July 31, 2006

Public toilets & the President of India

“To my E-mail you did not reply,
So Mr. President, I think you should die.
Can you imagine the shame-
Of having a loo in your name?”
From Bhopal, wrote a young teenage guy.

“Mr. President, we know you are kind.
So we pray, that his folly you won't mind.
Please don’t put him in jail
For sending this mail”
This is a letter that his township has signed.


The Telegraph 30/07/06: Almost the entire township of Ashoknagar, Bhopal, came out on the streets yesterday to seek pardon from President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam for the local boy Sulabh Goyal. Sulabh, currently under police custody in Delhi, had committed a major indiscretion on July 19 when he sent an email to Kalam threatening him with death. The 19-year-old boy later said he was upset over a chain of public toilets called Sulabh Shauchalayas, which had made him a butt of jokes. Sulabh claimed he had earlier emailed to Kalam seeking a change in the toilet chain’s name but took the extreme step when he did not receive a response. Read more about it here

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