Girls and women menstruate. Period

Reproductive Health

Last fortnight, officials at a hostel in Bhuj checked residents so those who had their periods could be isolated. Such attitudes perpetuate gender inequalities.

Representational image. | David Talukdar/AFP

Argentina Matavel Piccin

Feb 22. 2020

Menstruation is a natural and essential part of a woman’s reproductive cycle. Without it, men, boys, women, girls would not exist. Yet, it is surrounded by myths, misconceptions and taboo.

Stigma related to menstruation reinforces discrimination and perpetuates gender inequalities. And while we know that these attitudes still prevail in some homes and communities, it is shocking to learn that educational institutions and leaders – those that are expected to bearers of light – still adopt extreme forms of shaming and blaming.

A United Nations Population Fund-commissioned photo essay in 2017 on girls’ experiences around menarche, the first occurrence of menstruation, revealed harmful practices girls are subjected to in many parts of India: Prohibition from entering the kitchen or the prayer room, being made to stay outside the house, being forced to eat in separate utensils, or not being allowed to touch certain kinds of food because they could get spoilt. These social norms isolate girls from friends and family, in turn impacting their reproductive and mental health.

Girls start considering themselves to be “impure” and “unclean” during their periods. And their trauma doesn’t end there: inadequate access to clean water, sanitation, affordable menstrual management means, and privacy, all serve to reinforce the stigma. They experience shame, fear and embarrassment. And as they grow up to be women, they internalise these gender inequitable values.

Adding to their woes, in some parts of world, including South Asia, puberty and especially menarche, are considered to signal that girls are ready for marriage and motherhood. In such contexts, parents may view child and early marriages as viable options to control girls’ sexuality or to protect against fears related to the “family’s honour”.

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It’s International Mother Language Day. What is our relationship with our mother tongues?

Language Politics

The testimony of younger adults shows that English continues to occupy the top spot in a hierarchy of languages in India.

Vipul DANDAGE / CC BY-SA 4.0

Feb 20. 2020

Mohini Gupta

The fact that I
am writing to you
in English
already falsifies what I
wanted to tell you.
My subject:
how to explain to you that I
don’t belong to English
though I belong nowhere else,
if not here
in English.

— "Dedication", Gustavo Pérez Firmat

On February 21, 1952, Pakistan’s police opened fire on students of University of Dhaka (in erstwhile East Pakistan) protesting against the imposition of Urdu. The Bengali language movement demanded the inclusion of Bengali as a national language of Pakistan, in addition to Urdu, which was the mother tongue of only 3-4% of the nation, while Bengali was spoken by more than 50% of the population.

On January 9, 1998, Canada-based Rafiqul Islam wrote to the United Nations, asking them to commemorate the 1952 killings in Dhaka and mark the day to preserve languages from around the world from extinction. This led to the declaration of 21st February as International Mother Language Day. A dark day in the history of language movements, but also one full of hope. A hope that led to the creation of a new nation, Bangladesh, in 1971.

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The English vs “mother tongue” debate is not limited to South Asia. In 1986, the Kenyan writer Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o wrote in Decolonising the Mind about the humiliation of speaking Gĩkũyũ in the vicinity of his school. In the book, he laments the cognitive dissonance in the mind of the Kenyan child because their language in the classroom – a cerebral experience – was not their language at home – an emotional experience. Thiong’o took a radical step later in his life when he decided to abandon English, and switched to writing in Swahili and Gĩkũyũ.

We don’t have to take radical steps, but here is a question we must continue to ask ourselves today: Can we not fall into the trap of language hierarchies, and do better by our mother tongues?

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Related article:

Rajasthani: How a mother language can be lost, and how ‘folk’ histories can reclaim it

‘Pakistan Zindabad’ slogan at anti-CAA rally was ill-conceived – but it is not sedition

SEDITION LAW

The decision to yell a contentious slogan at a public rally may be worth criticising, but it is not grounds for a sedition charge.

