शौचालय

There are quite a few things here in Uttarakhand (especially in the Kumaon region) which I really like, one of them are the toilets here. I got a good chance of interaction with the community, to see their lives from a close, not initially, but gradually I noticed that, no matter how small or big the house is, how rich or poor people are, city or village, every household has toilets.

It made me think more about it when some of them told me that they are as old as 1990, and a few from 1980, and people have been using it daily since then. Mountains are blessed with lots of big and small water streams, but the irony is that the access to that water is a big social issue here. But still in that kind of situation, people also have toilets, and they are using them without proper water connections.

In Bihar, which is my home state, toilets are not a very old thing in the villages; they came mostly around the 2010s. And now getting the push with the SWACHH BHARAT ABHIYAN, the terrain is good and simple, water is also accessible (though the quality of water is a matter of discussion), and now toilets are also there, still, so many are choosing to go out. And this is the main point of study for me, as to why there is a big difference, as to why at one place people are using it without the proper facility, and on the other hand, not despite having a good, proper, functional system.

Then I start talking and asking people in search of this why? And here are the few points I came across. The reason most of the people pointed out was the fear of wild animals; the man-animal conflict here is very common, even in the city area of the Almora district. I remember so many times my colleagues saying “are andhera hone wala hai, jaldi nikalti hu, kahi Bagh na mil jaye”.

So the logic is that the fear of wild animals is always there, hence going out in the field or jungle can cost life. That is why people built toilets so early that it was not a choice but a need.

The second logic I got in the follow-up discussions is that mountains and rivers are considered very sacred by the people here, hence open defecation is considered a sin, and people believe that it will attract bad luck, so to protect themselves from the sin, they opt to use toilets.

Similarly, there are other lots of theories around it, like now it has become so widespread that if someone doesn’t have a toilet, they are looked down on by other people, it has now become a symbol of social status, here in the mountains. Also, the cow is equivalent to god here; it is considered a very sacred animal. Added that the majority of their feed comes from the forest, hence keeping the jungles clean to protect their feed is important.

One more logical argument is that, because the villages here are very small in terms of population here in hills hence, the administration is easier, the scheme implementation and check on each household has become easier to look after the proper implementation of the schemes.

But it does not mean that there are proper public toilets present here, I have seen so many times people peeing on the roadside. In Almora, public toilets are present to a certain extent, but in the rural area, very rare, mostly centered around the Panchayat Bhawan, that too in not in very good condition to use.

Altogether, it was a very interesting finding for me, people here have truly learned the importance of toilets, which is still a struggle in the northern plain.

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