Spray an elephant god at your peril

INDIA has sought divine intervention to rid its government buildings of the scourge of spitting — wall tiles imprinted with the images of gods.

Officials in Uttar Pradesh state have installed tiles with images of Hindu gods and goddesses in “vulnerable” corners of government buildings where reddish-brown sprays from chewing-tobacco mixtures are a common sight.

Few public spaces are spared from spitting in India. Those chewing the popular handmade paan mixtures of tobacco and areca nut are serial offenders.

In Shahjahanpur district, about 225km from the capital Lucknow, officials fed up with the mess have turned to the gods for inspiration.

“We got CCTV cameras installed, and deployed staff to check spitting, but it was of no use,” district official TK Shibu said.

“So as an experiment, we are trialling these tiles of gods and goddesses.” —