Hey everyone! Well, I know I'm not a familiar name on your feeds, thanks to me being engrossed in job, study, tutoring and the minimal rest of the time watching movies and tv shows. I have lost touch of my blog and even haven't got a domain or a proper template to start with, while my job is all about creating SEO articles for different websites. We are not here to talk about how worthless I am but to raise an issue, a socio familial issue regarding an(y) Indian girl and her mother. Periods. Menstrual cycle. Wait, you'd not find anything vulgar or erotic here. Trust me, this issue is something I have acknowledged since I got mine during 6th standard with various of my classmates and even myself, who knows! Menstruation is still a taboo, no matter how critically acclaimed the movie 'Padman' was. During my initial years, I too relied mostly on "clothes" or "kapda"/ "nyakra" or whatever you called them. Because, during those times, we women rely mostly on our mothers or any motherly figure that matters. Whatever she suggests, goes. She tells you to use clothes in lieu of costly pads, you do so. She tells you to use smaller pads instead of costly and larger ones, you do so, even if you have heavy flow and those smaller ones seem inadequate. It is until you grow up, understand your requirements and yes, tell them what you need, you are perhaps stuck with someone else's choice of pads for your requirement. And please, this might not be the case for everyone but a majority of us, experience this believe it or not. Let me tell you an experience of mine. I used to carry a pad always in case of emergency and so when a close friend told me about her bloated cloth, I immediately gave her the pad I used to carry and accompanied her to washroom because, holding a pad openly even in a Girls' school was a scandalous thing. She went inside, told that she had stained but kept on telling me that her mother would rebuke her and might even beat her up if she borrows a pad from someone instead of the cloth she was given. It took me a few minutes to convince her that unless she took the pad, her skirt would be stained and that would create quite a scene. She took it eventually. But, this microtale from my YourQuote account I shared, is not her story, but a common story that many of us, still experience. Many voices die within, many fight back. Some get results, some don't. And that is the hardest truth.
Once again, if this post has hurt your feelings, I am halfheartedly sorry because I didn't mean to hurt you in any way and also because I think such major issues should not hurt you negatively. Shouldn't we all make sure that such things never happen to any girl? Menstrual cycle is something purely a biological phenomenon which needs a woman to be mentally and physically at ease. And that starts with a warm environ at home where the guardian can understand the requirements both on metal and physical level. I hope, however small, but this post helps.
SHREYA SIKDER
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