The Indian Menstrual Cycle

Now, why do I say Indian, because obviously we are very well educated and do not believe in any superstitions related to a bodily process that is as natural as peeing.

It is (made) all pretty and easy when it begins,

Your womanhood is declared proven and is celebrated (people are happy that infertility will not be a hurdle for marriage).

There are gatherings, gifts, ragi laddoos and sunnundalu, these laid out like baits, and you are sure to fall into the trap.

You (are made) believe that it’ll all be easy, just change the pad and keep going! (Like those toxically positive ads)

But as you proceed a few more years into age,

First, your body, then the people turn the tables on you.

Your back and the uterus cramps stab you,

Your hormones make you unable to live in peace,

You then become some emoting being in others’ eyes, and for this, you are mocked, as people forget that you are losing blood (more than what most non-menstruating people would ever lose).

If you are a person scared of blood,  you live your nightmare 60 days a year. (Imagine if it were a man, it’d be made sure that nothing provokes his phobia)

You cry every cycle, either in pain or in fear.

Dealing with these natural processes wasn’t enough,

You’re faced with patriarchal casteist superstitions,

“Don’t water a plant, it’ll die” (well, obviously without water)

“Don’t touch a pickle, it’ll spoil” (please reason this)

“Don’t go to the temples, the gods will not forgive you” (so do they throw the goddesses out every month?)

“Don’t go out in the fields, the winds and the ghosts will trouble you” (that’s probably because you weren’t well fed and felt dizzy)

If the coolest and the strongest of a woman (not my mother here) bows to superstitions, you fail in front of her and are to abide by what she says, even through quiet rebellions.

You’re then not welcome to the living room,

You’re made untouchable in your own home,

Stay in a less populated room so no one else gets ‘polluted.’ (This is when one wants more care and love)

“Wash your hair on your fourth day and move freely”, they say (extra bleeding and cramps for this, how do they not see beyond their tradition?)

Do you walk around leaking trails of blood?

Or are they scared of some ‘period virus’ from your uterus engulfing them?

When asked, “What are the reasons and which God said this in your ear that I could never hear?”

They say, “Oh! This is all written in the holy books” (which ones, please give me their names, I would do what Ambedkar did to the Manusmriti)
(Will answers ever be found for these questions?)

Some go on to say, “Oh! This is a monthly break for women”

You would want to answer, “Try changing gender roles in everyday life, instead of stealing the freedom of a woman and imposing a break”

In education institutes and in front of women teachers, you also fail, as they consider heavy bleeding an excuse to miss anything.

Who pitched in such great ways against women?

That a painful presence is celebrated,

While a celebratory absence becomes painful?

That they lose control every month, and their own body betrays them without their consent?

May women who have gone through everything before be kinder to younger women, and I don’t know what men could do, as they still mockingly say “Oh! She must be PMSing”. (For them, we must have classes from grade I? Taught not separately, to not look away and to not mock?)

~Bavishya

(Written on 18 May 2026)

(from Pinterest)