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“Meri ladli beti…” Poonam’s father fondly calls her as she is the only daughter amongst the 3 children. The other two being boys elder to her. The family includes her mother and one bhabhi as well. Poonam is 15 years old and resides in Pokhariya village of the Ichak block. Her father has got land and he works on the field, while her mother indulges in the household chores.
 One of her brother has migrated to the city, Hazaribagh, where he works as labour in coal mining. His wife stays in the village in the family. Her younger brother also studies in 8th standard. But Poonam was made to drop out of school after she completed her 5th standard, as she was the ladli beti who could not travel to the next village to continue her studies. Despite Poonam’s insistence on studying, she was dropped out of school, while her brother was permitted to continue. She laments, “hamein ladko ki barabari mein khelne nahi dete…ghoomne nahi dete, kyonki hum ek ladki hain.”
Though she works in the fields, whereas her brother hardly goes to the field. But after all, the boy is a boy.
Poonam has her mother and bhabhi in the family, but none of them ever told her about puberty or the changes she would go through during adolescence. Poonam started menstruating around five months ago. It was a shock to her. She had no prior knowledge of menstruation and how to manage it. She was hesitant to approach her mother, bhabhi and anyone else out of fear and apprehension.
Poonam had no knowledge as to how to manage her blood but she continued with her ignorance for almost three months. Since during the earlier months, the blood flow was not so severe, she managed without anything. No one in her family came to know of it. It was only around the fourth months when things went unmanageable; she hesitantly approached another girl of her age in the village, who then explained her the ways to manage it. It was then she started using cloth to manage her periods.
However, her knowledge about menstrual hygiene is still nil. She confirmed, “Akele me pani se dho kar hum us kapade ke tukde ko kothri mein aur kapado ke niche sukha lete hein.” Most of the times, the damp piece of cloth is reused. No wonder why maximum ladli’s end up catching RTIs. None of the health workers or Anganwadi worker has ever discussed with the adolescents about their sexual and reproductive health. |
