Toilet and cafe are the best examples of the twain shall never meet, but a toilet cafe in Kumbh nagri has brought them together. It is not every day that you sit on the commode or a toilet seat and enjoy a cuppa tea. A unique toilet cafe at the Parmarth Niketan camp in Kumbh Mela area has used various types of toilet seats covered with glass as seating arrangements for the café which is evoking interest among the visitors in the area. The open-air toilet cafe with a glass dining table and commodes doubling up as chairs is doling out a clear albeit subtle message to the visitors.(BCCL/ Pankaj Singh)"We wanted to put across the message of sanitation through this cafe. The idea was to create awareness to keep our toilet as clean as our kitchen. In a city that is known for meditation we wanted to spread that sanitation is also vital. It is a kind of sangam of both. We are attempting a sort of toilet ki seat par chai par charcha. Those who come here are offered tea free of cost, which we will soon team up with some snacks," says Ganga Nandini, Director of Implementation, Global Interfaith Wash Alliance, Parmarth Niketan.(BCCL/ Pankaj Singh)Explaining it further is Swami Chidanand Saraswati , President, Parmarth Niketan. “We wanted to take Kumbh beyond dip, sip and then returning home. In the 21st century, religion should be innovative. Through this cafe, we take the thought process of shauchalaya before devalaya, further. Sanitation comes before meditation. We are trying to educate the masses, especially from the rural milieu, about the importance of toilets and the health issues caused due to open defecation . Through models and posters, displayed in the cafe, we are also apprising the people about innovations in the toilet seats and kinds of toilets. So whenever we have a guests at our camp, we make it a point to use the toilet cafe area for holding discussions, thus encouraging people to spend some time here, if they are in the Kumbh mela area,” he says.For the visitors, this unique dining space is causing quite an interest. Saurabh Puri, a local businessman, who visited the cafe recently with some guests from Delhi, says, “I was really inquisitive about this cafe since I had heard so much about it, as some of my friends had shared this on social media. While taking my guests around the Kumbh Mela area, we also went to the toilet cafe where we had tea, rested for a while and also read the message on need for cleanliness that was conveyed through the posters as well. This is a good way to spread the message without being preachy.”Similarly Sangeeta Sahni, from Delhi, was quite intrigued to see this cafe. She says, “This is a novel idea and I have never seen something like this. Due to the novelty of the concept, it is grabbing a lot of eyeballs, so I am sure it will put across the message, which it is carrying, among the masses who visit the Kumbh Mela in large numbers.”

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