Amulya Leona, who shouted pro-Pakistan slogans at an event in Bengaluru on Thursday. | PTI

Sruthisagar Yamunan

Feb 20. 2020

Eighteen-year-old Amulya Leona was charged with sedition on Thursday after she shouted “Pakistan Zindabad” at an anti-Citizenship Amendment Act rally organised by the All India Majlis e Ittehad ul Muslimeen in Bengaluru.

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A Facebook post by Leona on February 16 that came to attention after the incident seems to show that the teenager did not intend to single out Pakistan for praise so much as to make the point that humanity should be placed above the territorial idea of a nation state. A translation of the original Kannada message seemed to indicate what Leona was about to say before she was asked to stop her speech at the meeting.

“Hindustan zindabad, Pakistan zindabad, Bangladesh zindabad, Sri Lanka zindabad, Nepal zindabad, China zindabad, Afghanistan zindabad, Bhutan zindabad,” Leona had written. “Whichever country it may be, zindabad to all countries.”

She added, “Children are taught that country means territory. But, we, the children, want to tell you –a country is its people. Every person is entitled to basic amenities. All the people should have citizenship rights. The governments of all countries should look after its people in a good manner. Zindabad to everyone who works in the service of people.”

Despite the criticism of Leona’s action, it is clear is that the police’s decision to invoke the sedition 

law is disproportionate.

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As many such as Left activist Kavita Krishnan have pointed out, Leona’s intention was never to celebrate Pakistan. It seems the legitimate anxiety that the chant created at the event led to the unfortunate consequence of her being stopped from completing her statement. As a result, she is heard shouting “Pakistan Zindabad” three times before the microphone was taken away from her.

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PUBG and Warcraft can’t teach the life lessons that these traditional Indian board games did

A store in Hyderabad is trying to re-popularise South Indian games such as puli-joodam, basavanna-ata, daadi and others. 

Mallik Thatipalli 

Oct 16, 2019

For Sangeeta Rajesh, a bout of illness in 2014 turned out to be providential. She was homebound, playing a board game with her friend Archana Reddy, when a question struck them: why do children today suffer from more anxiety and mental disorders?

“We see many troubling issues in today’s children,” said Rajesh, 42, a remedial therapist. “We wondered why such a change occurred in a generation.”

Putting down some of the ills to the excessive use of technology among children, the friends decided that one antidote could be less technology. They thought back to the traditional games they played when they were young – the games back then “were simple” and “taught ethics”. “Unlike technology, which is a one-way street, they inculcated life lessons,” said Reddy, 38, who owns a school in Hyderabad.

Their concerned musings led to extensive research and travels. Eighteen months later they founded Good Old Games, an online and offline store dedicated to re-popularising traditional games common to South India.

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For 18th century painters, Indian port cities Calcutta, Bombay and Madras held a very special place

Artists like William Hodges, Jan Van Ryne, William and Thomas Daniell travelled across the ports, painting what they loved.

A perspective view of Fort William in the Kingdom of Bengal, belonging to the East India Company; by Jan Van Ryne, 1754. | Wikimedia Commons

Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri

Oct 30, 2017

A painting created in 1818 by British artist Benjamin West features Mughal emperor Shah Alam II presenting a scroll to Robert Clive, a British colonel. According to historian John McAleer, the event depicted in West’s painting can be categorised as one of the most crucial events in the history of the British Empire and one of the most important legacies of the Battle of Plassey that took place in 1757 in Palashi, Bengal.

The scroll, which forms the focus of the painting, was responsible for transferring tax-collecting rights and the authority to administer justice in Bengal to the East India Company. It set the ball rolling, establishing the East India Company as a major power and Calcutta as its seat.

The artwork appears in Picturing India: People, Places And The World Of The East India Company by McAleer, a lecturer at the University of Southampton. The coffee-table book, published by Niyogi Books, explores Britain’s complicated relationship with India through images of the Indian subcontinent, by artists and travellers in the 18th and 19th century.

In a chapter, titled Politics, Power and Port Cities, McAleer outlines the background of the East India Company’s position in mid-18th century India, its maritime trade routes and activities, the port cities it occupied and the depiction of India in a variety of texts and images. The three main ports featured in the narrative are Calcutta, Bombay and Madras.

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శ్రీ కౌముది ఫిబ్రవరి 2020