Uttarakhand man who celebrated daughter's first Period was inspired by this
Uttarakhand man who celebrated daughter's first Period was inspired by this
Greek philosopher Aristotle observed in his book ‘The Nicomachean Ethics’ that “We become brave by doing brave acts.” Exemplifying just the same, Jitendra Bhatt, an Uttarakhand-based music teacher, made headlines a few weeks back for choosing to take a divergent path in a society governed by taboos around women’s menstruation. Although much has been reported about Bhatt’s exceptional approach to his daughter’s first period or menstrual cycle, little has been written about the man himself.
Let’s look at the Udham Singh Nagar resident and sneak a bit into his life.
What inspired Bhatt to celebrate menstruation?
Humans of Bombay, one of India’s largest storytelling platforms shared Bhatt’s story on their Instagram account. The post reveals the basis of Jitendra Bhatt’s modern approach to life. His memory recalls how the phrase “You stupid boy” sounded to him and “Why did you touch your mother?’ would reverberate throughout his childhood home. In addition, what shocked him most during his growing years was when he realised that for a few days, every month, his mother, aunts and sisters weren’t allowed to enter the house.
Check out the post:
He further illustrated how the house females were made to live outside the premises, in a ‘home’ built of bamboo sticks. Due to some issues, if those sticks weren’t available, they made ‘tabla’ their home alongside cows for a while.
Narrating another such incident, Bhatt described how once when he walked near his aunt who was on her period, he was yelled at. Cow urine was sprinkled on him to make him ‘pure’ again. “These things baffled me,” he added.
‘I will break this cycle’
Bhatt mentioned how he was warned not to touch them or even move closer to them. “Each time I asked the elders, they would say, ‘Gandi hogyi hai’,” he said, explaining the reason behind the move.
It took the music teacher’s attuned determination through education to make his vow not to be part of the vicious cycle that ill-treated women on the days they deserved attention and love. At 16, he said, “I promised myself–‘I will break this cycle.”
Happy Period Ragini
Taking crucial life lessons into consideration, Jitendra Bhatt got married and became a father to Ragini. When he first held the new born girl in his arms, he was determined to give her a happy life free from society’s taboos.
It was on Ragini’s 13th birthday recently that he found out about the beginning of her period. He celebrated the moment by organising a party and inviting close friends and family to the occasion. He added, “Of course, I heard ‘Why is this a cause of celebration?’ or ‘This isn’t something you should tell everybody!’ When I told the shopkeeper to write ‘Happy Period’ on the cake, he was baffled. All I said was, ‘I hope this is the beginning of many!’
He even asked people to gift her daughter sanitary napkins as gifts.
However, Bhatt is not bereft of sad tales surrounding small towns where the same things continue as they always did in his childhood home. Expressing strength towards shifting the perspective, he added, “The aim is to change the narrative. By breaking taboos, we’re empowering generations!”
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