Project Kathan

Anju (name changed), Bangalore.

Conversation on November 16, 2024, through Instagram messages

A few years back, I took a bus from Bangalore to Kerala! It was my first time travelling by a long journey bus, and unfortunately, I also had a UTI! And I couldn’t have postponed the trip so I had to get on that bus and go.. so anyways I took my meds got on the bus .. and of course, the bus doesn’t have a bathroom which is just bizarre to think about .. coz half of the population in this world needs a proper washroom while travelling incase they get their periods and also because they have different physiology where they tend to have smaller bladders or even the fact that because of the said physiology they are more prone to get UTIs .. I imagine that if men had these problems by now, it would be mandatory for long journey buses to have bathrooms. I sat on the bus .. I did everything I possibly could, drank almost as little water as possible, which is the opposite of what one should do health-wise during UTI.

And then I also went to a restaurant nearby and used the washroom, which was neat by the standards of what you would expect of a common restaurant bathroom and how much men follow basic etiquettes, or where they are almost always inconsiderate about the fact that some of us need to sit while we pee ! Anyhow, I did my thing, got on the bus, and then I knew that they only stop at Mysore, but in a few hours I was in such a condition .. I just could not control my bladder! I’m telling you it was bad !! Like really bad I was shaking from trying yo control the urge .. so I go ask the conductor how far is the next stop and he says 3 more hours and I really wanted to say something but I couldn’t because I didn’t expect this guy to have any idea of what UTI is or how urgent it might be for me because “women are always over dramatic about everything right” so I didn’t have the bandwidth to deal with explaining my problem to the guy because it honestly didn’t feel like a safe space.
So I go back to my seat and try to sleep, so it’s the sleeper bus with curtains and all, so there is privacy.. but I’m telling it got soo bad I was crying from helplessness.. the urge got so bad I literally had to pee in an empty bottle in the moving bus.

It was one of the worst experiences of my life. I was sooo scared that I might spill or get caught, and how embarrassing it would be. But I couldn’t help it, I had UTI, it was unbearable, it hurt to control the pee. I had to pee twice like that!
And then .. once we reached Mysore, I used the washroom, but even then, because the number of women is less, it definitely felt intimidating to use the washroom, like I was thinking of everything that might go wrong! I was constantly on alert!

Anyways, I came back to the bus and then in a few hours reached my grandparents’ place in Kerala, and then it was fine, but it was a nightmare, truly.