Phoenixing odds: Toilet construction triggered in Pural village of Sindhudurg district in Maharashtra If one strongly wills, that person can face any challenge. This was reflected in the Pural village, Devgad taluka of Sindhudurg district in Maharashtra. The District Water and Sanitation Mission (DWSM) had organised masonry-training workshops in the Pural Gram Panchayat area, which comes under the jurisdiction of Devgad Panchayat Samiti. The workshop included sensitization and training on importance of toilet construction for villagers, low cost toilet construction and benefits of toilet, hygiene and cleanliness. While conducting the workshop we (DWSM officials) met a widowed woman named Smt. Prajakta Parshuram Ghadi who did not have a toilet at the home. On visiting her home we realized that she has been striving to nurture two of her children while struggling through her toughest of situations. Her economic condition was extremely frail. We explained to her the importance of toilet construction and related information. And she agreed to get a toilet constructed. However she conceded two critical concerns of lack of funds and space. After discussing these issues with Pural Gram Panchayat’s Sarpanch, he assured of arranging the funds for Smt. Prajakta ji. The problem of space still prevailed. We could not find space for construction of toilet after looking around Smt. Prajakta ji’s home. The only space we could find for toilet construction was the small front yard of her house. But the small front yard already had a Holy Basil (Tulsi Vrundavan) planted right in the middle of it, which women here are piously fond of and religiously worship it. We tried to convince Smt. Prajakta ji that it is feasible to build toilet by replacing the holy basil plantation’s place in the front yard. To no avail she seemed to protest the idea which we had proposed. On that day we left the village after finishing our workshop related work. Smt. Prajakta ji was present at the Pural Gram Panchayat office on the very next day, even before we reached there. She took us to her home. We were overwhelmed at the first glance of her front yard. Smt. Prajakta ji had two pit-tanks for toilet construction by removing her pious Holy Basil (Tulsi Vrundavan). Without any ado we completed the construction of toilet for her as a part of masonry-training workshop itself. Keeping in mind this exemplary feat of Smt. Prajakta ji, 24 households of Pural village got their toilets constructed during the period of masonry training workshop itself. Pural Gram Panchayat Sarpanch, Shri. Sunil Teli has also played an instrumental role in triggering the change in Pural. (Smt. Prajakta ji’s home with toilet on the left-hand side in the small frontyard) Written by (originally in Marathi) Pravin Kankekar IEC expert, District Water and Sanitation Mission, Zila Parishad, Sindhudurg, Maharashtra. Translated by Abhishek Patane Zila Swachh Bharat Prerak, District Water and Sanitation Mission, Zila Parishad, Sindhudurg, Maharashtra. .