Aditi Gupta is the co-founder of Menstrupedia: a fun and engaging period guide for girls! Aimed at eradicating the taboo around menstruation in India, Menstrupedia is reaching out to the masses in different formats including a website and blog, printed and digital comic books as well as on-ground workshops.
Menstruation. The stigma around this natural biological process that takes place inside a woman’s body is so huge in India that one rarely even hears this word spoken out loud. Thousands of euphemisms used to address menstruation are proof enough of the taboo that surrounds periods and teaches girls to do their best to hide it. The lack of dialogue and shame surrounding menstruation leads to unawareness on a far larger scale.
Menstrupedia is one of the very few initiatives which are trying to change the picture.
Founded by Aditi Gupta, Tuhin Paul and Rajat Mittal, Menstrupedia is a friendly guide to periods which helps girls and women understand menstruation in a pure scientific light with the help of engaging cartoons.
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Menstrupedia Comic[/caption]
Menstrupedia is the brainchild of Aditi, a new media graduate from National Institute of Design (NID), for whom it was a way of helping every girl in India avoid the taboos she faced herself. Born and brought up in a small town of Gujarat, Aditi witnessed numerous taboos and misconceptions about menstruation in her home as well as in society. She gradually realised that the taboo was omnipresent, no matter where she went and whom she addressed. She decided to change the way we look at menstruation. Along with her then batch mate Tuhin, she developed a Hindi comic book to educate girls about menstruation as her final project at NID. She even won a Ford Foundation scholarship for the same.
Aditi and Tuhin decided to take the initiative forward and today, the Menstrupedia website has over one lakh visitors every month. The
Menstrupedia Comic: The Friendly Guide To Period For Girls that released in September, 2016, has been picked up by more than 75 schools and 25 NGOs across the country. The comic has now reached over 70,000 girls around India. It has also been translated in several Indian languages as well as foreign languages like Nepali and Spanish, and has been shipped as far as Nepal, South America and Philippines.
The Better India caught up with Aditi and talked to her about her inspirations, challenges she has faced and the big problem of sex education in India. Here are excerpts from the conversation:
On her inspiration:
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![Aditi Pic]()
Aditi Gupta[/caption]
The people who are working to provide menstrual education are certainly an inspiration for me. Every single word, every single article that questions menstrual taboo inspires me. The hope that we are together, as a society, raising our girls right by educating them about menstruation. The hope that when these girls turn mothers, they will pass on that knowledge keeps me going. They won’t be passing on the taboos to their daughters.
On the biggest challenge of promoting period education:
When we started Menstrupedia, we decided to address the biggest problem- the lack of education about periods and sex. The biggest challenge in the process is shame- people are ashamed of talking about periods and that’s what we’re trying to change. It has been our biggest win; we have enabled people to overcome the shame. When people use our website and comics, when they share these with their daughters, it helps them rise above the shame, the discomfort.
On why we need to stop using shame to sell sanitary napkins:
The whole narrative around periods and sanitary napkins could be flipped. For decades, sanitary napkin advertisements have used shame to sell menstruation which further propagates shame in the society. It’s quite hypocritical, because if you see the same stain is sold in a very positive way in Surf excel ad. It says
daag acche hain! But period stain is considered a huge taboo. The same stain is used in a shameful way by using a jingle like ‘
laaga chunri mein daag’ to sell a sanitary napkin.
Also read: Of Stick Figures and Tongue-In-Cheek Humour – Meet the Creator of ‘Sanitary Panels’
The narrative is slowly changing. There are some beautiful campaigns like Whisper’s ‘Touch the Pickle’. It talks about breaking the taboo. Whisper also brought leading actresses to talk about periods and it’s encouraging to see these women shaking off the taboo around period talk.
However, the advertising industry has its limitations. They cannot show blood in the advertisements. Until a few years ago, sanitary napkin ads weren’t even allowed to be aired during prime time on TV! So, it’s not just the companies that are responsible; it’s the overall attitude. What we have seen in our journey that now more and more people are talking about menstruation. And that helps the process of dialogue.
Why put all the blame on media? At our homes too, we need to talk openly on these issues. That’s where the change starts. As long as we are going to get uncomfortable seeing period being discussed openly, commercial media isn’t going to address these issues.
On the importance of promoting menstrual hygiene in rural areas:
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Menstrupedia workshop educates girls as well as women about menstruation[/caption]
In our workshops, we do train girls about menstruation; we teach them about sanitary products and how to use them. We also install insinuators in the villages.
