I’ve Got Something Important to Say…

Nov 18
NabanitaDhar
I’ve got nothing to say!

I have been gaping at a blank word document for over an hour now. Well, maybe not continuously, but it has certainly been open behind applications waiting for me to Alt-Tab my way towards it. But today I just can’t seem to think of something, in fact anything, to write on. Yes, apparently today I have got nothing at all to say. But hold that thought for a moment. If my mind is really blank in terms of a post just like an old, abandoned building why is it then that I feel this sudden, strong urge to write? Why this compulsion to type something important, maybe even be part of a change in a small way?
Think. Think. Think Naba!
Train journeys. I think one of the best ways to experience India is by travelling in a train. So much to see, so much diversity right from the compartment to the word the train passes by. When I was maybe 4 or 5 years old I remember travelling from Kolkata to Chennai in the Coromandel Express. It was my first train journey. And it is during that that I has for the first time seen people defecating in the open. Of-course, I didn’t understand the implications of that then. How could I? I was just a child. It was all giggles and yucks for me at that point. But it changed later as realization and maturity dawned.
As years passed by, during several of my journeys I realized that open defecation is something that is not a strange practice in the villages of India. Makes me wonder actually about how fortunate we are. I cannot even imagine living in a place with no toilets around, no privacy or hygiene for that matter. But in the India that I live in now, in the India that you live in now, there are people who have no option but for this. The statistics are scary and shameful for a nation such as ours. 597 million people defecating in the open. Can you believe it? Strangely, I can.
Women. It gives me jitters considering that women in villages too suffer as a result of this. It’s an assault on their self-respect but it’s not their fault, is it? I think this is a blotch on our dignity as a nation as well. Don’t you think so too? We cannot even ensure toilets to our people. Is this the kind of development and progress we boast of? Is that how incompetent we are? I surely think we can do better than this.
There are people who don’t have enough to eat. They don’t have the money or resources to feed their children either. Hence, it’s not really their fault that investing in a toilet is not even a secondary consideration for them. It is for us to contribute in any way we can. Yes, it really is.
There are so many problems associated with open defecation. Off the top of my head, it’s just not conducive to health at all. Then there are problems associated with going out in the middle of the night to fields which could be dangerous in different ways. Snakes for example or imagine going out in the rainy season.
Created using https://magic.piktochart.com/

If finance is made available, then it’s possible to bring down the number from 597 million to zero. It may, and will, certainly take time but it’s not unattainable. Conceivable, I think, is the word if we all, each one of us, join hands.

So tell me will you join me as I, along with many others, march towards this dream, actually a very achievable reality?
If yes, you can do so by taking part in the ‘Your Click Domex Contributes’ Campaign at http://www.domex.in/.

Just with a single click you can affect change in the lives of millions of kids. All you need to do is “click” on the “Contribute Tab” on www.domex.in and Domex will contribute Rs.5 on your behalf to eradicate open defecation, thereby helping kids live a dignified life.
Go clicking my friends!
Toilet for all! Hope, Health & Hygiene for all!
And yes I guess I did have a lot to say, didn’t I?

19 thoughts on “I’ve Got Something Important to Say…”

  3. Wonderful write up on this burning issue of our country. I have seen in villages how difficult it is for the woman to go about with the nature's call. They wake up early in the morning, before the menfolk to complete their business. Unhygenic conditions and unsafe … I really wish my government starts caring about it's people.

  5. Started from "Nothing to say", but said few things which are preciously important. Thanks for sharing such a nice post.

  6. We take so many things for granted and realize it only when we encounter the plight of the unfortunate.

  12. From nothing to something important to say, eh Nabanita: good for you! And such an important topic too! I was just thinking the other day and giving thanks for having indoor plumbing and especially clean indoor washrooms (including mine at home)! 😉 How what we sometimes take for granted can be someone else's nightmare. <3

  15. A very important topic to raise awareness on. Open defecation and lack of sanitation cause so many water-borne diseases like diarrhoea, cholera, dysentery, intestinal worms, trachoma, hepatitis A and typhoid etc. By building toilets and ending open defecation, it can have a BIG effect on the health, safety, education, prosperity and dignity of a lot of children and women in India. Kudos to Domex for this initiative!

  16. So true El….It's strange and sometimes scary even to note that we take so many things for granted which others don't have…

Comments are closed.