Hello! I am a sanitary napkin. I was born for all you women and my purpose in life is to provide you comfort during ‘those’ days. You use and throw me, but you don’t like to talk about me. And whenever you do, you mention me in hushed voices. Perhaps you’re ashamed of me. So much so, that you keep me hidden in the darkest and dingiest corners, where no one can see me. You carry me in black polyethene; even the shopkeepers sell me in those. I am tired of these dark, bloody, black bags which have become my home. I feel suffocated.

But not anymore! Thanks to Jaipur Women Blog, and – city’s renowned women’s ethnic wear label, I get to have a new house. They are designing colorful handbags exclusively for carrying me.

I am already dreaming of the bright sunny days when my users won’t be embarrassed to carry me around, and I will be recognized respectfully for what I am, and what I do.

Yours sincerely,

In menstruation and cramps,

Pads

All of us at almost every point in our lives have traded pads secretly in black bags, and we’ve done this with so much precision, that I’m sure people have had suspicions of us being drug-dealers.

So, guess what? Let’s replace those black thelis, bags, papers, and what not! *Becomes Beckham, and kicks bloody black bags out of the window*

Let’s get our period buddies a new home, and make menstruation taboos homeless.

Step 1: Design the replacement of those black bags for sanitary napkins.

For this, the JWB cadets, Sanchit and I, hung out with few talented design students from Pearl Academy. Psst! You know one of them. Wait till you find out.

So, as I was telling you, we met them to see what they had designed for this campaign of ours. And of course, to do some taboo talking! *Smirks*

Say hi to Gunjan Jain, Anjali Godhawat, Ayushi Agarwal, and Aashi Sogani.

Me: Name your favorite menstruation taboo!

Anjali: The way we hide pads and related things as if they are some explosives.

All of us: Been there, done that.

Ayushi: Let me tell you one. The fact that we can’t even hover around kitchens and temples, and the awkwardness when someone unaware that we are chumming asks us to go there!

All of us: *In chorus* Been there, felt that.

Gunjan: I’ve heard this weird way of describing periods. So when you’re menstruating, you’re supposed to say Kaoova kaat gaya (A crow has bitten me).

All of us: Say whaaaa?

Gunjan: *Giggling* Yep.

Me: You’ve permanently ruined poor crows for me. Why oh why!?

Anjali: These taboos have been handed down to us. So, we’ve kinda grown up listening and following them.

Gunjan: And I guess girls are excessively coy about the whole matter because they don’t want people around them to know that they’ve been bitten by the crow!

Me: Well, on the brighter side, people will become alert of the PMS mode. And they will maintain cautionary distance. After all, a PMSing woman is the fiercest of all!

Aashi: Hahaha! That’s an interesting way of looking at it.

Me: So, tell me, girls! Do you pledge from now on, and so forth, to say hasta-la-vista to menstruation taboos? Do you pledge to debar the bloody black bag?

They looked at each other, and they looked at me. The process went on a couple of times before finally they could speak.

Anjali: It’ll kinda be awkward … with all the people around staring at us while we go to the washroom with a pad in our hands.

Me: Just 5 minutes ago we were talking about how lame the taboos are and how we should get rid of them, and now, we, ourselves are talking about continuing to follow them. Are we going to hand them down to our generations to come?

Gunjan: Now that you’ve put it like that, I feel so double-faced.

Me: I’m just gonna be Mahatma Gandhi for a minute. Be the change you wish to see in the world! Imagine if you destroy these taboos bit by bit, your future generations will not have to witness them at all! That was the gyaan of the day. Now, I’ll step down from being a baba  and continue being a blogger.

All of us: *Chuckled*

Me: Let’s see your designs, shall we?

Aashi: You’re our teacher now. Asking us to submit our assignments!

Aashi Sogani

1. The Hipster Drapester: Aashi derives inspiration for this design of sanitary pad bag from the hipsters! Psst! The fringes at the bottom symbolize the bearded men.

2. The Bucket Challenge: Even though this is inspired from buckets, we like to picture it as a sand watch. Being too perceptive, are we?

Gunjan Jain

3. The Mooch-Pack: Because even sanitary napkins deserve the classic potli vogue.

Anjali Godhawat

4. Handle with Care: The easy-go-lucky hand-held, for when you want to keep your sanitary napkins close. Really close.

5. The SHE Bag: Inspired from the female logo, this design totally justifies its cause.

 

Nikita Nair – This one was kind enough to send us her designs all the way from Mumbai.

6. Moonlit: A backpack sanitary napkin potli, anyone?

7.  Cosmo: Taking inspiration from the universe, and beyond.

Ayushi Agarwal 

8. Belle’ with a bell: Although Ayushi draws her inspiration from a bell, this design seems to look like a uterus to us. More power to the women! Woho!

These girls have done their task. Now it is your job to vote for your favorite design. The one selected design will go in for manufacturing at Kishori, and the resultant bag will be made available at medical outlets exclusively for sanitary napkins. What say?

Psst! Tell you an interesting fact? The word ‘Kishori’ literally means an adolescent girl. How beautiful is this coincident correlation between this meaning and Kishori’s role in this campaign! Don’t you think?

Oh! And btw, the voting lines open tomorrow. All you need to do is ‘like’ your favorite design on our Facebook page. Keep hovering there!