Accessibility to sanitary napkins or other hygienic methods is very important. My problem is not with using rags and cloths. It is hygienic and environment-friendly. However, it is treated in a very unhygienic manner due to misconceptions and lack of knowledge. They don’t dry it in the sun and keep it hidden in dark rooms, which leads to germs and infections. There are more practices like this. Girls should know all the options that are out there
On one shocking similarity when it comes to menstruation in urban and rural India:
I have taken workshops in the most rural, remote areas in Gujarat, as well as in the most posh, urbane school in Mumbai. If one thing is common to both schools, it is the taboo surrounding menstruation. I find it easier to talk about these things in the rural areas, because I find that people are more open to listening to what we have got to say. In urban schools, they seem to feel like knowing everything (which isn’t the case most of the times). Menstrual unawareness has nothing to do with whether people are educated or uneducated, urban or rural. Throughout the walk, I have observed that belief systems are the same. Menstruating women are considered impure and secluded even in the most modern families.
On the need to involve boys in the menstruation dialogue:
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Tuhin Paul & Aditi Gupta[/caption]
The first thing that we should do is to start involving men in our homes in the conversation about menstruation. We teach our girls to be ashamed of their period and we let our boys be ignorant about it. When girls get their periods, they are advised to hide it from her father and brother. If she has to hide it from her own father and brother, how is she supposed to share it with any other man? This is happening in every home.
Also read: This Woman Has Taught 6,000 Girls across 9 States That Menstruation Should Not Disempower Them
At a personal level, we shouldn’t wait for any school, educational institute or organisation like Menstrupedia or Goonj or Eco Femme to initiate the dialogue! Just involve the men in your home. Our husbands, brothers and sons love us, they care about us, they are compassionate! They will be supportive and glad if we include them. Many men have approached Menstrupedia, and wanted to know about it. Menstrupedia’s two co-founders are men; the comic is designed by Tuhin himself!
On the state of sex education in India and the response from schools:
Our sex education is a complete mess and everyone is suffering for it. The way menstruation is addressed in the textbook is purely academic. For example, they censor the term vagina. Students are taught about digestive system, respiratory system, but not about the reproductive system. A girl would know where her heart is, where her stomach is, but she wouldn’t know where her uterus or ovaries are. It will take a lot of time to fix this.
Schools have been overwhelmingly acceptable to the Menstrupedia comic books. Because one thing we took care of while designing the books is that we have kept it culturally sensitive. We involved many parents, doctors, teachers and experts in the process and have ensured that there is no ‘red flag’ content. 75 schools across India have adopted our book, all through word of mouth as we don’t have marketing outreach as such.
Schools give our books to students in bulk. So we are glad we are reaching many students.
Also read: How Swati Made Menstruation Not Only More Hygienic But Also More Profitable For Rural Women
On how she tackles period myths during workshops:
We do not hurt people’s religious sentiments. We don’t start with myth busting. We start by building on facts. When we teach we talk about biology. The questions are simple: if you don’t consider passing one’s stools as an impure thing, then why consider menstruation as a taboo?
We always establish the relationship between biology and periods. Usually, the belief in myths is caused by not knowing this process. Sometimes it so happens that the girls are taught about science in the class, but the situation at home is completely different. Mostly, it’s not in the girls’ hands to change the situation. But we try to build their confidence, make them believe in their heart that there’s nothing wrong with their period.
We leave a copy of
Menstrupedia Comic with every girl and ask her to go through it once more with her mother. So that way, even the mother is involved in the process.
On the best feedback she has ever received:
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There are very beautiful reviews! One common feedback I get from the women of my generation is “Where was this book when I was growing up?” One review said that a mother ordered the book for her daughter before she started menstruating and read it with her to make her understand. And after a few months, when the girl got her period, she was so cool about it!
On her future plans for Menstrupedia:
At Menstrupedia, we try to build educational infrastructure for menstrual education. We are getting these books translated in many more languages so as to be able to include more and more girls. We are even printing and selling the books in Nepal. Our books are translated into Spanish as well and are reaching to South America as well. We only need to translate the books in eight more Indian languages and we will reach/would reach throughout India. We also have an audio-visual comic book, which is desktop compatible right now. We will soon make it mobile compatible. Our dream is that no girl should ever feel that menstruation is impure!
To know more about Menstrupedia, visit their official wesbite
here, and Facebook page
here.
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Manoj Bhavsar[/caption]
The copper wire will sever any kite string that comes in contact with it, thus keeping the riders safe. “Initially, people used to laugh at me when I would put this wire on my bike and drive. But all I wanted was safety,” says Manoj. He was happy to fabricate similar copper wires for free, for the few people who did understand the importance of his precautionary action.
