My biggest fear when it comes to the subject of menstruation is to start bleeding in a public place, with no access to a bathroom or a sanitary napkin. But in this story, something worse than that happened.
My period journey started a little late in life, as I was physically very weak, about the age of 14. At the time I was at home, so I did not go through much trauma. I had already learnt all about it from all sources and therefore was completely ready for it. What I was not ready for was what would happen afterwards. The stains were everywhere. I would get caught by them anywhere at any time of the day. Sometimes they deceived me by coming early and sometimes late. It was very humiliating to have to go home because I stained my clothes. My mother told me not to worry and that I will fall into the correct pattern soon, and eventually it did. But as I had already become paranoid I developed a habit of wearing underwear and carrying a napkin at all times.
But after my marriage, and some crazy hormonal changes, I acquired an itch down there. The gynaecologist told me to use a separate hygiene wash product and not to wear underwear until I had to. So instead of wearing them, I began carrying them with the napkin, along with extra plastic bags for disposal and lots of snacks. I called it my period kit.
A year after this I had joined a school as a teacher. Out of habit, I took my period kit with me every day without fail. Now it was around the middle of November when this happened. I was teaching a class when, as always, I started bleeding. I quickly finished up and excused myself to go to the bathroom. Imagine my horror, when I realised that my period kit was missing! That meant no napkins and worse, no underwear! I must have forgotten to pack it somehow. But what was I to do? The school where I worked was in the middle of nowhere, and nobody used tampons in India. I still had a lot of classes to go, but could not continue in this state.
At first, I started a frantic search for panties in the school. I asked everyone, from the teachers to the helpers, if they had an extra pair anywhere, but without luck. One maid offered to give me the ones she was wearing, but I refused because it would have been unhygienic. I had exhausted all my options and had to settle for desperate measures. I went up to my school principal, a male one, told him my exact situation, and asked permission to go home. Of course, when he heard the “P” word, he immediately agreed to everything. Since I had some time until my next class, I borrowed some money from the accountant, took a cab and went straight home.
Fortunately, my father-in-law was at home, and after a quick change, he drove me back to school within the hour, and no one had noted my absence. But it was such a harrowing experience for me that I never travelled without my period kit anywhere. It is so traumatic to think that our country does not consider women’s hygiene an important issue and keeps certain guidelines in place in case of an emergency. After that, I added more items to my kit, like a water bottle and a towel. Life can be full of surprises, and it never hurts to be prepared.