Not for the Squeamish — Bathrooms in India
Posted on January 18, 2010, by Hanna Ingber Win, under International, women.
I wrote an essay for GlobalPost about my personal experiences using bathrooms in India. During a short trip to a rural area of the country, I had no option but to pee on train tracks, use “bathrooms” that had neither a toilet nor a hole, and share a restaurant’s restrooms with an army of spiders.
Sanitation is a pressing social and public health issue in India, especially for the women here. According to Emily Wax’s Washington Post article, more than 600 million Indians — about half the population – don’t have access to toilets.
Here is a view on the toilet situation from a Western perspective. Would love to hear what you think.
I took an overnight train to central India after Christmas and what struck me most was not the scenery (it was pretty dry) or the livestock in the streets (though I do love baby animals). It was the bathroom situation.
The restroom on the train — and I didn’t take first class — was surprisingly not disgusting. It was relatively clean and even had soap in the dispenser. That is more than I can say for many of the restrooms I have visited in Mumbai’s restaurants.
I was impressed. Until morning came.
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