And so, Kalpana began that slow amble up to the idol. It was not her fault that she bled for so many days. It was not Tai-ajji’s fault that she was conditioned to believe that periods meant shunning away the woman to a dark corner. It was not aai’s fault that she felt trapped between the old generation and the new. Above all, it was not a mere coincidence that the idol was waiting on the edge of the water. He was, after all, extending his stay just for her. It was His doing that the tide had gone out and He stood stranded – He had one last devotee to bless and her promise to fulfil.
Continue readingCategory: Women Stuff (Page 1 of 2)
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a familiar sight – a large idol of Ganesha was being lugged slowly down the street as it made its way to the beach. It was her beloved Pivla-Raja. The most majestic. The most divine. The most yearned for avatar of Ganesha in Bombay. Kalpana had been unable to go see Him, but here He was gliding down to where she now stood. “Bappa you found me” whispered Kalpana in a voice that only she and her Bappa could hear, “But why did you make this happen? Why did you deny me from prostrating at your feet? Why am I being punished Bappa?” her almost silent voice, now trailed off as tears welled up in her eyes.
Continue readingA dejected Kalpana dragged her feet back home after tutoring her favourite student Ananya, a student at Bishop Green school. Ananya’s family celebrated the Ganesh festival for 5 days and Ananya had been pestering Kalpana to come visit. She obviously couldn’t because of her periods. However, it made Kalpana wonder… a meaningless practice of not participating in holy or divine activities only because of a bodily function over which she had no control. Was it the Gods who had decided this? Or was it God’s agents who decided that a bleeding woman was impure, untouchable and disgusting? She knew the answer, but suddenly when Ananya questioned her innocently why she had not attended the Ganesha festival at her place, she felt like she too was propounding the same old blind rituals.
Continue readingIn the evening, Kalpana returned home to a sombre mood floating about the house. Tai-ajji sat in her favourite rusty chair by the window, with her eyes half-closed, muttering holy incantations as she turned the rosary beads fervently through her fingers. Aai rushed out of the kitchen, wiping her wet hands on her faded green nighty, only to meet Kalpana’s guilty eyes. “You got your period today?” Aai asked urgently and found her answer in Kalpana’s lowered eyes. “Go, go inside and have a head bath. You didn’t go to the pandals I hope!” added Aai, as Kalpana sprinted inside and straight into the bathroom.
The rest of the week brought wafts of agarbatti, steaming ukdichey modak and sizzling aloowadis. Every evening Sudya anna would regale the family over dinner about the unique Ganesha idols, the richly decorated pandals and the best prasads that were distributed across their suburb.
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Miss Malini is certainly a name you have heard of before. But I felt even more connected to this lovely lady, as she took me, the reader down memory lane – back to the good old days of ICQ and when asking someone “ASL?” was the norm. This was long before we became Insta-influencers and thought it perfectly sane to share advice about the various shades of baby poop and how to wash diapers. How far have we walked down the digital revolution lane! In her latest book ‘Under the Influence’ Miss Malini talks of the perils we all face when we choose to live digital lives and are faced with our dreaded TROLLS. Not a stranger to this phenomenon, Miss Malini offers practical solutions on ‘How to Survive and Thrive Online.’
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According to the book Flow: The Cultural Story of Menstruation, the average woman throws away 250-300 pounds of disposable period products such as pads and tampons during her lifetime. On average, it amounts to about 0.5% of the total trash thrown away by that person.
Does it make a difference to switch to reusable period products? 0.5% doesn’t really seem like a big amount. But, I’m a believer in small changes equaling a big impact on the environment. Imagine the possibilities if a reusable period product was in the hands of every single menstruating person in the world? Continue reading
Most parenting is about receiving conflicting opinions from people around you. Your own parents and grandparents give you information from a time where most things were natural, homegrown and uncompromised. While you want to believe and follow much of their wisdom we find that most of it is not practical or available today. Speaking of friends, colleagues and peers, you may not have babies around the same time or maybe geographically scattered. Parenting philosophies also may not match. How then do you gain information, that has been tested by application and proven to give results? How do you find support in situations which you know your friends and family may not understand or have experience in? Continue reading
**This is a sponsored post. However the theme of the blog post & content/ opinions are all mine.**
Pre-conception, pregnancy, motherhood and then parenting! Women go through so much in these phases. The one pain point that women have at the end of all these episodes is “Mom-Hair” Mom-hair isn’t pleasant. It isn’t pretty to look at (most of the times anyway.) Mom-hair isn’t easy to be charmed back to life. It is certainly the mother’s crown because mom-hair gets stuff done. But ask any new mom if she is happy with her mom-hair crown and she will weep buckets of tears. Continue reading
I so look forward to Mondays. Weekends I dread. Sounds strange right? Well, I am a Stay-at-home/ work-from-home mom who loves the routine i have set for myself and baby and the household. Weekends are when I have 2 babies in the house – 1 the actual babyT and the other my big and first baby: my husband.
“Almost 40” I declare proudly sometimes. I am not afraid to admit my age and that I had my first child when I was well into my 30s (past my mid-30s even :P) To tell you the truth it is a little difficult at times running behind an active toddler. Aching knees and joints are not fun. But what really scared me the other day is when I heard of a friend, obviously around the same age as me, tell me that she has entered her menopause. I have to admit I was clueless about the onset of menopause and that prompted me to read up more about it.
Menopause is a natural condition which women experience around or after the age of 40, just before or after she stops menstruating. It is accompanied by a range of symptoms including hot flashes, insomnia, skipped or irregular periods, depression, mood swings and irritability, fatigue, vaginal dryness, joint and muscle pains, change in libido, racing heart, headache and reduced bladder control. Continue reading
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