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World Toilet Day never had such enthusiastic celebrations as in the city that needs it the most. Speak Up gets some reactions.

World Toilet Day never had such enthusiastic celebrations as in the city that needs it the most.

Ashwin Moorthy:
When in the loo, I do what I think is the best. Time is a precious thing and to make the most of it there is no one like Carlos Santana. The divine tunes of Smooth and Maria Maria make the entire toilet experience far more comfortable. Nothing makes a trip to the loo more enjoyable than the Santana's absolutely divine album Supernatural.

You take your MP3 player with you or simply install speakers with surround sound and listen to Santana while on the throne, your face alight with anticipation, frustration or impatience.

The fast guitar pieces in songs like Smooth and Maria Maria seem to have a soothing laxative effect on the excretory system. The inspiring song 'put your lights on' helps to ease the bowel movement. Spanish songs are the perfect bathing companion. If you're not a music person, Irecommend you watch a news channel while on the pot. With all the crap and bull**** on the visual media today, be assured that your own produce will come out to join the gang.

Skip to my loo

Thomas Koshy, Andheri: I live in a slum. I wake up early in the morning and have coffee and then with a beedi stick in my hand and a mug of water, I begin my day on the edge of a railway track.

I look up to the heavens and Yama sits on the electric cable above me in the form of his black winged incarnation. Unknown to both of us, we are here to do the same thing. The sun shines from a corner and as I inhale the nicotine as the rear end of the crows feathers slowly part ways.

Mumbaikars deserve better than railway tracks, the closest Barista or an intellectual excuse to use the Taj hotel loo. Our people are toilet trained, and on a subconscious level they're all looking for a quiet place to take a break from reality.

According to a recent study, we think more laterally when we visit the loo. So let me say it loud and clear, 'we need more clean loos'. There's place in our land and I know there could be more loos. More loos for the one standing in the railway station queue, for the nervous one that offers a rose to his love on bandstand or chowpatty beach, for the wife who has just yelled at her husband in the middle of the street.

Earlier, I would leave my place in Goregaon driving in my car I'd always look at the uniformly spaced, perfectly and precariously squatted gentlemen. It'd brighten my day in some weird way; probably because of its entire hilarity or for the fact that I'm living and working in a developing city that can't afford public toilets. One day, as I normally looked to the left side of the road under the bridge to greet some smiling gentlemen I saw havaldars. Uniformly spaced and closer, they stood there with there laathis and… no they were standing guard .On inquiring with one of them, he replied, "woh minster aa raha hai na, isi liye… poora saaf kiya" In my mind I said to myself, 'I'll see them day after tomorrow'.

Priyanka Bhonsale :Today, the only time a person has to himself is when in the loo. Why waste even one precious moment? Which is why I recommend some serious reading, taking into consideration the time, urgency, mood and the surrounding.

A suspense novel by Stephen King is an instant cure for constipation. For a jolly good time, read a Calvin & Hobbes or Archies comic. Kids could catch up with the exploits of their favourite wizard in crappy situations.

Students don't have much choice. It's either endless geometry proofs or a potpourri of chemical equations. However the best book would be the cult Bal Bharti textbooks. College students are no different, for them it's the laws of economics or the trigonometry sum.

Danielle Steele is what the jilted lovers can read when in deep s**t. New lovers can sail through the mushy Mills and Boons. My favourite is the 'potty ponder' poster with witty one liners, My all time favourite is ‘I love this pot, it brings out the best in me’.

Upasana Roy/Kandivali :A sauna would be the first on my list for a dream loo. Disco-lights to make it funky, a music system and a telephone. Also a goldfish bowl by the window. The loo is quite a fertile place where ideas pop into my head and so a pen and paper handy. To complete the setup, a stock of candy.

Nameet P/Chembur: My dream loo would be inspired by the wild outdoors. I‘d love to have tall trees and vegetation around. Brooks with clear water and fish would add to it. The look should resemble a rainforest. What better way to answer nature's call than in the lap of nature ?

Harshita J/Kandivali: I want perfumed wet tissues for toilet paper. A well-stocked library with the best toilet-reads and a flattering mirror. Also, a refrigerator with a stash of soft drinks. It has to be sparkling clean. -

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