I bleed RED- #BarAThon

Posted in Aks Corner, BAR-a-THON, Love & Relationships, motherhood, Parenting, Short Stories

Vinodini could never forget that day, it was etched firmly in her memory. She was celebrated, revered like a Goddess.

It all started when she spotted a few drops of blood in her panty and shrieked in horror. She thought she would die and she hurriedly called her mother. On seeing the blood, Amma smiled and hugged her. “You are a woman now kanna”. Whatever that means, little Vinu murmured. A  grand celebration was held in her honor where she was decked up in a saree, relatives and friends were called, they blessed her and sumptuous food was served. This lasted a few hours.

She was then ushered to a room and isolated from the rest of the family. No sleeping in the bedroom, no watching TV, no touching others, separate utensils were used for her food, she has become a untouchable in her house.

The years of growing up like a person inflicted with plague, hiding the fact that she was bleeding for a few days, the discomfort of buying sanitary napkins in the medical shop and quickly hiding them in a black polythene, being treated as “impure”, dirty” by her own people- she has borne all of it silently, keeping her tears in her heart.

Today as a mother of a 11 year old who bled for the first time, she hugged her little girl “There is no shame baby, this is a natural monthly cycle. Nothing changes, you go to school, sleep, eat, play as usual”

She was glad that she successfully resisted family pressure to celebrate her daughter’s onset of puberty. She took the first step in an arduous struggle to break the taboo.

(This post has been written for the second edition of  BAR-A-THON, the fortnight-long blogging marathon for bloggers everywhere!  My theme is “7 colours of the rainbow ROYGBIV”. I present a Flash Fiction in 300 words  based on one colour  for each day of the challenge and blend it with something that personifies that colour )

barathon

(Blog Image Courtesy: Menstrupedia)

Published by Akshata Ram

Chartered Accountant, Story Teller, Dreamer, Voracious Reader, Blogger, Mommy to a little munchkin, Shopaholic, Day Dreamer.Passionate about my career in the corporate world and aspire to break the glass ceiling, at the same time nurture my passion for writing. My niche area is short stories, I also write on parenting, sexism, life's experiences, micro blogs and flash fiction. I have won the best Parenting blog post at mycity4kids.com the largest parenting website in India, 4 times and several of my posts have been published in the #MostPopular category on this site garnering millions of views. I also write on Bonobology, Rivo Kids, Women's Web and Youth Ki Awaaz. My blog has been chosen as the Top Indian Blogs for the years 2018-2019,2020 by TopIndianBlogs website and found a place in the prestigious Top 22 Indian Literary Blogs in 2020 @TopIndianBlogs.

18 thoughts on “I bleed RED- #BarAThon”

  3. I always wondered how awkward it must be for the girl… I’ve seen those huge printed posters on the roadside announcing functions to celebrate what is basically the start of her menstrual cycle and what I understand traditionally implies her attaining marriageable age (!!)

    I just would never have wanted to be in such a position as a young girl where the whole city came to know about it and for all the wrong reasons, nonetheless. Puberty is a very trying phase as it is… it does not need all this.

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  4. Loved your take on this.. I wanted to read more, though 🙂
    It’s necessary we break the stereotype associated with mensuration for our girls.

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  5. Great theme! 🙂 I still don’t understand the taboo behind menstruating that exists in the Indian culture. I was fortunate to not be isolated but I did know people who could not touch things in the kitchen when menstruating. Love that you character managed to break the taboo and not give in to societal pressures

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    1. Thanks for stopping by Sanch. True its indeed very weird but looking at how we are still stuck in these aged old practices it seems like a long and arduous journey to bring about change.

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  8. Interesting theme.. loved reading this. I have decided to do the same as you described if I have a girl baby .. But god given me two boys 😉 seems like he have other plans.. This change is essential.. looking forward to read more..

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