The train started losing speed, indicating that we were about to reach our destination. I got up, opened the door and looked out to figure out which side the platform would be. But soon the train came to a halt as the inner signal was not green yet.

It was early morning. The train had stopped at a place where several men were sitting in defecating mode, parallel to the railway track. All my excitement of being at my friend’s place in the next 40-45 minutes and springing a surprise on him vanished in thin air. What we were forced to witness was embarrassing for not only the passengers like me but for the defecators themselves as well.

I came to know that it was a daily affair. People had been lining up there every morning, but as trains pass by speedily, the embarrassment would be momentary. That day, it was full-scale discomfiture for both sides because the train remained parked there for quite sometime.

Passengers managed to avoid the ugly sight by turning their heads to the other side. I moved to the other door but hastily retreated on discovering similar spectacle outside. Another set of squatters were facing the train. The defecators on either side of the track looked like two armies facing each other! Honestly speaking, the squatters, even if they wanted to save the situation, were not in a position to get up at that particular moment for obvious reasons. They must wait for the “lousy” train to move away first. Till then, the passengers looking out of the windows, on one side, and the squatters, who had been literally caught with their pants down, on the other, had to bear it out.

By reflex action, some of the harried squatters made use of their palms to cover the uncovered. But that was no consolation. It did not help much.

This incident had happened several years back.

I was reminded of it by what has aptly been described as a cleanliness drive launched in India last Thursday, October 2, on Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary, by no less a person than the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi himself. What I saw from the train has been going on unabashedly for centuries throughout the length and breadth of India. It continues to happen today and perhaps will happen tomorrow as well unless checked effectively. Another menace plaguing the country is people peeing in full view on roadside or any other open spaces, ignoring the sensibilities of the passersby. At places, long stretches of footpaths and even main roads are soiled emitting nauseating smell. Onlookers curse the offenders, the administration and move on. To be fair, they cannot be entirely blamed for the state of affairs. It must be acknowledged that the problem is directly linked to inadequacy of public toilets. In the first place, whatever toilets were built, are not being properly used by the needy.

And then they are not maintained by the department concerned. Unknown persons pilfer even cheap taps and other accessories. As a result, most people shudder to go near them, let alone using them.

How about loos for women? Unfortunately, nobody in the administration in this male-dominated society has given serious thought to the need for clean public toilets for women. Women who were forced to use public toilets have often come back with some kind of infection. Usable toilets for women are the crying need of the day.

Ironically, India’s politicians, including women, shout for reservation of seats in the legislature and elsewhere from housetops but little is done for women who constitute nearly 50 per cent of the country’s population. Indians are home to so many offending practices that need to be stopped. Right now I am dealing with only two.

India’s lack of perception of personal and social hygiene has earned the country enough ridicule at home and abroad. Ironically, India is orbiting Mars, but it has yet to look at the filth and squalor that dot the country.

It is gratifying that Modi has reminded all Indians that the causes of freedom and cleanliness were so dear to Gandhi. “He gave us freedom. We must give him a clean India” said the prime minister. It is hoped that his clarion call will have a positive impact on the psyche of every Indian that will make them stand in the comity of clean nations.

Lalit Raizada is a journalist based in India.