What is the connection between a Bharat Benz double-decker and the Swachh Bharat campaign? It might surprise you, but there is one. During a journey from Jammu to Delhi in this luxury coach operated by Delhi-based Laxmi Holidays, the driver stopped a few kilometers at an unknown place in Panipat near a public washroom, and asked the passengers if they needed to relieve themselves after the long overnight trip. Unable to hold their bursting bladders, many passengers disembarked and, in complete disregard for public decency, lined up in a disorderly fashion to urinate in the open.
The sight was shameful—a blatant mockery of the Modi government’s Swachh Bharat campaign, unraveling in full public view with a luxury bus as the backdrop. I have never urinated in the open, and when the Modi government launched the Swachh Bharat campaign urging a large section of the population to stop defecating and urinating in public, I became one of its most vocal supporters. Had I joined the group of violators, I would have never forgiven myself.
However, there was a glimmer of hope. A public washroom was just a few meters away, and I decided to lead by example. Leaving everything behind in the bus—my mobile phone, laptop, a bag with important documents, including two passports—I hurried toward the washroom.
It took me about five minutes to relieve myself, and I returned to the bus, only to find it missing. It had vanished, as if the passengers had fled in a hurry, avoiding the law. For .