How do you feel when you chum during your travels?
The river so red flows without anyone’s notice.
How do you manage when it suddenly knocks?
The feeling of wetness, flowing in a surge…

Once, twice, thrice, oh so many times I’ve faced,
The embarrassing experience of travelling in pain.
The lies when I get up with my bag to hide,
the stain, the marks, on a moving train.

There sat my friends looking at each other,
“What did she hide in her pocket, is she fine?”
I swiftly throw a sheepish smile and run into the loo,
Oh, how embarrassing those days were, as they must have been for you.

Now things have changed, I am tired of hiding,
What am I supposed to do when my red days are riding?
It is my identity; it is how the world works.
We come with an ancient river that ensures all perks.

Travelling in a train, a flight or a car
Once seemed like a pain, it left behind scars.
Now I talk of it aloud among my family and my friends
Someday this shyness and embarrassment surely has to end?

I ask my father, my brother, or even my male friends
“Can you please get me a sanitary napkin
from the medical store?”
While they were shocked initially,
Now they hardly pay attention to society’s uproar!

Perceptions will change; notions will pave new ways,
We just need to give them some time, a few more days.
However, I now travel even when my red days are near,
I get up, walk to the washroom, with the napkin,
And without any fear.

Poet: Mayurakshi Gosh

I am Mayurakshi Ghosh from Kolkata. 26 year old confused individual, still trying to figure out what shall be the right path to follow in life, In the meantime, I am struggling with my failures, insecurities and then trying put them on papers.

Editor: Divya Rosaline

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