In Conversation With Menstrupedia Champions – Naina Jha

Posted on Nov 13th, 2015

by Menstrupedia Staff

Stories and Experiences

Naina is one of the early adopters of Menstrupedia Blog. She had written on various topics related to menstruation ranging from “Menstruation and Sex” to Mood Swings to “Caring of Adolescent Girls” on our blog and have even contributed a poem. Our favorite article by here is: I’m just menstruating!

Naina has championed the cause as soon as she got in touch with us. She has also taken menstrual awareness workshops in Patna using our comic prototype.

Q: Could you give us a short introduction about you, your work, things that define you, your beliefs and your passions?

Naina: I’m a fun loving person, a mother who loves to travel, talk and write. I am a complete family person who has many friends. I love sports, especially if its basketball and I love to dance and listen to music. I love fashion. I am a PR professional and an outspoken brat. I am very passionate about my life and the work that I do. My passion is to work for the less privileged, especially if they are children. I also believe in spreading smiles all over the place.

Q: What made you decide to talk about menstruation? How did you decide to write your first article for Menstrupedia?

Naina: Menstruation is such a hush-hush topic that people feel ashamed of talking about it openly. It always bothered me that people were not willing to talk about such an important issue. While working in slums, I got to see women having wrong perceptions and beliefs about menstruation. Not just in slums, there are even many educated families which follow taboos that condemn women as being impure while they are menstruating. [inlinetweet prefix=”” tweeter=”” suffix=””]Many are forced to live in separate rooms and are not allowed to enter kitchens during their periods.[/inlinetweet] These things made me talk about this much taboo-ed topic. I saw the Menstrupedia page on Facebook, had a word with Aditi and immediately decided to write about it. This is how my first article (Irony of Menstruation : Essential but Impure) came up.

Q: Have you had people reach out to you after you wrote for Menstrupedia and other blogs? Do you have any stories you’d like to share?

Naina: Oh yes! Many local NGOs called me to talk about it. I even went to a few government schools to have discussions with girls about the taboos associated with it .

Q: What other issues, or the silences around them, bother you? Have you had a chance to engage with any of them? If yes, then please elucidate more on it. If no, please talk about the reasons for the same.

Naina: There are so many issues which bother me and annoy me. Rapes, molestation and honor killings are happening all around us. These things disturb me. They effect me emotionally. Then there is the low status of women, poor living conditions of people, especially children living in slums which really effect me. All these have inspired me to work for them. I work for a slum in my city called the Chitkohra slum . We teach children, organize medical camps and give them vocational training.

Menstrupedia is taking its drive of menstrual education to regions where it matters most. Help us spread menstrual education as we donate 3 books to girls in rural Gujarat(India) on your behalf. Feel good by doing good!

Q: What topics do you write upon? What is your favorite piece of writing that you have written yourself?

Naina: I mostly prefer to write on topics related to social issues. I’ve written one article for Safecity on the thinking of people about rape. That one is my personal favorite.

Q: Writing on a topics like Menstruation on a public platform can be daunting for many. What would your advice be to other women or even men who are afraid or intimidated to speak up?

Naina: I never understood why people were afraid of talking about menstruation. My suggestion to them is that you need to firstly understand that it is just a normal biological process and an important process which actually enables women to give birth to new lives. That is not bad or impure. Menstruating is absolutely healthy. So come and talk about it and help us in spreading awareness!

Q: Are there any individuals whose work you follow and appreciate? Or anyone you’re inspired by in particular? Anyone who has influenced your writing the most,perhaps?

Naina: One of my very senior teachers, Sr. Carol, inspires me a lot. She actually made me work for the slums. Moreover, Aditi, the co-founder of Menstrupedia,also inspires me just as I am sure she must be inspiring so many others.

Q: For someone who wants to write about anything that they feel strongly about, first-timers who don’t consider themselves to be much of writers, do you have any tips to share?

Naina: If anyone wants to write on topics that they strongly feel about, they should just follow their hearts and jot it all down. The article will shape up nicely. At least, [inlinetweet prefix=”” tweeter=”” suffix=””]I follow my heart and I write down whatever I feel as honestly as possible.[/inlinetweet] I am not a writer by profession but I keep on writing on issues which I feel like talking about and are important to me. Many a time, grammatical mistakes occur but you should keep on writing anyway. The show must always go on!

Interviewed : Palashi Vaghela