Saturday, November 01, 2008

The watery trail

Whenever there is a political rally in Chennai (not an infrequent event), thousands of people converge from all parts of the state to ‘express their solidarity”. And, while in the city, they urinate all over the place. This act is not to merely mark their territories or leave evidence of their participation. It is simply because there are no public toilets. And even if a few exist, they are not worthy of patronage.

That’s why I was amused by this report on the daunting task faced by the organizers of the marathon event in New York, where 39000 runners participate. They need to gather and place 2250 portable toilets for a one-day event and then have them removed immediately after the event, as it ‘kinda starts smelling’.

Apparently, this practice has been started only recently. Till two years back, the marathon runners used to head for the bushes or a convenient slope near a bridge, even though “going to the bathroom in public is both an illegal act in New York City and a disqualifiable one in the marathon”.

I am trying to work out the logistics of bringing in thousands of portable toilets to meet the needs of lakhs of partymen who descend into the city each time. And, the challenge of convincing them to get into those boxes.

4 comments:

  1. You can bring the horse to water but......

    Are we being unkind- if the boxes are there, people will learn to use them, no?

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  2. Dipali, I am sure they will. But they need to be convinced that the boxes are clean enough.

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  3. Or, maybe put posters of stalwarts from the opposite party on those boxes?

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  4. I believe the real challenge is not bringing so many toilets but convincing people why they should use them.

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