Bangalore is supposedly a bin-free city. An unofficial garbage dump, across Jagriti Theatre in Whitefield, with a slum behind and shops in the neighbourhood. A wine shop next door. At night, the lighting for the spot was non-existent making the place easier to dump in. A few weeks back the black spots at .Ramagondanahalli dump on the sidewalk had got spruced up, and so this one saw even heavier use.

This spot fix took 2 days. 2 communities and The Ugly Indians with the Whitefield Rising team. This fix required some homework. The slum behind was polled on what went on here as were the neighboring shops. The wine shop next door became a friend. It was seen that many drunks at night needed to use this place as a loo. Children too used this as a loo.   

Process

• BESCOM and BBMP were requested to install a lightbulb that seemed to have been fused for a while.
• RMV Wines was requested to allow use of their sewage pipe so “wonderloos” could be installed outside.
• The place needed to see new use – so a park was conceived by The Ugly Indians with a winding path and mounds of grass that would make it green instantly.
• The transformer on the footpath that took up the whole walking space became less relevant after the winding road in the park became the way to pass the transformer. The transformer too was improved with edging around it so people wouldn’t injure themselves on the iron rod that seemed to always jut out – somewhere around a 10 year old’s head height.
• Two days of very hard work paid off.

RMV Wines spot fix

Comments included one from the blacksmith next door “I could not have even dreamt of such a thing”.

The wonderloo sees so much use that one wonders why it can’t be everywhere. Now if only women and children could be given a dignified option as well.