Just the other day I shared a very powerful poem ‘Half World’ by a Telugu poet, and here I am today, sharing yet another AMAZING piece by a Tamil writer K. Geeta. Again I had to find the translation in English to read it, but here it goes.
The Time I’m My Period. (I am not sure with the title, my translation version says so.)
When the whole body is frozen into an abscess
When a private mount explodes silently
I make efforts vain to catch the pain in my grip
All of a sudden it gives a jolt
I in myself, solid becoming liquid
Then become a solid again
And then shattered to pieces.
Every month, having no other go
I transform myself into pain
Dead
Unable to plaster the wound that would’nt surface
Unable to grind the ribs into powder
Even unable to draw myself into a bundle of cosy sleep
Embracing the thirty-six hours of turbulence
Unable to remain a forced untouchable
Walking forward a few paces in civilisation
Becoming gasping leaps and sprints
Desiring to flatten the spine on the anvil
Toying with the idea
To bundle this bother with chains of iron
Again and again, once in every thirty days
Taking rebirths one after another
The period when crushed in gut-twisting agony
This period …
The problem does not lie only when people shy away with the topic, but even today their are many myths and beliefs associated with it. Not going into the details much here, I’d safely say that those beliefs should not be thrown on women, it’s on them if they believe in it or not.
Even today we have people who shy away with the topic of menstruation, and it is indeed a powerful poetry that I strongly stand by. Some people tend to take it so casually, never understanding the amount of pain that a woman’s body goes through and those hormonal changes which she is herself unaware of, in those days, every single month, almost her entire life.
Intense work 👍
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Thank you so much.
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Really well-written Moushmi. It is high time for the stigma around menstruation to come down!
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Absolutely! All the stigma and the superstition that is associated with menstruation is illogical and ill-founded! In the NGO I volunteer we have been working on educating the community folks we work with. I believe one day at a time we can come to a situation when the taboo is broken
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I hope so, Parikhit! I hope so 🙂
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I hope so too. It definitely needs to be broken,
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Amen to that!
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Thank you so much Neha. I completely agree with you.
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Always a pleasure to read your work, Moushmi 🙂 🙂
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I am flattered 🙂
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❤ ❤
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Nice thought. Has the poem got lost in translation with the actual meaning? I have no idea if abscess would be used in a poem
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Well, I found it weird too, but I could not change it no matter what. may be the poem lost a little essence in the process of translation, but I am thankful yet, as only then I could read it.
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Great!!
Thanks for sharing this moushmi.
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Always a pleasure.
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Nice !!
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Thank you..
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It’s time people treat this as something natural and not consider it as a taboo topic.
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I agree with you 🙂
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It is high time for the stigma around menstruation to crumble! Wonderful work done here!❤
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Thanks dear.
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Wow.. that was intense. Loved it. Captures what a women goes through every month❤️
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I absolutely agree with you, it does capture the essence, and hence my love and respect towards it.
Thanks a lot for stopping by,
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Taboo surrounding such topics needs to be eliminated.. Great post.. 🙂
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Thanks a lot.
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Taboo’s…what are they really but fear. Those periods are as natural as breathing, but can be very painful, to which I obviously have no real understanding having never experienced them.
Maybe they are small karmic bursts of suffering because of the transference into utter bliss in giving birth to such beauty in having a child and the love that this engenders.
But then not all suffer their tyranny, is that pain but a body out of balance. We suffer so many other bodily things in this world, many from what we eat and breath, others from the genes they inherit.
Regardless, and more importantly, may a womans ‘periods’ be gentle, smooth and swift in their journey.
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Thanks so much Mark, for in the least trying to understand a woman’s pain. I respect that.
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Dudee…half world is Telugu poem..here you said its tamil!?!?!
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Thank you for bringing that to my notice.
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Hey This is getting interesting and inspiring by every new blog post. Such beautiful and strong verses Keep sharing!!!
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Thanks a lot Aditi.. 🙂
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Beautiful reading. Thank you Moushmi
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Always a pleasure.
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Women for long has been treated badly by society. I want to applaud you for bringing the regional beauties to our read through your translation. Thank you
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It is indeed my pleasure to share such wonderful pieces of art.
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You did a fab job
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Thank you 🙂
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My pleasure
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The wall of stigma has started showing cracks and hopefully will crumble soon one day….the amount of pain, discomfort and suffering a woman undergoes and at the same time forced to hush up is so disconcerting….😑
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It is. But there is no solution to it unless both men and women open up about it.
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Absolutely
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If a woman is called as “impure” on her periods then would you also call the baby “impure” who steps into this world due to the periods ?
I think periods is not a taboo
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Thanks for sharing your views.
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