A new bridal fashion might have been set off by this village girl

That a Maharashtra bride demanded (and got) a portable toilet in lieu of jewellery and household goods from her father at her wedding is undoubtedly a trendsetting incident, though her prospective in-laws should have borne that expense as they will also presumably benefit from that gift.

However, even for women of social strata where the lack of bathrooms is not an issue and whose families are more flush should not pooh-pooh the broad principle set by the rural bride. Opting for bespoke bathrooms instead of the usual bridal toilette of designer couture and heavy jewellery would not mean any diminution of status. After all, bathrooms can also be configured to personal preferences as precisely and expensively, allowing for both utility and vanity.

While a shift in wedding spending to bridal bathrooms may open up loo-crative new business prospects, buyers need not be restricted to what is available in India. According to a recent report, high-spending Chinese are routinely bringing back state-of-the-art electronic toilets from Japan, and Tokyo’s Narita International Airport will soon have an interactive gallery devoted to luxury bathrooms, as part of an initiative to promote that country’s famed ‘toilet culture’. With India’s toilet culture still on a different plane, any movement should be welcome.