It was like any other Sunday morning when I went shopping for some ration. The only difference was that the lockdown was going on. I have a habit of checking out what all is available in the shop, so I started wandering around while my mother was buying ration. I noticed something weird which wasn’t their 10 days before. The section where the pads were placed was suddenly in-fluxed with many types of brands and the section was full.
It was weird because I had never seen the section full, it was always half empty or empty in some cases. This was surprising to me as it made me wonder if women and adolescent girls are not buying pads or if the demand had suddenly increased.
Out of curiosity, I started asking the shopkeeper about the increase in the variety of pads available in the shop. He told me that the supply is the same as it was before the pandemic, but people are not buying the pads as much as they used to. I started wondering – how can that be possible? Periods don’t stop because of the pandemic, so what are the girls and women using?
Next day, two Angandwadi workers came for a survey at my house. After the survey conversation, I asked them the question which was burning on my mind. It’s a very peculiar problem which hardly people notice. Their reply still makes me question my existence. If poor families, who have lost their livelihood due to interruption of economic activity, somehow manage to get some money, will they buy pads instead of food? Buying pads will be their last priority during this time of crisis.
They told me how some families don’t have money to get ration and even if the family gets ration, it’s the male member of the family who goes out to get the essential things. Some women, out of shyness, don’t even tell them to get pads and if they do so, men feel embarrassed to buy it in a crowd. So, the women and girls have to adjust with whatever they have in the house; be it a cloth, grass or anything else they use. They told me that they had started supplying a sanitary napkin (pads) packet to each household along with the essential rations but it is still not enough for the family who has many females.
This situation is disappointing but real, the only difference is that we never realise the impact until it is unfolded or put forward by some news channel to debate on. What we need is to understand is the reality behind the camouflaged situation and not conceal the multiple perspectives of the ground reality.
About The Author: This piece has been written by Shradha Bahuguna, who is a student of the ISDM Class of 2020 in the 1 Year Post Graduate Program in Development Leadership.