The Veiled Suffering
In a country like India, periods are not something we should talk about. Why? I don’t know. The reason people give is that this blood is impure. I wonder how can the blood behind our creation be impure. This is just like any other taboo which isn’t true but appears to be true because people believe it blindly and we, too assume that the path which the crowd is picking must be right. This is why education is a must. In almost every Indian household girls are told not to enter places of worship and kitchen and they are even forbidden to sit on a bed that a “Pure Person” sleeps on. The simple logic behind it is that since we are impure, we can’t let this impurity spread.
Now, this has been a part of our ancestral education and I know that there is always a reason behind something. For example, women were asked not to go in the kitchen because their job at that time was to cook and a large part of their day was spent in the kitchen so, in this painful state, they were asked to take rest.
Similarly, girls and women were forbidden from entering temples because of the stairs they had to pass in order to reach the temple, and moreover, the sounds of conch and bells made them feel irritated. It was all good till everything was prescribed but it worsened because of being forcefully applied. There has been a misinterpretation of everything and this is done by humans, not nature or what we call God. I think this is a vicious cycle we are stuck in and there is no way out. There is just one weapon to fight it: Education.
Seminars should not only be held for girls but for boys too so that in such unpredictable situations we know how to act and we can talk about it without being ashamed and we are the girls of this generation so this is our responsibility to put a halt to this custom. We all should be reasonable but we shouldn’t use reasons as tools for discrimination. Customs like these create a feeling of alienation among girls. In a sense, we are veiled from our freedom.
Well, we are a part of this society and I am a girl who was born in this society. So this is my period story:
The 9th of February 2017 was the day when I got my period for the first time. Now how do I still remember the date? Well, it’s a horrific experience all in all and I know this is not just my story but of every girl who bleeds. It is not just the blood loss but an emotional breakdown too.
On the 9th of February, everything was going well and I was preparing myself for my friend’s birthday party. I had got Dhanush(my dog) on the 7th and my enthusiasm to spend most of my time with him was not extinguished. But my excitement soon faded. I went to the washroom and I was shocked. I questioned myself: “Is this really happening? Is it the same thing that mom told me about? Well, deep within I knew that I have got my first period but at the same time I was refusing to accept it. I knew it wouldn’t be difficult to bear the pain but acceptance was difficult.
I got to know about periods when I was in sixth grade. One of my friends had got them and she was panicking. On top of that, we studied in a coed school. Well, the girl was assisted by the staff because she was a teacher’s ward. I still remember what had happened to her chair and in midst of the chaos where everyone was wondering what went wrong, I was wondering that we should have been told about this.
After I was done with school, I rushed towards my home and on the way, I bombarded a thousand questions at mom all at once. She explained everything well. She told me that this is a preparation for girls for the pain they have to bear for those nine months and periods are something to be proud of.
I still remember her words but I had forgotten everything for about a year because obviously, I couldn’t feel what some of my friends were going through. In our classroom every now and then, a girl was ready to tell us her first experience of getting periods. Some would cry in pain and some would laugh and some wouldn’t mind at all.
I was expecting my periods to come late but not everything goes the way we want them to.
By the end of my seventh grade, I got them and this brings me to the state of confusion I had at that time. My mom was in school, my dad was at work and my aunt who assists us with household chores was gone to purchase vegetables. Meanwhile, this happened.
I had a mixed reaction. I didn’t even know if this was something to react to. I didn’t know what I had to do next but thankfully aunty came and I spilled everything in front of her. But she couldn’t help because she didn’t know where the sanitary napkins were kept. Within an hour, my mom came home and I rushed towards her and told her everything. She seemed pretty normal which I was not expecting. Anyway, she explained to me how everything works.
I was already disturbed because of the emotional disbalance but I was blown when my mom revealed that I have to bear this every month. She said that it would be a matter of five days but it wasn’t. My first period lasted for about twelve days and the second one for about twenty-six days. You heard it right! Now bleeding for twenty-six days is not a joke. Anyway, girls have a special power in them and that’s patience. I was irritated because of the discomfort and soreness in my back but I managed it because I didn’t have any other choice and when we don’t have any choice, we have to fight.
It has now been four years and I have experienced times when I felt soreness in my back, stomach, and ankles. I used to puke and sometimes I would feel as if my joints would break but now, I have got enough strength to cope up with it and my mom is literally on her feet to give me massages.
This is the journey of every girl and I feel proud of the strength we show at such unprecedented times. Carrying everything out smoothly in midst of so much pain is not a piece of cake but it is for every girl.