In December 2008, with the start of the annual International Kite Festival, Uttarayan, the Ahmedabad skyline was once again filled with the bright-coloured kites. Unfortunately, it was also time for an alarming statistic to be realised; 40% of the accidents that happened during this period were attributed to kite strings.
Preeti Ben Shah became the victim of one such accident and lost her life on the spot. Manoj became restless when he read the news. He wanted to do something to ensure safety of people who didn’t want to use safety wires on their vehicles. That was when he thought of fitting safety nets on over bridges to protect riders on the road from kite strings. “Usually, cut-off kites have a long manja attached to them and take a lot of time to reach the ground. With safety guards on over bridges, descending kite strings are blocked mid-way,” Manoj explains.
He also became a volunteer for the helpline 108 and provided first-aid to injured people and birds. Nonetheless, his mission was difficult. There was virtually no support from the authorities. On the contrary, he had to regularly convince them to permit him to continue his task.
Finally his persistence was rewarded. His pleas compelled the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation to give him permission to tie GI wires on all bridges of the city.
So far, Manoj has safe guarded 18 bridges in the city.[/caption]
So far, the technician has safe guarded 18 bridges in the city. He obtains permission from the municipality, seeks help from the fire brigade, hires hydraulics from a private agency and purchases the necessary copper wires -- all using his own money.
Manoj has invented a neck-band to ensure safety while driving.[/caption]
“I just want everyone to be safe. Life is very precious, whether it is a human’s life or a bird’s,” he concludes.
For more information on his work or to contact Manoj Bhavsar, please log on to his website.
Menstrupedia Comic[/caption]
Menstrupedia is the brainchild of Aditi, a new media graduate from National Institute of Design (NID), for whom it was a way of helping every girl in India avoid the taboos she faced herself. Born and brought up in a small town of Gujarat, Aditi witnessed numerous taboos and misconceptions about menstruation in her home as well as in society. She gradually realised that the taboo was omnipresent, no matter where she went and whom she addressed. She decided to change the way we look at menstruation. Along with her then batch mate Tuhin, she developed a Hindi comic book to educate girls about menstruation as her final project at NID. She even won a Ford Foundation scholarship for the same.
Aditi and Tuhin decided to take the initiative forward and today, the Menstrupedia website has over one lakh visitors every month. The Menstrupedia Comic: The Friendly Guide To Period For Girls that released in September, 2016, has been picked up by more than 75 schools and 25 NGOs across the country. The comic has now reached over 70,000 girls around India. It has also been translated in several Indian languages as well as foreign languages like Nepali and Spanish, and has been shipped as far as Nepal, South America and Philippines.
The Better India caught up with Aditi and talked to her about her inspirations, challenges she has faced and the big problem of sex education in India. Here are excerpts from the conversation:
Aditi Gupta[/caption]
The people who are working to provide menstrual education are certainly an inspiration for me. Every single word, every single article that questions menstrual taboo inspires me. The hope that we are together, as a society, raising our girls right by educating them about menstruation. The hope that when these girls turn mothers, they will pass on that knowledge keeps me going. They won’t be passing on the taboos to their daughters.
Menstrupedia workshop educates girls as well as women about menstruation[/caption]
In our workshops, we do train girls about menstruation; we teach them about sanitary products and how to use them. We also install insinuators in the villages.
Accessibility to sanitary napkins or other hygienic methods is very important. My problem is not with using rags and cloths. It is hygienic and environment-friendly. However, it is treated in a very unhygienic manner due to misconceptions and lack of knowledge. They don’t dry it in the sun and keep it hidden in dark rooms, which leads to germs and infections. There are more practices like this. Girls should know all the options that are out there
Tuhin Paul & Aditi Gupta[/caption]
The first thing that we should do is to start involving men in our homes in the conversation about menstruation. We teach our girls to be ashamed of their period and we let our boys be ignorant about it. When girls get their periods, they are advised to hide it from her father and brother. If she has to hide it from her own father and brother, how is she supposed to share it with any other man? This is happening in every home.
There are very beautiful reviews! One common feedback I get from the women of my generation is “Where was this book when I was growing up?” One review said that a mother ordered the book for her daughter before she started menstruating and read it with her to make her understand. And after a few months, when the girl got her period, she was so cool about it!
KMVS has several initiatives to support Kutchi women.[/caption]
Gujarat, especially Kutch, has a rich tradition of handcrafted embroidery, patchwork, and many other decorative items. So the government had set up a corporation to procure these handcrafted products. And in the years following the drought, special purchases were made to provide relief to many of these communities living in the interiors. Soon, the focus shifted on quantity rather than quality and the women were encouraged to do mass production instead of making unique, one-of-a-kind products.
