which they significantly presented. And there evolved different schools of thoughts with various sub-theories. Such researches continued till the layer reached the bellies. However, they worth community easily managed to walk because they did not need to walk at all. Hence they found no trouble outside their houses. They used choppers for communication. But it was troublesome for the smaller ones. Somehow or the other they tried to survive. Many children drowned and many dwarves died too. It became impossible to sow something for the soil was too hidden to be seen. Soon it reached to the chests and people started sinking for they could not ,move at all.
History asserts with much pragmatic approach that the smaller ones died earlier than the worthy ones. They started perishing when they could not find a ground to rest. Their choppers and they along with their choppers fell down and no traces were found. And even those who were claimed insane also died but mostly of suffocation. Finally it is how a city faded away as a spittoon with its own spitting. Only history has saved its evidence mythologically.
It could be an allegory to the society’s way of doing things just because people around them are involved in it; spit can be a metaphor for certain deeds that weren’t common before but people started doing them for the sake of involvement in the social practice, or it could be about simple useless talking; people who didn’t participate were considered insane or abnormal. I liked how it separated the ‘how’ and ‘why’ parts of the research, because in history we often combine the causal questions. Another aspect I found interesting was the lack of any response towards the whole issue, people just accepted it until doom inevitably arrived, and no one tried to figure out how to stop it. Many wrongdoings in our society prevail just because people are too busy coming up with theories as to why it happened, and there’s very little focus on how to stop it from happening again. I enjoyed this story a lot, looking forward to reading more from the author.