In
mainland China, just like in India, system of letting yourself go at
earliest opportunity on a roadside, is widely prevalent. In India,
not only the village people but even city folks have no pangs of
modesty or hesitation, when they get the urge, to relieve themselves
by a roadside.
I
visited the south Indian city of Hyderabad for the first time
sometime in 1965. It is a very impressive city with its famous 4
tower landmark called as 'Char Minar,' a beautiful water reservoir
right in the middle of the city known as 'Hussein Sagar' and many
other tourist attractions without forgetting the famed 'Salarjung
Museum.' However, all these landmarks came to me much later. By first
impressions about the city were not so pleasant. My train reached the
city just when the dawn broke over the city. I took a 3 wheeler
Rickshaw to reach my destination. As I moved through more or less
empty streets bounded by built up compound walls on both sides, my
attention was drawn to large uneven areas marked on the walls almost
continuously. I became very curious about these marked patches
because they looked like marks left by flood waters. My curiosity
soon turned into disgust, when I saw the reason for these weird marks
on the compound walls. I saw few guys actually peeing on the walls,
which meant that all these marks were leftover marks of someone
having relieved himself there.
Peeing
on roadsides is unfortunately a common practice in India. The local
Governments everywhere try to discourage the habit and build public
urinals. However old habits die hard and it is not uncommon to see a
man park his bicycle or two wheeler on curbside, walk few steps to
the roadside and relieving himself.
In
most of the developed world, this practice is frowned upon no doubt,
but developing countries like India perhaps would need many more
decades and hundreds of new public urinals, before this habit can be
controlled if at all. As things stand now, most of the people believe
that they should rather attend to the call of the nature and let it
go on a roadside, rather than wait to find a suitable toilet
facility.
In
Chinese capital Beijing, an International Marathon race is held in
October every year. The race is for a distance of 42.195 km and was
first held in 1981 and has been held every year since. This popular
race begins at Tiananmen Square and finishes at the National Olympic
Sports Centre stadium. In addition to the main marathon, there is a
10 km run, a mini-marathon and a half marathon. In 2009, as many as
4897 runners including 556 women had finished the marathon course.
This year it is planned to be held on October 9, 2014 when around
30000 runners are expected to take part in the three events.
Because
of the large number of participants, the organizers find it extremely
difficult to provide enough toilet blocks on the way, where the race
is run. Last year, there were reportedly very few toilets catering to
more than 30,000 runners taking part in the marathon. When a runner
is running more than 40 Km at a stretch, it is natural for him to
take a toilet break on his way and such unscheduled loo breaks are
tolerated at races across the world. However the authorities in
Beijing are increasingly getting peeved and irritated because in
Beijing it had almost "become a tradition" to urinate on
the red walls of the Forbidden City, ancient capital of the Imperial
Chinese Government and a UN world heritage site.
Last
year, Chinese media showed pictures of Marathon runners lining up to
relieve themselves on the former imperial palace. It caused a wide
spread public outrage. This year organisers of the Beijing Marathon
say that runners will be disqualified if they're caught urinating in
public. South China Morning Post reports while quoting from the
official advice for runners given by the Chinese Athletic Association
on its web site that contestants who exhibit "uncivilised
behaviour, such as relieving oneself in public and littering" at
the 42km (26 mile) race in October will be banned. The marathon
organising committee says that participants who break the rules may
face extra punishment from the Chinese Athletic Association.
Organisers also say that they will ensure that enough toilets are
provided on the way.
18th
July 2014
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