There are few things that link Douglas Adams and me; Well, he wrote a famous book, and I have read it!
But there is, indeed, one item that links us. In his book, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, these words occur: "A towel... is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have... it has great practical value. You can wrap it around for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the... sanded beaches of Santraginus V, and you can sleep under it beneath the stars... of the desert world of Kakrafoon."
Well, I don't find such exotic uses for the towel on good old Planet Earth. But I can agree that a towel is one of the most useful things one can have. Besides the primary use to dry one's body after a bath, it is so often a turban, shading the user from the harsh sun; a napkin to wipe one's hands on. It's a duster to clean up any space one wants to sit on. Even the wealthy use it to line their car boots before putting things there!
Infants are swaddled in towels; we don't use special swaddling clothes in our poor country! The towel also comes in handy to clean up any accidental "outpourings" from the baby! As the baby starts crawling, I have seen mothers tie the child by its waist string to a nearby pillar with a soft old towel as she does her housework, preventing the child from crawling off into possible harm.
On mofussil buses, the towel is used as a "reservation marker!" The passenger throws his towel onto the seat through the window and then claims the towel-covered seat as his own.
Our towels are useful to pack up odd things while we travel and also to safeguard fragile things. We can use them as impromptu blankets to cover ourselves if the night is nippy or roll them up and use them as pillows. In the kitchen, we can handle hot vessels with a towel; use them as filters, sometimes to drain the water of cooked rice or vegetables, too. In a pinch, it becomes a bandage for minor scratches or cuts.
We don't use "Turkey towels," which are bulky and difficult to dry despite being the epitome of luxury; instead, we use thin cotton material that takes up little space and dries quickly after use. They come in a lovely array of patterns and colours, but my favourites are the large white "thundu" (actually meaning a piece) used in Tamil Nadu and the checked red-coloured "gamccha" from West Bengal. Wetted and spread about my shoulders and head, my towel has helped me keep cool on field trips in the hot Indian sun.
And finally, when the towel frays and shreds, it is still useful as a rag to clean up spills and dirty spots in our homes!
My salute, then, to the ubiquitous towel and to the many small industries that make this handloom item!