I got my first periods when I was in grade 9; I had no proper idea of what it would be like because my curriculum had failed to distinctly explain it to me. Here in Nepal, families don’t discuss periods so basically, I am total blind about it unless I undergo this process on my own. But, my mother reacted very differently to this. I was startled by her words because I had heard few of my school friends gushing around about being made to stay in isolated rooms with plates of food being left outside their door during ‘that time of the month’ as they were considered impure for that duration. This thing penetrated fiercely to my heart and made me comprehend the whole situation of women in my country that was unlike mine because I was lucky enough to be one of the exceptions that happened to exist. I thought maybe there are a lot of people who would want to take a stand like my mother and cherish this process instead of burning it out as an issue .That day I decided to redesign the concept of this harshly dominated natural phenomenon, I decided to be someone who works to change the world and succeeds in changing someone’s world. I learned, to tell the truth as I saw it and not as I wanted it to be.
The practice of isolation of women from participating in normal family activities during menstruation began years ago, mostly noted as Chaaupadi Pratha. The women are kept out of the house and have to live in a cowshed where the conditions are horrific, subjecting women to the cold extremities, and dangerous risk of various infectious diseases. Chhaupadi was outlawed by the Supreme Court of Nepal in 2005, but the tradition has been slow to change and continues pertinaciously in Nepal. Families who have tried to change the trend breaking the tradition are pushed away from their village or community. Many of them are ostracized by their community and banished from all social gatherings and celebrations. This is how most people react to change in Nepal.
Things are quite differently perceived in Nepal. People shun this natural process. Here, females don’t go to buy a sanitary napkin if there’s a male in the shop, they treat sanitary napkins like radioactive isotopes ,wrapping it in layers of plastic and newspaper, separate from any vegetables or cereal boxes as if it would contaminate by its very presence. At the very worst, menstruating is slightly uncomfortable, sometimes painful and one of the most natural functions of the human body.But girls stash their sanitary napkins in secret places, are embarrassed when one falls out of our purse by accident and sort of tip-toe around the whole issue instead of being proud of their miraculous bodies that go on optimistically churning out eggs, month after month for decades.
This happens every day in every family but no single person decides to talk about it because they believe it should be whatever it is till date while I believe that its eradication should be swift in the process so that a lot of females going to suffer will be uncaged. I believe that education is the key to the solution to every hurdle. For that, taking few steps, in my weekend I move to some public schools and take classes informing students about how strongly this biological function of the woman’s body is linked to, or rather limited by, social habits. We have such a condition where females struggle to discuss it to men; the lack of dialogue discourse has tremendously paralyzed the situation. I strive to empower both genders with the roles of men and women in a social system. From the point of view of mutuality, I believe that one of the ways through which the problem of domineering can be solved is by being unbiased towards gender functions.
Because of some public institutions, accommodating little to basic human needs like proper toilets and trash cans, women have been forced, once again, to stop going somewhere during their periods and to stay – as dirty and unwanted – at home. I work for some non-profit organizations where as a team leader I organize motivating programs and visit the most affected areas and counsel the people there. I have seen , not all but a lot of them striving for change today. I am also in the coordination team of a platform where youngsters gather every Saturday and discuss such intense issues and about taking a positive jump over it.
Above all, I wish to pay request to the Ministry of Education to include about menstruation in a capacious way. I try to be as audacious as those who work for good changes in the society. This gives me happiness that comes from within. I want to work for it being as committed as the dissidents because I don’t want females to ruin that beautiful relation with their dad because of menstruation. I don’t want them to be segregated when it’s a festive time, cousins are gushing around and they are somewhere else in the room. I feel it requires change because it’s not normal when a female can’t talk about menstruation even to her mom who also has been a part of this legacy for years.
Now, standing in the front of a mirror, I find that I am partially content and the rest is in the process. I can see myself with a simple, yet comprehensive clarity, like staring into a mirror. My family has taught me that change can be positive and radical in altering lives; I hope to hold that ability someday. I seek the power to improve my life as well as the lives around me. And most of all because of those who have raised me, I dedicate a path of personal improvement and the formation of a dedicated individual who promotes good living with good character.
