Around Town: Week-long festival of Maasika Mahotsav celebrates menstruation and menstruators

“It involves simple community-engaging activities. One of them is a relay race where women would clip drawings of a pad instead of passing on a baton, in order to make them comfortable with the idea of holding a pad in a public space. Other activities like threading a needle or peeling garlic involve everyone, including men to participate, to make them overcome the gender barriers even if in smaller ways. The festival also sees dance, music and theatre performances centred on women empowerment or menstruation,” shares Bangera, a former advertising professional who started the festival in 2017, three years after he entered the space of menstrual health management (MHM).

Nishant Bangera, founder of Muse Foundation and Maasika Mahotsav.

“I was working on ‘A Period of Sharing’ campaign, as part of which the team would collect packets of sanitary pads from donators and send them to a school in Dahanu. At one point, I thought till when will this continue, especially when it is something that women and young girls need every month so I decided to do more,” recalls the 31-year-old, adding that it was around the same time that he realised that relying solely on spreading biological information at education institutes isn’t enough to deal with this multifaceted issue.

“We do reach out to women and talk to them about periods, their bodies as well as the need for a sustainable solution like a menstrual cup or cloth pads but for an overall impact, we need to engage the whole community,” says Bangera, adding that while many assume it to be a rural issue, it is anything but that. “Girls in places like Makhurd, which is very much a part of Mumbai, were made to live outside their homes on days they were menstruating.” These were among a series of issues, including but not restricted to missing schools and a ban on their entry inside kitchens and temples that led him to reach out to his friends, many of whom expressed a desire to work in this space and thus born ‘Maasika Mahotsav’.

Today, in its seventh edition, it will be celebrated in 19 countries across four continents through various partner NGOs, including Pakistan, where it will be celebrated for the first time. (Express Photo)

The first edition in 2017 saw it being celebrated in small villages in Uttarakhand and Gujarat, besides Mumbai. Today, in its seventh edition, it will be celebrated in 19 countries across four continents through various partner NGOs, including Pakistan, where it will be celebrated for the first time. In India, it will be celebrated in 11 states, namely Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Jammu & Kashmir, Bihar, Gujarat, Assam, West Bengal, Rajasthan, New Delhi, Jharkhand, and Kerala.

The theme this time is reclaiming spaces and as part of it, one of their activities in association with Mumbra-based NGO Parcham, which empowers Muslim women through the medium of a sport like football, will be hosting friendly matches.

“One of the activities is happening at a space in Govandi where only boys play and if and when girls come out to play there, they are catcalled. Another event called ‘Let’s Loiter’ would see women simply enjoying being in a public space and having fun,” he shares about the festival that culminates on May 28, which is celebrated annually as Menstrual Hygiene Day.