Gomathy Chechi teaches toilet etiquette. A mascot in a poster of project #Toiless, she shows users how to conduct themselves in a public loo. Initiated by social entrepreneur Lakshmi Menon, the project connects and opens private restrooms across Kerala aimed primarily at women travellers.
Lakshmi says she got the idea on a solo car drive, Traveli (Travel + Maveli) in August 2021, when the lockdown was lifted temporarily during the pandemic to encourage hyperlocal tourism. She found a dearth of clean, safe and accessible restrooms on her journey covering over 400 kilometres in five days from Kochi to Kozhikode and return to Alappuzha.
Realising a network of private homes and properties that offer their clean washrooms for travellers would be a practical and easy solution, she decided to work on setting up a ‘Pay and Use model.’ To do this, she contacted beauty parlours, supermarkets and friends, sharing the idea and enlisting the interested.
