By The birth of marigold, the sweet breeze, the hums-and-dums of the busy market, the cheers and cackles of children, the baa’s of goats and smiles of every face I could feast my eyes upon. It was a pre-Dashain period, I was going back to my village after five years of staying in Kathmandu.
I was all excited and really looking forward to meeting my family and friends after being away from them. I had lots of plans during the month-long stay in my home for this big festive time, in the close comfort of my close ones. But amongst the feelings of excitement, there was a slight stress-inducing thought about my menstrual cycle starting in the coming days.
Nevertheless, I didn’t put much focus on that. I reached my village after a few days and then, soon after that, it started.
Now I’m one of those girls who experience a sheer amount of pain and discomfort during this time. And so as any female would do, I asked for some comfort and hot water to ease my pain, but to my horror, I was labeled as ‘Untouchable’ and was sent to a dark, empty, cold cow shed- infamously known as ‘Chaupadi Goth’.
I was screaming and confused in my heart. But I knew it would be of no use to vocally express the sadness and anger I had inside me since the base inhumane act had already been commenced. So, I kept statue of my emotions. I knew from that point of time this would be my last visit here till my teenage years were over.
I also realized there are numerous females who go through this every month and my heart went cold. From that moment, I made one of my future goals. And that was to educate people about how hell-ish that tradition of keeping a girl in cowshed during a period was and to bring an end to it.
Menstruation is a NATURAL, physiological process. But it is considered unclean in many societies. Taboos, myths, and restrictions are still widely associated with menstruation. This leaves a negative psychological impact on people, especially females, who go through it. Menstruation becomes an extremely unpleasant experience for females.
We have a tradition of thought that any females become ‘untouchable’ every month due to her cycle. At this period, when a female requires love, care, comfort, and rest, society tends to put her into a more miserable situation. This is all due to a lack of right awareness and education regarding menstrual hygiene.
When I asked my family why I was sent far from the house to a cowshed; they replied, if I stay back at home during this period the family god would be upset.
Such myths should actually be removed from their brains to bring a positive change. We should also understand why this rule was made during those times. There were no sanitary pads and it actually did get a bit messy and also education was not a thing for the poor and the majority of the people back then.
But this is the 21st century. This isn’t some 15th-century era. Things have changed, but alas, not the mindset of people. It did start as just a 4-day rest due to the discomfort and pain, but progressively somehow it turned to be worse over the years.
Here is the question- why did it turn into a devilish practice over the years? It is because we never asked why girls are treated badly during their periods. So, I would like to tell everyone is that religion itself should not have such boundaries or restrictions to stop a female from being hygienic during her cycle. This is just an uneducated mindset. We have to speak and foremost start the change from our own home. Bring change in your traditional mindset from today itself. Trust yourself. Together we can bring the change by simply asking the right question, “Why does a girl on menstruation have these many social restrictions?”
Written by Adhyeta Regmi (co-author: Sambhrant Pyakurel)
