I remember when in class 9 my blood-stained white skirt became a matter of embarrassment so much so that I wished that I get sucked into the ground beneath my feet like a mythological character. Usually, blue ink, white chalk and flipping the backside of the skirt with the front one were used as our saviour tactics during such a mishap, but the stain was too prominent and the school was about to get over. My friends helped me walk till the main gate in the queue hiding my shameful blot while giggling like perfect teenagers but as they had to rush to board their school buses, I was left stranded with my bag held in an awkward manner to save my dignity. I used to travel by public transport so my elder brother was waiting for me at the gate. After a brief dropping a hint conversation and seeing tears rolling down my cheeks, he understood what had happened. It was an almost half a kilometre walk from the school to the bus stop. He walked behind me till there and we took an auto on our way back home. That incident becomes fresh in my mind every time I read an intellectual piece or hear an academic discussion on the idea of shame linked to a womans menstrual cycle (referring to the article I shared today). In JNU once, a batchmate offered a sanitary pad to a needy one, without wrapping it in a newspaper. The recipients cheeks got red and she instantly told her not to do so. In the Apollo pharmacy right opposite my house in Ghaziabad, the two men at the counter recognise me for turning up at 9 in the night occasionally to purchase a pack of these nappies for women, while a couple of uncles turn around to look at the damsel in distress in me. The counter guys wrap it in a brown paper and a black polybag to hide the hypocrisy of our society. We worship goddesses but discourage a woman from entering a temple as she turns into a filthy leaking tap at that time. We consider motherhood such a divine experience but a related process as a demeaning and dirty one. So, apart from swollen feet, back pain, nausea and other problems that women suffer from during periods and menopause that leaves most women half-dead, insensitivity is also what they have to deal with. That reminds me, I once travelled to all the devis during my not so pure days and I am still alive despite committing that sin. Nobody is saying that you have to shout from the rooftop that you are down or flaunt your sanitary pad to prove a point. It is about the whole hush-hush business about a natural process that makes us uncomfortable and embarrassed about our own bodies.
Posted on: Sat, 12 Jul 2014 17:42:41 +0000
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