Experience of Menarche: Pain and Celebrationin Selected Modern Indian Narratives

Abstract

Menstruation has been meted out with an unjustified treatment in the discourse of literature for many centuries. Where most writers of the past have tried to pigeon hole menstrual and menarcheal experiences as uncomfortable, unwanted, mysterious and evil; it is the job of the modern writers to bring out the humanistic aspects to menarche and menstruation, thus aiming for eventual de-taboofication. The present study tries to analyze the experiences of menarche containing both celebratory and painful tones through the medium of Modern Indian Narratives that comprise My Story by Kamala Das, Mayil Will Not Be Quiet! by Niveditha Subramaniam and Sowmya Rajendran, I Died a Little by Soibam Haripriya, First Flush by Anamika, Udaylee by Sujata Bhatt, Kocharethi by Narayan, The Moth Eaten Howdah of Tusker by Indira Goswami and Paas Sootalar Kathakata by Arupa Patangia Kalita. The study tries to establish that the selected texts on experiences of menarche try to bring forth the multifacetedness of a human experience that has long been hidden under the debris of patriarchal and misogynistic customs and beliefs.