Bangladesh’s Very Public Toilet Crisis

New York Times ^ | 5/21/2015 | Tahmima Anam

[Second Amendment First]

PEOPLE trapped in Dhaka’s notoriously gridlocked traffic have developed various coping strategies. Some take naps. Others work or catch up on social media.

My mother likes to text me to complain about the traffic. “Still stuck in Mohakhali,” she writes. “Two hours from Gulshan to Banani!”

But one thing binds all commuters together: Make sure you use the toilet before you set off, because there won’t be anywhere to go en route.

If I could, I would write a book called “Where to Pee in Bangladesh.” It would be a useful but very short book. It would tell you, for instance, that in our capital city, there are 67 public toilets for over 15 million residents. And of those 67, many have no running water or electricity. According to a 2011 study, only five are fully functional.

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Although the lack of public toilets in Dhaka affects both sexes, men have the distinct advantage of being able to take to the streets. They can be found squatting at roadsides, in alleyways, by railroad tracks or over ditches. When it rains, you can see a line of umbrellas next to rows of men as they crouch over a drain. And walls everywhere are treated as urinals.

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Its technique is to pepper the walls with Arabic script. Because, the logic runs, people won’t pee on what they consider holy.

[Second Amendment First]

Start posting

everywhere muzzies might desecrate.

[a fool in paradise]

And walls everywhere are treated as urinals... Its technique is to pepper the walls with Arabic script. Because, the logic runs, people won’t pee on what they consider holy.

Islamic rage boy is perpetually wee-weed up!!!

[VanShuyten]

Is that the Air Jordan logo, or “Iowa” written in cursive?

[gleeaikin]

Would this be classifiable as Catastrophism?? ;-)

[doug from upland]

لا التبول على الجدار (No peeing on wall)

[Impala64ssa]

Reminds me of one of those silly old farmer’s daughter jokes:

Two farmers that have been friends for years. One had a teen aged son, the other had a teenaged daughter. Eventually, the two kids started dating. The girls father went to his friends house one day and said that the two kids had to stop dating. “Well, why”? Asked his friend. “Because, this morning I saw his name written in the snow, in my yard”!
The boys father said that it is common for young men to pee their names in the snow and to not worry about it. The girls father replies, “Don’t you think that I know my own daughters handwriting”????????

[jespasinthru]

Everybody reading this post should thank God that you live in the USA. If you have to go on a long road trip, you can buy a personal urinal for a few bucks at any big box store and take it with you on the road. And they come in male and female versions. I’m not going to get graphic about it, but when they get full you just pull off the freeway into whatever little town is there and empty it. And that town almost always has a gas station where you can go in and take a dump if you have to. Sorry if I offended anybody out there. I got graphic anyway.

[jespasinthru]

Ouch!

[a fool in paradise]

But one thing binds all commuters together: Make sure you use the toilet before you set off, because there won’t be anywhere to go en route.

BE PREPARED...

[Impala64ssa]

WOW! And I thought traffic on the Long Island Expwy and the BQE is a big PITA. For that matter, driving on US 19 between Pt Richey and St Pete is a walk in the park compared to Dhaka.

[Organic Panic]

Another place to visit. Sierra Leone, North Korea, and now Bangladesh.

[SunkenCiv]

Bangladesh is the world’s eighth largest country, if memory serves, and a lot of the terrain is kind of flat, plus they rely on the river for their water supply. Not catastrophism, but could be a human catastrophe. Well, other than the fact that it’s predominantly muzzie.

[Eagles6]

The difference between civilization and barbarism...

[petercooper]

Well Duh! I don't see any HOV lanes.

[tbw2]

What does that word mean?

[Gay State Conservative]

I've been to India (Bangladesh's “rich” cousin) and I can guarantee that they have problems far more disturbing than toilets.

[DaveA37]

WOW, what a place to start a porta-potti business.

Then again, servicing them would be.....are you ready for this?.....a real pisser.

[Second Amendment First]

Mohammed

[MeshugeMikey]

Its a strange sort of entrepreneurial opportunity but somebodies got to do it...

[a fool in paradise]

I've been told by a know it all freeper that sort of thing doesn't happen in America. Of course it can when people get out of their f'in cars to go find a bathroom, get in line at McDonald's, etc. during an evacuation by highway.

Roadways littered with cars that move "very" slowly if at all (5 MPH crawl). The article above says some drivers take a nap. Cars can't move when that happens. Texting drivers are about as bad.