what is the biggest obvious middle Eastern Influence that I saw in India when there in 1985 and 1986?

This might sound odd but it is a very strange thing for westerners to deal with. In the middle East it is considered sacrilege to sit down while defecating so while I was in India and Nepal I didn't see even one Western Sit down toilet there. So, from a physical point of view this is the biggest example of Middle Eastern Culture as it relates to all or most of Asia. So, when I rented a hotel room for my family the bathroom consisted of a sink (or water spigot by itself) and shower head and a dual purpose hole in the floor of the bathroom for water to go down from the shower which also doubled as a squatting toilet. I don't know if things are the same way now but this was in 1985 and 1986.

I do remember a travelog on TV of a man in China who could not longer squat like this on a floor hole toilet because of advancing age who had to carry around a portable toilet seat chair which folded wherever he went because otherwise he couldn't go to the bathroom and do his business otherwise.

I think it's important therefore that if you travel to Asia and can no longer squat successfully to do your business that you make sure that they have western Toilets that you can actually sit down upon wherever you are staying. And even if they have them at the hotel or house you are staying just remember they might only have a hole in the floor that flushes or worse everywhere else you travel to in Asia.

This is a strange thing but imagine all the problems people are going to have if they don't understand this is what Asia might still be like if they travel there not knowing this?

I and my wife and children were okay with all this simply because my wife and I were 37 and our 3 children were 10 to 14 in 1985 and 1986 while we were there in India, Nepal, Thailand and Japan.