It would be a grass roots eye opener for the 'great' Modi to please visit CST, disguised as a woman. And then he must visit the ladies' toilet. For Rs.5/ I think that the caretaker there earns more than even the platform ticket sales.
Women of all classes and creeds and ages, are desperately crowding into the dirty and derelict toilets at the CST. The narrow entrance is blocked by the woman in charge, who demands her money before you can enter furthur. The stench drowns your senses and the flooded and cracked floor tiles are a danger that one has to overcome and walk inwards. Three doors, so soiled that I flinched to even touch one when I managed to wait until it was my 'turn' to use the toilet.
The pushing and squeezing between the sweaty female bodies is not a pleasant experience at all. The toilet doors are cracked and two have no inner latches. One toilet was flooded. The one I entered, was in such a sorry state of disrepair and uncleanness, that if my need was not so urgent, then I would never have entered such a disgustingly unhygienic 'toilet'.
That is one of the reasons that I enjoy visiting any mall. At least the toilet facilities are decent and clean. There is an attendant and there are washbasins and toilet paper and clean clean toilets.
Recently I had to go to Dadar to travel by the Shivneri, and the ladies' toilet at the bus stand is usable for rupees five. It is a very narrow squeeze and the window slats are in disrepair, but the steel toilet was clean. And then I visited the toilet at the Pune depot of the same bus service, and that was so so unusable. Charges were rupees five, but the entire inner area was flooded in 2 inches of unclean water .......and only one of the three enclosures was usable. There was no door latch and it was dirty and smelly. Yuck, yuck and yuck.
If you are shopping at Crawford Market, after walking through the numerous crowded lanes, you feel thirsty, and visit any restaurant to quench your thirst, but you will not be able to use a toilet, because they say that they have none. Only one restaurant has a loo for customers but access is restricted for one, only after you have placed your order, because people tend to enter, use the loo and leave. The main door of the hotel has the message, washroom is only for authentic customers.
So many shops all over Mumbai, with men and women working there, so many traffic constables working on the roads, so many taxi drivers all over the place, where do they manage to relieve themselves?
There is a very posh restaurant near my house, where rich people arrive in expensive cars to eat there. The drivers wait in the car and very often relieve themselves behind the parked car. It is so embarrassing to be walking along the narrow road and then realize that some fellow is urinating close to the path that I am using.
Mr. Modi, your endeavour to encourage the Indian public to use toilets and not defecate and urinate in open spaces is very correct but there need to be more free public toilets all over India. There are whole families living on footpaths and on the beach in Mumbai and they defecate on plastic bags and on paper and put it into the drains near their haunts, by lifting the cover. So if anyone is walking along a footpath where the draincover has a rope tied around the handle lid, then that is the easy access lid for the toilet outlet, for the footpath dwellers.
I would like to take the prime minister for a walk along the road in 'posh' south Mumbai, even along the route to the chief minister's bungalow, because travelling in an air conditioned car does not let you see the ground reality.
Women of all classes and creeds and ages, are desperately crowding into the dirty and derelict toilets at the CST. The narrow entrance is blocked by the woman in charge, who demands her money before you can enter furthur. The stench drowns your senses and the flooded and cracked floor tiles are a danger that one has to overcome and walk inwards. Three doors, so soiled that I flinched to even touch one when I managed to wait until it was my 'turn' to use the toilet.
The pushing and squeezing between the sweaty female bodies is not a pleasant experience at all. The toilet doors are cracked and two have no inner latches. One toilet was flooded. The one I entered, was in such a sorry state of disrepair and uncleanness, that if my need was not so urgent, then I would never have entered such a disgustingly unhygienic 'toilet'.
That is one of the reasons that I enjoy visiting any mall. At least the toilet facilities are decent and clean. There is an attendant and there are washbasins and toilet paper and clean clean toilets.
Recently I had to go to Dadar to travel by the Shivneri, and the ladies' toilet at the bus stand is usable for rupees five. It is a very narrow squeeze and the window slats are in disrepair, but the steel toilet was clean. And then I visited the toilet at the Pune depot of the same bus service, and that was so so unusable. Charges were rupees five, but the entire inner area was flooded in 2 inches of unclean water .......and only one of the three enclosures was usable. There was no door latch and it was dirty and smelly. Yuck, yuck and yuck.
If you are shopping at Crawford Market, after walking through the numerous crowded lanes, you feel thirsty, and visit any restaurant to quench your thirst, but you will not be able to use a toilet, because they say that they have none. Only one restaurant has a loo for customers but access is restricted for one, only after you have placed your order, because people tend to enter, use the loo and leave. The main door of the hotel has the message, washroom is only for authentic customers.
So many shops all over Mumbai, with men and women working there, so many traffic constables working on the roads, so many taxi drivers all over the place, where do they manage to relieve themselves?
There is a very posh restaurant near my house, where rich people arrive in expensive cars to eat there. The drivers wait in the car and very often relieve themselves behind the parked car. It is so embarrassing to be walking along the narrow road and then realize that some fellow is urinating close to the path that I am using.
Mr. Modi, your endeavour to encourage the Indian public to use toilets and not defecate and urinate in open spaces is very correct but there need to be more free public toilets all over India. There are whole families living on footpaths and on the beach in Mumbai and they defecate on plastic bags and on paper and put it into the drains near their haunts, by lifting the cover. So if anyone is walking along a footpath where the draincover has a rope tied around the handle lid, then that is the easy access lid for the toilet outlet, for the footpath dwellers.
I would like to take the prime minister for a walk along the road in 'posh' south Mumbai, even along the route to the chief minister's bungalow, because travelling in an air conditioned car does not let you see the ground reality.
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