Menstruation: Why a taboo?
It was in the early age of 10, when Rishi attained puberty. However, in a Assamese society it never remains as secret unlike the others. Her news of attaining puberty spread like a forest fire. Neighbours and village folk trickled down and some were also summoned by her mother through her brother to initiate the rituals. Her’s was a 7 day ceremony and on the 7th day a grand feast was organised. It was very pompous, goats were butchered to feed the whole village, she received many gifts, and a hell lot of attention.
The real thrill of this journey started which otherwise she thought would be exciting when she had her first periods. She didn't know that her grandmother kept a count of the cycle and on the exact 29th day, she enquired about it. When her reply was affirmative, she was immediately asked to wash all the curtains of the house she had touched, because impurity has been spread. Because of her callousness and messiness, grandmother had a list of instructions for her for the next three days including the first day of her period. It was the month of July so she was asked to sleep on the floor on a sitolpati, a mat made of cane, mop the whole house with ten rooms every morning, wash all the clothes where she slept on the third day of her period. Other instructions were, keep off the kitchen, wash the plate on which she had food, not share food with siblings, not to touch and serve the food on the table by herself and sit on a stool rather than a chair. This continued as long as she was in her home pursuing her High School, approximately for 6 years.
Rishi was a very young girl, had to pursue her studies and travel a long way to school located almost 35 kms away. There was no one to help her with because her mother was also a working woman. However, in this pretext she never heard her grandmother saying about what kind of protection to take, how to keep herself clean, and what to eat. One day when she asked her grandmother, “How did you manage all these?”. Her grandmother replied, “ Nowadays, things have changed, you grumble a lot when Iask you to follow. We used to sleep in the winters on a haystack and in the morning burn the hay to shampoo our hair. We were not allowed to sleep inside the house but in a small corner near a storeroom or so. But, we did not rebel, we also worked in the fields even during such tough conditions”. Rishis mother did not partake as she thought grandmother knew better than her. Rishi missed her half yearly exams and she had inhibitions while telling it to her school friends. Her grandmother suggested to wear gold bangles. She wore them and covertly knew that it would become a subject of discussion. No one was open to ask about it except a very close friends who attained puberty earlier than her. It was a sin to talk freely about menstruation. Rishi used old clothes as a sanitary pad during her periods and one fine day as per her friends suggestion, she used her mothers saree. It was so light and delicate that she had significant stains on her white friday skirt. From that day onwards she stopped experimenting and her aunt on seeing her condition bought sanitary pads for her and showed how to use them. Talking about periods was not considered normal, it was a TABOO. The next impossible task was to buy a packet of sanitary pads from the store. She always took a friend with her to buy these stuff. These inhibitions were deep inside her until she stayed in a hostel. She had a peculiar experience on seeing her roommate’s daddy buying sanitary pads. It was a very awkward moment for Rishi when she saw it in his hands.
Rishi is a grown up lady now, pursuing her masters in sociology. She now understands the dynamics of the norms and the encompassing attitude that everyone had at that time. She firmly believes in educating women because they educate the family. She is now aware of responsibilities as a sister , a daughter and a responsible citizen. She is breaking stereotypes in her village related to menstruation and talks openly and confidently to mothers about dos and don’ts after puberty of their child. She believes that the more we talk about it, we will create awareness. She is marching towards making a healthy and stereotype-free society devoid of negligence.