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His and hers... our pride
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Gone are the days when municipal councillors had to constitute flying squads to ensure Delhi's public loos were not an abomination on the senses. Today, over 100 public toilets across the city are not only sparkling clean but also attract prime advertising revenue, says SANJAY AUSTA... .
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Photo: Sandeep Saxena
To each his own... scenes outside New Delhi's swanky public conveniences.
BATHROOM WALLS are usually reservoirs of lewd graffiti, not prime spots for advertising consumer products. But the 100-odd toilets that have come up in Delhi in the last two years are poised to change the way one looks at a standard Indian public loo. Sleek, upmarket and squeaky-clean, they could give competition to any bathroom of a five-star hotel in the city. Little wonder then, that everyone from car manufacturers to chocolate companies want to see their products flashed on the walls of these toilets. These public conveniences are strategically located at important traffic intersections or shopping malls and the advertisements splashed on their three outer walls attract the immediate attention of consumers. With the ban on hoarding and billboards in Delhi, a few years ago, they are the prime focus for companies looking for conspicuous outdoor advertising of their wares.
But when the idea of constructing them was first mooted by an NRI industrialist, Fuad Lokhandwala, in 1998, he had to deal with only cynicism and derision. "My friends laughed at me and it took a lot of convincing on my part to get the Government authorities to accept my proposal," he says. The Government finally gave him a licence to make one toilet. Lokhandwala made his first toilet in Khan Market and the Government officials found it so out of the world that he was immediately granted license to make 22 such toilets in Delhi. Soon after, contractors sought licences to make these loos, and today there are about 100 of them all over Delhi, their numbers steadily increasing.
The toilets are not only plush and clean but also eco-friendly. Besides the janitor who gives tickets (one rupee for urinal and two rupees for lavatory) there is a full time cleaner and gardener. Rows of potted plants surround the toilets creating a leafy environs around the toilet. Some of these loos are even equipped with aquariums.
It was a jibe from one of Jay Leno's shows - where he derided India for having nuclear bombs but no toilets - that spurred Lokandwala to make clean toilets in India. His standard of cleanliness got him appraisal from none other than Robert Kinfarley, President of WHO in India. He was so impressed that he sent the WHO janitors to him for training. In April this year his toilets were selected among the top four social ventures across the world in a National Social Venture Competition organised by a conglomeration of American universities.
The going rate for an advertisement on the outer walls of these toilets is between Rs.50,000 to 1 lakh a month, depending on the location of the toilet.
"Initially advertisers were wary. They thought it won't look good to splash their wares on walls of public loos. But now they compete to have their advertisements here," says Lokhandwala. Today not even the food and beverages companies are averse to using these toilets for advertising their edibles. From the maintenance of the loo to the salaries of the employees, all expenditure is met by the revenue generated from the advertisements.
Besides a boom for advertisers who until now had to be content with splashing their products on the narrow band of bus shelters, these toilets are a godsend for the general populace too. "Over 50,000 people use these public conveniences everyday," says Lokhandwala.
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