jonathan/ferguson

walking out to the ocean’s edge at low tide and realizing i was standing in a public toilet. on one of my lazy days in mumbai i decided to walk to the sea. it was only a few blocks away. i had just finished my mint chocolate chip ice cream from baskin robbins when i reached the shore and it was low tide, so i decided i’d walk out to the edge.

this particular area is rocky. mixed with sand here and there. but getting out to the water is primarily a task of navigating up and down and around wet rocks and puddles of salt water. most people were along the shore, but there were a few people who had trekked out like me.

i stood there taking in the ocean breeze. the ocean is oxymoronic. it is absolutely peaceful as long as you’re on dry land. as long as you’re watching it. the waves crashing. the water coming in and going out. the salty breeze. but when you’re in the water the opposite is true. waves as tall as you. tides stronger than you. salt burning your eyes, nose, and throat. its not exactly like sunbathing on a float in the middle of some hotel pool.

but from the rocky edge it was beautiful. a breathe of fresh air from droughty delhi. that is, until i looked to my right and saw a man squatting behind a rock, you guessed it, using the bathroom. except there was no bathroom. and this wasn’t a simple pee, which you see everywhere on the side of the road and beyond here in india. this appropriately falls under mumbai memories #2, because that’s exactly what it was. #2.

i quickly looked away turning the other direction only to find another man in front of me doing the same thing. i zoomed out to realize that in fact there were at least five people all around me squatting behind rocks answering nature’s call. of course, i was the one embarrassed. no one wonder everyone else was up on the shore.

this really is not that surprising. i had just come from delhi where i finished working on a report on delhi’s sanitation with my colleagues at cure. open defecation exists nationwide because of a lack of adequate sewerage, a lack of household toilets and indoor plumbing, and a lack of sufficient community toilets.

i was standing and staying in a posh mumbai area, laden with bollywood stars. but the day labor, those working the service jobs, the informal sector, don’t live in this area, they only work for people in the area, or they work the streets, or they live on the streets, so there is nowhere else for them to go. to have privacy. to do the inevitable.

as i headed back to the shore i watched my every step, but this time not for crabs or seashells. it was a vivid reminder of the many challenges this country faces.