I do not remember the class; it was probably Class 7 or 8. There was a girl in my class, she was topper and everyone’s student of choice be it for studies, speech, debate, dance, sports, anchoring or anything in this world, She could win any competition and was a brilliant student of the class.
She was my classmate for many years. But none of these things matter. I would have written this true story even if she had she not have any of the qualities described above.
So, one day in school, she got a few red spots on the back of her skirt. Her whole day was ruined, she had no idea what the spotting meant. That was the only day when I didn’t see a smile on her face. The whole class was making fun of her. So, during the lunch break, all girls ran away to the canteen or playground, like they usually used to do. But she went and sat on the bench with her head down.
All the boys were giggling and talking, “Oye uski fatt gyi, usne sex kr liya (she is no longer a virgin, she must have had sex with a person with a bigger penis and that’s why she is bleeding).” I thought maybe they were right. I did not have any idea about menstruation either at that time. The vulgarity in their words reached its peak, which I can’t explain here. One or two girls, who had already reached menarche were supporting her, while the rest of the girls were also giggling at her.
As the final bell of the school rang, everyone waited for her to stand up so that they could see those red spots on the back of her skirt; they had been waiting the whole day to see that. She had been sitting on a bench the whole day so the class couldn’t see the spots then. To escape from this situation, she got up and stood near a wall, with the back of her skirt covered by her bag. She stuck close to the wall.
Now, everyone leaving the classroom was focusing on her back and said: “Oye, dikh gya, dikh gya (Woohoo! I saw it, I saw it).” They saw something red on her skirt and started laughing loudly.
When I was leaving, I saw her face. It was a scary look, one of bebasi (helplessness). Her eyes were looking at me, I can never forget those eyes. I can never forget the fear and sadness that I saw on her face. That was the first and the last time I had not seen a smile on her face. My classmates and I never got any sex education. Even I was not aware of menstruation then, but I didn’t laugh at her because I was very shy guy, decent, low on confidence, anaemic and malnourished with zero attitude.
There was a chapter on reproduction in our science textbook in Class 8, but my teacher skipped that. We felt better having skipped that chapter because we didn’t know the importance of that chapter. We thought that one chapter skipped means no question-answers to mug up, and hence no punishment.
A few days later, one of the boys took out a sanitary pad from a girl’s bag when all the girls were out of the class and started making fun of it. At that time, we used to think that menstruation is when a girl bleeds if she has had excessive sex.
Summary: In my school days, a brilliant girl got her first period (menarche) that caused a few red spots on the back side of her skirt. So, everyone started making fun of her and she was very scared and sad, because no one had any idea about what menstruation is.