No Toilet! No Bride!

No Toilet! No Bride!

In the northern Indian state of Haryana, courtship is generally intricate business, but the mothers of the brides-to-be have simplified matters by clearing stating to potential grooms: “If you don’t have a toilet, you cannot marry my daughter.”

The slogan, which is a bit longer in Hindi and specifically reads: “If you don’t have a proper lavatory in your house, don’t even think about marrying my daughter,” has been plastered all across villages as part of a campaign to increase the number of available facilities.

The chronic shortage of proper plumbing is ironic in a region of the country where more households have TV sets than toilets.

Believe it or not, it is estimated that in India more than 660 million people still defecate in the open, causing a myriad of medical conditions ranging from diarrhea to polio

With 8% more men than women, the fairer sex in India have become more vocal about expressing their resentment at having to relieve themselves outside, giving brides more leverage in pre-marital bargaining.

“Women suffer the most from this situation. They must go outside and they have to do so before sunrise or after nightfall so they can’t be seen,” said Bindeshwar Pathak, founder of Sulabh, a company that has built toilets for ten million Indians, and the recipient of this year’s Stockholm Water Prize for developing eco-friendly lavatories to improve public health.

The campaign has yielded very positive results. About 1.4 million lavatories have been built in the state since 2005, many of them with significant government subsidies. “We have more toilets, less shame among women and less disease,” said S.K.Monda, the official in charge of the program.
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/health-and-nutrition/27055-no-toilet-no-bride.html

There are still those who fight progress, as some upper-caste communities are not happy having lavatories in their homes because it is believed such an arrangement is unclean.
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=27055

By MDeeDubroff

 
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It brought back a lot of funny memories.............. Thanks for sharing..

i remember that joke by Russell Peters "There is only so much washing with a cup you can do"

In the villages people used to go to the fields (they still do).
It used to be very convenient for women as it was considered a convenient socializing point where some domestic issues could be discussed and settled!

bahahaha that just sounds so wrong. Honestly, why would you be conversing with anyone while taking a dump?

Im sure there were other times for women to converse like on the well, sorting the grain etc.

You must also include the time to walk to the field and back. It also means going with your confidante in the early hours when it is dark and so it is easier to talk.

Beleive it or not this was the one thing that struck me most...LACK of toilets especially in "cities"..like Jullender, kapurthala, Amritsar, Chandigarh etc...
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=27055
On a shopping trip i ahd to go..and i asked the shopping mall owner..where is the toilet...he laughed. Just go out in the street and do it discreetly behind a light pole he said...what ?? i was dumbfounded...where do you and your staff do it...beside the lamp post in front of the shop !! where else ? In all of Kapurthala..there were two public places..one near the Bus adda..and another enar the Govt office complex..and BOTH stunk to high heaven..

2. Along the main roads on walls i saw Huge letterings...Dekho KUTTA peshab kar riha hai...LOOK..the DOG is URINATING Here !! Presumably these were Public service Reminders to SHAME repeat Offenders...but judging by the stink..a Failure..

Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=27055
3. In the Villages I visited...they do have more Toilets now than say about 20 years ago...BUT "doors" are still a luxury not to be wasted on toilets/bathrooms. Some just make do with an Angled wall in front that blocks out about 30%..or a curtain made of soem gunnysack material that waves in the wind..revealing a bit here and there..I hated "going"...but to the locals it was natural...the Occupier..and the approacher..BOTH kept on coughing to see if the toilet was still occupied or free...a sort of continuous alarm...stay away !!

4. At the Indira gandhi Airport Lounge in Delhi they ahd different rates for different "jobs"... a rupee for just "urinating"...3 Rs for the bigger job...and the attendant kept coming in to check no one paid 1 Rupee and then did a big job !!(shortchanging him by 2 Rs !! he he )..this was in 2005..In 2008 the Toilet was FREE..and much cleaner too.

5. A friend who came to Malaysia from Punjab about 10 years ago..early 1996 told me she did her buisness at home in Punjab..and then when she landed in Kuala Lumpur and arrived home..more than 36 HOURS later....in 2008 I saw that many nice Restaurants/rest stops had been set up along the highway Delhi- Punjab..Nice food and nice toilets...she was really surprised...oh how i suffered in 1996 she told me...

6. JOKE: It seems Queen Elizabeth visited Delhi and she kept pointing out to the accompanying PM of India Jwaharlala Nehru..people urinating/defecating in public. Nehru was highly annoyed. On his next visit to LONDON..with the Queen accompanying him on a drive in London..Nehru was on the lookout..to get his revenge back. Suddenlly he saw..a MAN URINATING in PUBLIC...AHA..he shouted out loud...pointing to the man and saying..There you too have such people in England...OH..BUT that Man is the INDIAN AMBASSADOR...!! the Queen replied.

7. On a visit to Pakistan i was surprised that the situation there is a hundred times worse..in fact tot he Paksitanis..toilets in kapurthala are so sweet smelling !!...surprising:whis ling: !!

Gyani ji,

Now they have found a more innovative way to try and dissuade people from peeing on the road side. The have put up ceramic tiles on the walls with images of gods and godesses! So far it has been successful. But lets see for how long!

Thats actually quite old. I've seen it for a long time.

But..Has this stopped the peeing Premis ??

Imho EDUCATION..and PROVISION OF these amenities by the Authorites is the way to GO...How sad that Punjab is supposed to eb the welathiest state, California of India.blah blha..but no toilets...what a shame...