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When put to the public loo test, Barcelona isn&rsquo;t any better than Mumbai, says Laila Vaziralli, 30, artist and arts festival organiser. &ldquo;There are so many tourists in Spain that caf&eacute;s don't let you walk in to use the loo.
I felt like an overfull bathtub looking for a place to go,&rdquo; she recalls about a trip there. She knows that in Mumbai too, finding an accessible toilet for women is similar to encountering a frog prince.
<img title="Arts festival organiser Laila Vaziralli was sceptical about finding a toilet she could use in and around Lamington Road, until she used a recently launched toilet-locator app. Pics/Sayed Sameer Abedi" src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/2015/aug/Laila-Vaziralli-1.jpg" alt="Arts festival organiser Laila Vaziralli was sceptical about finding a toilet she could use in and around Lamington Road, until she used a recently launched toilet-locator app. Pics/Sayed Sameer Abedi" /> Arts festival organiser Laila Vaziralli was sceptical about finding a toilet she could use in and around Lamington Road, until she used a recently launched toilet-locator app. Pics/Sayed Sameer Abedi
To address the lacuna, a bunch of developers have created apps that claim to save the ladies from UTI. Vaziralli put five to the test across five locations in four hours.
At Lamington Road Using: GottaGo (Android) Lamington Road is a neighbourhood of gadgets, and men selling gadgets. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s just electronics shops everywhere. On another day, I&rsquo;d just hold it, really,&rdquo; she says tapping GottaGo on her smartphone. It geolocates seven options, including restaurants, hotels and a railway station. Vaziralli heads to Golden Chimney Restaurant and Bar, four minutes away. It&rsquo;s not open yet, but the staff allow her to use the loo, which she testifies is &ldquo;sparkling clean&rdquo;.
<img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/2015/aug/Laila-Vaziralli-3.jpg" alt="" /> At Chor Bazaar Using: Flush (Android and iOS) Friday market is raging at Chor Bazaar, and Vaziralli chooses to try Flush, which promises to be &ldquo;the quickest, simplest way of finding a public bathroom or restroom.&rdquo; Unfortunately, it throws up three options, the nearest being a public bathroom near Vidhan Bhavan, Nariman Point, 3.4 kms away.
Tapping into local wisdom, she checks with chai-sipping shopkeepers, who point to a loo under a tree 10 metres away. Clean Shauchalay sees men adjusting their zips and taking over the women&rsquo;s section, too. Instead, Vaziralli chooses to head to Shalimar Restaurant, where a kind cashier allows her in.
<img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/2015/aug/Google-map.jpg" alt="" /> At Colaba Market Using: Use Refuse (Android) Four months back, Vaziralli had a nightmarish experience when roaming this area trying to scour finds for a flea market she was co-organising. Her only options &mdash; Taj Mahal Palace, Westside and Jehangir Art Gallery &mdash; all 20 minutes away. This time, PeeBuddy&rsquo;s app, Use Refuse, helps her find three more options, but GottaGo reigns by offering three times that number. She chooses to go to Fariyas Hotel, where a receptionist lets her in. But Vaziralli wonders if a class-divide controls toilet accessibility. &ldquo;Wouldn&rsquo;t it be great if upmarket establishments allowed working women, like say, my house help, to access loos too?&rdquo;
 <img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/2015/aug/Laila-Vaziralli-2.jpg" alt="" />At Dadar (W) Station Using: Mutralaya (Android) At the bustling railway junction, Vaziralli puts to use Mutralaya, which shows three restaurants a long walk away but ignores the loo in a mall a couple of minutes away. A strong stench and locals help her find her way to a public loo that is dimly lit. Repairs are on in the ladies&rsquo; section. &ldquo;There is no way I can use it,&rdquo; she says.
<img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/2015/aug/Laila-Vaziralli-4.jpg" alt="" /> At Dharavi Using: Swachh Bharat Toilet Locator (Android) Vaziralli tries the Swachh Bharat Toilet Locator app, in beta testing stage, at 90 Feet Road. The app loads a world map, asking her to locate her current position, before it hangs. But Vaziralli, who has previously worked on a community arts initiative in Dharavi, says, &ldquo;If it&rsquo;s hard for locals to find a toilet here, we don&rsquo;t have a hope in hell.&rdquo; A chemist at a clinic clucks his tongue in resignation, but Mutralaya shows Sion Hospital, a kilometer away, as a possible restroom spot.
Final say: GottaGo was most reliable, but it&rsquo;s evident that apps are making up for unavailability of public facilities by pointing to caf&eacute;s. The problem is with the case of absent loos, not missing app data.

Saving our li'u00c2u0080u00c2u0099l ones

Five toilet-finder apps that claim to help you locate a loo in Mumbai. Which ones passed our pressure test?

Toilet apps in pressure test

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Toilet apps in pressure test

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