Until I attained puberty at the age of 13 I did not know anything about menstruation. My mother never told me what it would feel like when you bleed for three continuous days. It was a silent affair those days and nobody spoke aloud about it even in social gatherings. It is still a taboo I believe, but the scenario is changing and most of the kids are aware of it. There were no sanitary napkins and neither did we have the money. It was a luxury that very few could afford.
People had to walk a few miles to the supermarkets. My mother used to give me strips of cotton cloth ripped from a dhoti during my periods. Sometimes we would wash it, dry it in our courtyard and add smoke from benzoin resin (sambrani) to remove the stench for further use. Rather than wrapping it in a newspaper and disposing it, we would burn it. The number of cloths used depends on the flow and we wouldn’t keep the same cloth for long hours. We were taught to change it in regular intervals. They would make us sit alone in a room away from work and male members of the family. It was to give rest to the body during those three days. I wish that was in practice now.
As I grew up, the pain that came along with my periods turned unbearable. I had to work to take care of my two daughters so taking an off from work was not an option. When I was a kid my mother used to give me kashayam made from extracts of neem. Now every month I go to the hospital and get myself an injection which again burns a hole in my pocket. It’s very difficult to move around with severe body pain ache, my energy completely drains and I show my emotional mood swings and frustration at work on my little kids. Thankfully, the person I work with is a woman who emapthises with me when I explain it to her. Wondering what my state would’ve been if I had to work with a male boss.
Nutritious food and monthly health check-ups were mere dreams for my children and me. We survived with bare minimum. I’ve taught my daughters to maintain their menstrual hygiene during periods. They were given sanitary napkins till they were in school but that was not the case in college.
Napkins are supposed to be given for free, instead, the Government has imposed GST on it. How is it fair? In addition to provision, ration shops must offer free napkins every month to people from lower economic strata. There should be an extra off for women during their periods every month. Awareness is for the educated but who is there to teach us about hygiene when something basic like sanitary napkins is so expensive?
