Somita Pal

It was the first working day after my resolution of having at least two liters of water every day. I started with two glasses of water first thing in the morning. I had that nagging fear like many of us working women, college-going girls have- what if the washroom isn’t clean?

None of us want to use unhygienic washrooms but we are forced to. Consequences are dreaded and expected. A 2010 study conducted for Observer Research Foundation by the KEM hospital’s Preventive and Social Medicine department proves our fears are not unfounded..

The study reveals women commuters in city are more prone to urinary tract infections due to the unhygienic conditions of toilets at Mumbai’s suburban railway stations. For every man suffering from urinary tract infection, there were six women suffering from the same. And it is the fear to hold the bladder for hours or forced to using unhygienic toilet that that women like me do not drink any water before taking that one and half hour train ride to offices.

Anyways since it is my resolution, I decided to take the risk. Half way to my one and half hour train journey, I knew that it is the time for me to locate a clean toilet. I got off the train at Matunga station. I walked a little to find a public toilet at the CST end of the platform number1. At first look, I felt like giving it a miss since it was stinking like hell and looked deserted. But to my surprise, it was quite clean. And unlike our male counterparts, who get to use the urinals for free, I had to pay Rs 2. Small price for a clean toilet? Yes, but why can’t we have if for free?

I had water during my visit to hospitals, which is my beat, but didn’t have to rush to any washrooms. So I shall update you about conditions of washrooms in city’s premier hospitals in the coming blogs. Let’s help each other by sharing information on clean and safe washrooms that can be used by us.

I will keep you posted on my journey through my blog at dnaindia/blog/somitapal

Join this journey and together let’s force the civic body think about our needs. After all, we are the better halves.