Avoid a dirty scene, keep this bathroom clean!

By: Zainab Alam

We were on our way to Skardu. I was so cheerful, that I thought my heart would
burst out of excitement and happiness. My whole family was there and we were
travelling in a coaster. All my cousins were there, and the best part was that all the
youngsters had a private coach and we thankfully weren’t stuck with the snobby
elders. We travelled about 5 hours, and all of them we in urgent need to go to the
bathroom. So, my father decided to stop at the small petrol pump, and every one
dashed towards the washroom. I was also in extreme need of the restroom, but as I
hated public toilets, I controlled myself. When I reached the stage where I was
about to get my pants wet, I decided to pay a visit to the restrooms.

Standing in a line for about almost 20 minutes was fatiguing. More and more
people joined the line, some with children and others without control. There was a
huge commotion in the petrol pump, as the women cursed and screamed at each
other for taking too long. Every time the door closed, my bladder would get
heavier and heavier. Finally, my turn arrived! I sprinted and slammed the bathroom
door behind. As soon as I stepped inside the restroom, I wanted to throw up. The
floors were brown with mud and the toilet was not even flushed! The kids left a
sign of their presence by pulling the toilet roll till it reached the end and the shower
was laying on the dirty ground. Without wasting a second, I scurried out. I loved
road trips, but I hated to stop and go got the dirty public toilets.

What I say later, was worse the before. I thought as there was a never ending line
for the public toilets no one would pay a visit to the private ones as we had to pay
to get inside, but our strong Pakistani women even reached the private ones along
with their toilet paper hunters (the children). The private restroom was also as
muddy and slippery as the public toilets. There wasn’t a long line outside the
washroom, but there was a short one inside. Wah-wah! Went the children unable to
control anymore and hush! went the mums bubbling with anger. I quickly went to
the restroom, stopped the torture I was doing to my bladder and bolted out. I
walked towards the coach my ears still buzzing with the cries of the children.

The thing I don’t understand about our people is that first they curse our politicians
for not acting irresponsibly, but they themselves are more careless. They protest,
block roads, break the police men’s bone all for what? In the end, no matter what
the government does they will still blame them and rather than helping their new
laws put in action, all they do is sit back and curse. At least the women of this
country can act a bit responsibly. Rather than cursing other women to get out of the
washroom and screaming at your child to be quite they should do something so
that next time they don’t have to make their throats soar.

“If you sprinkle when you tinkle be a sweetie and wipe the seatie”