This is when KMVS intervened. Under an initiative called QASAB, Sushma and her team started to revive the traditional craft while also providing the women with livelihood means.
The artisans of KMVS re-organized as producer groups to manage their activity as artisan entrepreneurs, designing, producing and coming to the market with their crafts under the name of QASAB. Over 1,200 artisans are currently working under QASAB. The returns from QASAB products go to the craftswomen and any surplus is re invested in the development activities of the initiative.
Women who earlier used to sell their beautiful handcrafted products to middlemen at low prices are now part of a collective where they demand what they deserve.
Sushma has created a community of changemakers.[/caption]
With the help of her team, Sushma set up 33 information centres called 'setus' in affected villages. These setus acted as a bridge between villagers and the government -- providing a flow of data, feedback and information to influence policy and programmes. They also acted as a link between all the actors in relief and rehabilitation.
Staff at setus would give details about the death toll in the villages, progress on temporary and permanent houses, the amount of financial assistance received, the formation of village councils and women and youth committees, the training of masons, and support for artisans.
These setus did not just provide people immediate and material benefit but also made them aware of their rights and what the government could do for them.
Juin, who quit her job as a school coordinator to start the initiative under the aegis of her organisation Srotoshwini Trust, first began teaching kids of migrant workers in 2013. Her first classroom was the construction site itself where the kids spent the day with her parents.
“When the construction was completed in 2014, many of the children left with their parents,” she says. “But some parents asked if they could leave their children with us. Nine children stayed behind and we created a hostel for them. They are still with us—they are like our children now.”
Things changed for the better in 2016 when Juin received support from the City Police as part of its Suraksha Setu project. As part of the assistance, the Pathshala classes could be run in the city’s Police Training School. They also received meals and partial remuneration for teachers.
“It was going very well, as we had a permanent place to hold classes,” says Juin. The arrangement also made it possible for the children to engage in sports and participate in co-curricular activities.
Unfortunately, the collaboration came to an end this January, taking the mobile schools back to the street. “I’d gone to meet the new commissioner when I heard the news. It was a big blow for us, and we are a little desperate but optimistic that we will find a new permanent school.”
Juin and her team are now pinning their hopes on a crowdfunding campaign to raise money for the school building.
The Srotoshwini Trust also runs Pathbhavan, a slum library and activity centre for underprivileged children. Along with issuing books, the centre also hosts hobby and recreational activities, and conducts spoken English and computer classes.
The projects have expanded to include the parents of these children. “We started working with the mothers of Pathshala students to create ethnic bedspreads and accessories. The products are made under the brand came Churni Collection and sold via exhibitions and online mediums. We keep only the cost of materials and give away the profits to the women.”
Smt. Pabiben Rabari[/caption]
Pabiben joined a Rabari women’s group in 1998, and soon became famous as the master artisan of the group. She found a solution to create decorative embroidery without breaking the community’s rules. She invented a new art form—machine application of ready-made elements, which was named “Hari Jari”.
For the first time in the Dhebaria community, Pabiben used the vibrant combination of trims and ribbons, which was famously known as “Pabi Jari”. She mastered this art with enthusiasm, and made a sample shopping bag. It became an instant hit, and was christened the “Pabi Bag”! The Pabi Bag has now been introduced to the contemporary market. Currently her products include different kinds of purses and bags, toilet kits, durries, files, quilts, cushion covers, etc.
Rahimabehn at work on a Khavda Pottery water bottle.
While the men do all the throwing in this pottery craft, the women handle all the surface decoration, which, in this northern Kutch village of Khavda, is primarily in the form of painting. The potter gets mud from a specific acre (a lake) area near their village. It is called “Rann ki Mitti”. This soft clay is shaped into a pot on a potter’s wheel and left to dry in the shade, then Kumbhar women use red, black, and white clay-based paints to decorate each piece of pottery with distinct community-specific designs.
After a while, the pot is cleaned and put in the sun to dry, and then baked in a furnace powered by simple and locally available fuels of dry wood and cow dung. The vessels are coated with a thin wash of geru (red color). The pots of Khavda get their red colour from Geru, a type of soil (ocher/umber), and the black-and-white dots and stripes are also made with natural materials.
Unfortunately, this traditional Khavda Pottery craft of Kutch is diminishing. Out of the ten families who used to practice this craft, there are only two left. The other families have been forced to shift to other livelihoods. Their pottery items used to be made for the local market, but the demand for of these items has decreased dramatically. They have lost the battle against plastic, steel, and Chinese products of everyday use. Today, the artisans are dependent on external markets.
