"My First Period"
It was a breezy Tuesday morning in December. It was my Social Studies exam and I still had a few chapters to review. I freshened up quickly and started reading those remaining portion. Then, suddenly I started having a terrible pain in my lower abdomen. It became so extreme that I thought my abdomen would explode that day. I had no idea what was going on. The 13 year old child in me thought maybe it was due to weakness as I had been skipping meals due to the exams. Despite such severe pain, I ignored it and continued studying. Soon after my breakfast I rushed to the school assembly. The scheduled exams got delayed that day. While we were studying quietly in our classrooms I felt something wet down there. I was so worried about exams that I thought I had peed! I ran to the washroom but was horrified when I saw a patch of blood in my underpants. I didn't know what to do. I quietly returned to my classroom with a mind full of distress and anxiety. I wished to skip the exams and rush back to home but instead I stayed in feeling every second and minute as a punishment. I couldn't share it with my friends or the teachers as I thought it as an "embarrassing" situation and the whole school would be making fuss about it for next few weeks. I chose to stay silent and kept it on my own. In between the chaos and conflicts running on my mind, somewhere I felt lucky that I had brown skirt that day instead of white. Incidents of girls getting there white skirt red had me thinking I was lucky to have escaped the color of shame. With great patience, I finished my exams early and ran towards home. Leaving the school building had never brought such a huge relief to me! However, my tension was not over yet. I was worried that the blood would stain my school uniform all over. So, I was always conscious of that. Blood stains had brought nightmares in the daylight to me during my entire period! Attending school felt nothing less than a horror movie! When I look back in time now, it feels all so weird how we hesitated to discuss a natural phenomenon like menstruation. Thousands of girls even today share a similar story like mine and large percentage of it may have even undergone through even worse situations. Due to social stigma and the stereotypical views about periods, young girls hesitate to talk about it and share their problems with their family members and teachers. As a result, their voices are unheard and the problems remain unsolved. In severe cases, girls even suffer a lot of complications and health issues. It's sure that many of the problems would be solved if we have supportive environment around us starting from homes, schools to ensure healthy menstruation, "shame-free" and dignified menstruation.
