| Toilets, Temples, Modi and Development
Some months ago, this writer met a regional co-coordinator of an NGO which focuses on sanitation in rural areas. During the course of a casual conversation, he complained that each village family spends more than Rs. 10,000 for festivals annually, but is not ready to spend Rs. 3000 for building a toilet. The writer felt outraged at this linking of toilets and the celebration of divinities.
A few months back this writer had gone to Tirupati and performed Kalyana Utsavam. After performing the utsavam and waiting for darshan of the Lord, he saw a lady allowing her child to urinate in one corner. This brings out the difficulty faced by those waiting in temple queues for hours on end and really felt for not knowing how the archakas relieve themselves.
But the fact is we give the last preference to toilets while building a personal dwelling or our cities. I know of a well built house in a large town that does not have toilet and they relieve themselves in the open!
Much of the health problems in this country is due to poor sanitation. Not a year passes without report of chickengunia, malaria, encephalatis, diarrhea, etc. All due to poor hygiene.
It is wrong for us to understand that when someone says toilets are more important than temples, it is said only to alert us about the shocking condition of hygiene in this country.
Can you imagine the indirect cost of poor hygiene in this country? Bottled water sales, water purifier sales, sales of musquito coils, Sale of water through tankers etc. run in crores of rupees. Add to this loss of manpower due to poor hygiene and hospitalisation. All these can be avoided to a great extent if hygienic surroundings are taken care of.
Looking at all these if someone compares the need of toilets and temples, it is only to shock us to see the situation clearly.
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