How About Putting Our Partners At Ease With Periods
Meera and Arjun were newly married. For Meera, it wasn’t just the newness of the relationship which was arranged by their families but also, adjusting to a new town and its surroundings. The two were still in an exploratory phase and getting to know each other’s likes and dislikes.
One morning, Arjun came out with a list in his hand and said, “Meera, the medical store is a little far from our place. I’m ordering a few things for myself. Do you want anything as well? It’ll all be delivered at home.”
Meera contemplated for a moment. Though she had adequately stocked up on a lot of her supplies, she was running out of her sanitary napkins stock. She was finding it awkward to tell this to Arjun. She tried making excuses, “Umm… Why don’t you tell me where the store. I’ll go and pick up everything myself. Why pay home delivery charges unnecessarily?”
Arjun assured her, “Relax. They don’t charge us anything to deliver the things. I order things in bulk often and so, they drop it off without charge. Just add everything you need.”
Meera was confused. She wondered how Arjun would feel ordering sanitary napkins for her. She tried once again, “But I will anyway not have much to do once you’re at office. I can go get the things myself. Really. Just tell me where to go.”
Arjun gave her a kind, reassuring look and said, “It really isn’t very close by. Just fill up the list and it’ll all be here in no time. You can do a lot of other better things in that time. Trust me.”
She opened her mouth again to convince him otherwise but, stopped on seeing him smile with a look that said he had it all taken care of.
She pensively took the list and started adding the routine balms, ointments and creams to it. Towards the end of the list, she began writing sanitary napkins but, her self-consciousness got the better of her and she struck out the half scribbled need. She looked at the list for some more time debating what to do. Back at her place, when she was young, her mother would take care of her sanitation needs and once she grew up, she would herself manage those. She had never really had a situation where she had to ask her father or brother to buy her sanitary napkins along with their provisions.
Arjun came out of room, ready for work. He saw her staring at the list, deep in thought and inquired, “Are you forgetting something?”
Meera was startled at the question. She wondered why Arjun was asking such a pointed question. Arjun laughed at the puzzled cum shocked look on her face and said, “Such a small list and so much thought over it. Look at you! You’re lost in such deep thought as if I gave you a complicated mathematics equation to solve. Are you trying to remember something more that you want and can’t remember? Can I be of some help?”
Meera shook her head, “I… I was just cross checking to see if I put everything down.” She handed back the list to Arjun and mentally made a note that she would have to find out the store location and pick up her monthly stock of pads herself no matter how far the store would be. She decided that she would look it up on maps or ask a neighbor. Or she thought that maybe she could separately place an order when Arjun wasn’t around. Then she wondered if the store keeper would add it in Arjun’s account and he would feel weird about it. Her mind was buzzing with thoughts and she wondered how she would take care of it on a routine basis.
Arjun looked at the list. He noticed the last item which was partially written and struck out – ‘sani’.
He pocketed the list, placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder and bidding her goodbye, said, “I’ll call at the store and place the order. Also, I’ll ask them to always come by in the evening so that once you start work, they can deliver things only once one of us is back home.”
That evening the doorbell rang and a small boy handed Meera the bag of things ordered, “Madam, check if everything you ordered is there.”
While checking the things, Meera found a packet of sanitary napkins in the bag. Puzzled, she was about to tell the boy that it wasn’t ordered. Just then her phone buzzed with a text –
‘I had promised you I would take care of all your needs. Everything will be completely off the list ordered. Next time I hope we can solve all such tough mathematics equations together! See you soon J’
Meera smiled to herself and beamed with pride to have found a partner who dared to break the taboo.
Author: Nidhi Bakshi
Nidhi is a Chartered Accountant by qualification and writer by passion from Mumbai. She believes that menstruation is a celebration marking the transition of every girl into womanhood.
Editor: Tuhin Paul
