The Adventures of Everywoman: Hilarious Comic Strips Challenging Period Taboo

When an award-winning film-maker, Rohan Sabharwal and a menstrual health educator, Sharmada Shastry collaborate together, they create the most quirky and hilarious comic series on periods. We spoke to Rohan Sabharwal and Sharmada Shastry about their latest project: The Adventures of EveryWoman 

Question:  Tell us about The Adventure of Everywoman. Who does the content and who is the artist?

Rohan:  Sharmada is hilarious! She has a very similar sensibility to the one I have.I had been thinking about doing a series on generally how clueless so many people are on various issues ranging from disability to mental health but I didn’t have a starting point or inspiration to begin with. While Rachana and I were working on our event ‘Thinking Out Of The Pad,’ facilitated by Sharmada, we were thinking about ways to promote the event on an hourly basis using small creatives. I guess the three of us chanced upon satire as a good medium to do just that. Also, only a day before we had put the event out on Facebook, I had read this article in Cosmo about Sanitary Panels and had checked out that page. It’s possibly one of the best forums using satire that I have ever come across.

Sharmada : Between yesterday and today, we have realized that comics have such a huge potential to break taboos and deconstruct myths – to hit all the right notes, (mostly) without touching the wrong nerves. [inlinetweet prefix=”Comics are a safe space to negotiate the boundaries between what can be said and what cannot, while still questioning what needs to be questioned.” tweeter=”RT” suffix=””]Comics are a safe space to negotiate the boundaries between what can be said and what cannot, while still questioning what needs to be questioned.[/inlinetweet] While I do the content, Rohan does all the creative design work behind it. Sometimes, I have an image in my head with a vague idea of the text, which he puts together as a themed comic and sometimes, he has an image with the text, and we improvise on it; sometimes I have only the text and he comes up with a brilliant design; sometimes, both of us have half an idea and we put the two together! And most of the times, he grasps the thought even before I finish the sentence!

Question: We just love The Adventure of Everywoman. How did this collaboration happened?

Rohan: Sharmada and I have never met! She is my partner Rachana’s friend and since Rachana was spearheading our event (we are organizing another event on the same day at a different venue, which I am in charge of), I wasn’t actively part of their event-related conversations until I participated in the live Twitter chat organized between Menstrupedia and Break Through India where I took one of Sharmada’s ideas for our creatives and turned it into a comic-styled meme. We have been rapidly generating stuff since then and it’s been such a laugh riot, that I have really been slacking off on other work.

Sharmada : [inlinetweet prefix=”The Adventures of Everywoman was sudden and unexpected!” tweeter=”” suffix=”The Adventures of Everywoman was sudden and unexpected!”]The Adventures of Everywoman was sudden and unexpected! [/inlinetweet]The whole idea was created in less than ten minutes! All it took was a single powerful statement on the live Twitter chat, which Rohan instantly turned into a comic-styled meme and from there, it has snowballed into several other comics! We have been brainstorming on Facebook messenger and have been howling with laughter every ten minutes ever since yesterday. It’s so much fun working with Rohan and Rachana!

Question: What is the reaction of your audience?  Are the incidents shown in these comic strip yours or also taken from other people’s experience’s?

Rohan: Since [inlinetweet prefix=”I was mostly brought up by a single mother, I was always running to the shop to buy feminine products and trust me, at a young age, it’s not that easy.” tweeter=”null” suffix=”null”]I was mostly brought up by a single mother, I was always running to the shop to buy feminine products and trust me, at a young age, it’s not that easy.[/inlinetweet] And this was twenty-five to thirty years ago. Some incidents are inspired by my personal experiences, while others are stories I completely identify with because of the women in my life.

We received over 3000 impressions on Twitter in just three hours last evening and some really important people/organisations have been re-Tweeting our posts. I’m so thrilled. This is the first time anything I’m doing is not just the best fun ever, but is also being recognized and appreciated.

Sharmada : I have never been active on Twitter, but the Twitter tab has been open on my laptop since last night and the notifications keep pouring in. That speaks a lot. While some of the comics are inspired by personal incidents, others are something that most people go through – [inlinetweet prefix=”null” tweeter=”null” suffix=”null”]don’t touch the pickle on your period, don’t go to the temple on your period, period sex is bad, feel embarrassed about buying feminine hygiene products for women[/inlinetweet]… I love that so many people are able to relate to it!

Question:  Rohan, you are such a brilliant filmmaker and have worked on some remarkable documentary films, do you plan to take up menstruation as the main subject in any of your future films?

Answer: Yes! And I want to take up more than just  menstruation! But there’s just so much to cover as far as women’s issues are concerned. Whether it’s busting myths about feminism through satire or even serious films, it’s something I have long been thinking about. At the moment though, Rachana and I are scripting two feature length documentaries, one on Mental Health and the other on Disability and Sexuality.

Question: Sharmada, these comic strips are quirky and quite fun to read just like your writing. Do you plan to do more comics on other topics?

Sharmada: Like I said, The Adventures of Everywoman happened quite unexpectedly, but I suddenly feel like a whole new world has opened up. I think in words, because I am primarily a writer. Humourous writing is my forte, but weaving it into the form of comics and thinking in terms of visual design is challenging, but also exciting! Like Rohan put it across so well, there is a vast potential for this in India, especially around issues related to gender. Notes from my fieldwork as a menstrual health educator and my general sensitivity to these issues always comes in handy. If comics are a way to address them, then why not? Ideas are popping up in my head; if the bloody (pun intended) stars align, then there are definitely going to be more comics on other topics!

 Rohan  is Co Founder and Chief Design Officer at CraYon Impact. He is an award-winning filmmaker and a graduate from the prestigious London Film School. His documentaries have been nominated and showcased at some important festivals around the world.

Sharmada is a menstrual health educator from Bengaluru, who dabbles with different pedagogies to menstrual health to adolescent girls and women. She is a reclusive writer and also a poet. You can drop her an e-mail at sharmadashastry@gmail.com or just message her on Facebook!

Editor:Divya Rosaline