Abdulla Kumbhar, his wife Rahima Behn, and their children are one of the two families that continue the Khavda Pottery traditions in spite of very meagre incomes and extreme hardships in the harsh environment of North Kutch, Gujarat.
Abdulla and Rahimabehn’s modest home in Khavda.
The Heart for Art Public Charitable Trust helped Abdulla and his family get additional income recently by conducting several consumer workshops in Pune where close to 100 art & craft lovers participated in paid workshops, and also bought a lot of their products. While talking to the couple, the organisation found that they have contemplated leaving the craft and doing other things, but have stayed on to keep the craft of our country alive. When asked what will help them stay in the craft, their answer was “regular business and help with infrastructure needs”.
The Trust is now working on getting regular business for their family in several ways, including taking their products into more exhibitions, doing more consumer workshops, etc. It has also started a fundraiser online to help fund the family’s infrastructure needs. Their requirements are quite basic really, that they have been doing without for all these years:
The smoke-filled chulha bhatti the family uses today.
You can help Heart for Art support this family’s needs. 
Although the two faced some problems during their 10-day journey — traffic, undulating hills, tire punctures, and cold wind — it did not discourage them in any way. They were on a mission, and their message was simple: segregate waste at the source using two bins (dry waste and wet waste). Dry waste must be given to waste pickers, and kitchen waste should be turned into manure through the method of composting.
The two enthusiasts insist that there is no need to throw out every single thing that appears to be waste or junk, and here’s what they strongly advocate: The process of recycling is an effective alternative, rather than dumping the waste outside homes. Almost 70 percent of the total household waste comes from the kitchen, hence, turning kitchen waste into manure is a much better option.
Sanjeeta and Piyush received an overwhelming response from people after their talks and discussions at different stops during their journey. For example, the municipality of Himmatnagar was so impressed by their solutions for solid waste management, it vowed to follow the exact process.
The two visited also visited schools like Green Apple Public School in Himmatnagar and Maharan Mewar Public School in Udaipur and spoke to the students on the subject. They even tried to raise awareness at corporate bodies like ESS KAY FINCORP Private Limited and Pernod Ricard India Private Limited.
Depending on ourselves to do something easy is so much better than leaving it on others, they say. The two are still on a mission: to spread their story to the youth and make India more knowledgeable about proper waste management.
(Written by Sudeshna Dutta)
Started in 2015 with the objective of encouraging students in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) subjects, the Robotronics Club conducts weekly activities for its young members. At the beginning of this year, 10students from the club decided to participate in a US-based competition called “Trash Trek.” The competition’s theme for the year was based on recycling, and students had to come up with innovative ideas for recycling and waste management relevant to their native place.
The team’s research brought to light some crucial points: They found that of the 4,800 metric tonnes of dry waste created in Ahmedabad, only 20% was recycled, and the residents’ habit of not segregating wet and dry waste was one of the biggest reasons behind this.
They visited the recycling company Let’s Recycle and teamed up with it to recycle the waste they had collected. Soon the response grew and they decided to extend the initiative to a school.
With the encouragement from the team, over 800 students of Anand Niketan Satellite School became a part of Think and Throw and started segregating waste in their school as well as homes. The club’s members would collect the dry waste themselves and give it for recycling. Within 20 days of starting the initiative, they had managed to collect and recycle over 1 tonne of dry waste.
Kalpesh is a diamond trader and his disability never came in the way of achieving his dreams.[/caption]
Kalpesh's family has been his biggest support.[/caption]
The company has just two employees since diamond trading doesn’t require much staff, says Kalpesh.
Kalpesh and his wife Deepali.[/caption]
They have two sons who are currently in school.
The competition was organized in Mumbai and Kalpesh received much appreciation for his efforts.[/caption]
He is also a regular performer at garba events in Gujarat.
Asked what keeps him so motivated and positive, he says: “All one needs is dedication and strong willpower because people will bring you down. They will demotivate you. They will sympathize with you but talk behind your back. But you have to stay strong and keep moving.”
Tanmay Shah[/caption]
Today, he holds the record for making 52 short films in one year --releasing one film every Friday as a part of his “52 Films Project.” The project made it into the India Book of Records and the Asia Book of Records, while the Golden Book of World Records awarded Tanmay for directing the most number of short films in a year.
The beginning of it all was as dramatic and spontaneous as any of Tanmay’s films.
With his 52 Films Project, Tanmay has managed to break many stereotypes and misconceptions about being a filmmaker. Proving the idiom “Where there’s a will, there’s a way,” his films have shown us that story is key.
Dandi March
Dr. Pranjivan Mehta
