Women here can't bleed with pride

'Muttukuchu' is a form of menstrual taboo in some of the villages in Tamil Nadu which prohibits Hindu women and girls from participating in normal family activities while menstruating, as they are considered 'impure'. Girls here told to spent these painful days in a room of 10 feet by 12 feet alone away from home and without any facilities, known as Muttukuchu.

Pudukkottai: When a girl attains the stage of puberty in her life she needs her mother most in this confusing time but what if a girl told to spend these painful days in a room of 10 feet by 12 feet alone away from home and without any facilities.

Here in Pudukkottai district of Tamil Nadu, girls from many villages find the puberty the scariest experience as they just don't deal with period cramps but also with the fear that how will they manage in a separate room called 'Muttukuchu' till their mensturation gets over.

'Muttukuchu' is a form of menstrual taboo which prohibits Hindu women and girls from participating in normal family activities while menstruating, as they are considered "impure".

This practice is followed in villages like Oonaiyur, Melur, Munachanthai, Konapattu at Pudukkottai District.

The room called the 'Muttukuchu' doesn't have electricity or a bed, not even a mat. Most importantly, it has no toilet or bathroom. She has separate utensils to eat and should wash her clothes separately.

People of these villages believe that if a girl attains maturity stage or a woman delivers a child, then they must stay within these four walls for a certain period. She is not supposed to either enter the house or touch anything at all.

When asked about the reason for this practice, the villagers said that this practice protects them from the wrath of the deity.

“If they enter the village it will be considered as a sin against the deity. The deity gives us everything, how can we disobey her. We don't have any problem staying here during menstruation,” one of the women who is inside the room told.

Some of them defend the practice by saying that they used to stay outside, with no roof but these girls are lucky they are getting so many facilities.

During these isolation days, the food brought from the homes is placed in the separate vessels stored in the room. Men cook the food and if there is nobody at home to cook, food comes from neighbours’ houses or outside.

There was a time when people used to consider women unclean, untouchable, prohibited to enter the house or temples and the place where they sit must be washed if they are bleeding. It is quite unbelievable that such belief still prevails in the modern world.

All the women from the age of 13 to 80, offer the same reason, adding that they didn’t dare question the practice otherwise the deity would punish them.

It is not just about the room where women have to live in their most difficult days but also it questions the basic hygiene of women in these villages.