Unsung Heroes: This retired gynaecologist-turned-activist attempts to ‘green the red’

A resident of Bengaluru, Bharath completed her schooling at Cluny Convent and pursued her MBBS at St John’s Medical College. From Muscat to Dubai, she’s had her fair share of travel before finally settling down in Bengaluru with her family. During her time in Dubai, she worked for a fertility centre and formed close associations along the way.

During Dr Bharath’s  time in Dubai, she worked for a fertility centre and formed close associations along the way. (Express photo)

“In the year 2000, we came back to Bengaluru. Both my children completed their education here. I started my own clinic in Rajajinagar before moving it to Malleshwaram,” says the 64-year-old Bharath.

Ever since, she has worked on a variety of things, such as voter list correction, providing assistance to citizens to obtain Aadhaar cards, solid waste management, and promoting menstrual hygiene.

“I joined Malleshwaram Swabhiman Initiative, a resident welfare association, and served as the secretary for a brief period,” she says. With a drive to turn things around, she stood for the civic elections in 2010 and MLA elections in 2013. But her tryst with politics did not lead her to any position of power.

Speaking about her association with politics, Bharat says: “Wanting to make a difference to the larger community, I tried to join politics, but that was not to be. It only gets tougher when you are honest.”

In 2018, when she turned 60, she shut her clinic and decided to retire. However, her endeavours did not end there. That is when she actively became a proponent of menstrual hygiene and sustainable periods.

Speaking about her association with politics, Dr Bharat says: “Wanting to make a difference to the larger community, I tried to join politics, but that was not to be. It only gets tougher when you are honest.” (Express photo)

Back in 2007, when her daughter was down with dengue, Bharath researched on the vector-borne disease. As she dug deeper, she learnt how hazardous sanitary waste was.

“I got to know about menstrual cups in 2013. Although they had been around even before that, there was no awareness,” Bharath says.

She adds, “I was menopausal, but I thought it was necessary to campaign for the cause as youngsters definitely needed it.”

Her experience as a gynaecologist comes in handy, as she uses it to allay the fears surrounding menstrual cups. One significant challenge with the shift to menstrual cups is the lack of advertising and promotion owing to the limited availability of resources.

“Initially, conversations with colleagues helped me understand that it was the need of the hour to inform as many people as possible,” she says, adding that “our campaign to green the red first began within inner circles and eventually reached more people.”

Back in 2007, when her daughter was down with dengue, Bharath researched on the vector-borne disease. (Express photo)

In her mission to ‘green the red’, she has successfully completed 45 training sessions and reached around 10,000 people across the country. Her campaigns have stretched across different cities and educational institutions. As a part of a campaign, Bharath and her team have spoken to women from five villages near Mysuru and returned only after converting them into zero-sanitary-waste areas.

“We introduced these women to cloth pads and successfully eradicated the issue of period poverty in the five villages,” Bharath says, adding that she always carries with her a model of the uterus in the hope of educating more people and convincing them to make a switch to the menstrual cup.

“A cup is equivalent to 1,800 sanitary napkins,” Bharath explains. “Even if it might seem expensive, it is much less than what one invests in sanitary pads,” she adds.

Bharath says she believes that youngsters these days are more aware than the previous generations. “I aim to ‘cupvert’ as many people as I can. It will take some time to create awareness, but the menstrual cup is definitely the gold standard when it comes to menstruation,” she says.