In Nepal, a traditional belief about the impurity of menstrual blood means women and girls are banished to makeshift huts
PHOTOGRAPH BY POULOMI BASU
“I am not happy. I do not want to get married. I hope my husband gets a job in a foreign city. Then I can come back to my mother’s home and stay for as long as I want to,” 12-year-old Anjali Kumari King told photographer Poulomi Basu. It is a popular belief in some areas of Nepal that if a girl is married before she begins menstruation, her immediate family will ascend to heaven. Child marriage and Chaupadi are linked, says Basu, as they both involve ideas around pre-and post-menstrual purity.
“The first time I went into a chaupadi I was scared of snakes,” says Mangu Bika, 14, who shares a menstrual hut with Chandra Tiruva, 34. “Now I am more scared of men and of getting kidnapped. I am really worried about what will happen to me after marriage. I want to grow up and be a teacher because I like going to school. When we go to school, we all sit together and there is no discrimination against menstruating women.”
The practice of Chapaudi, which includes subsisting on a basic diet of rice and lentils, makes it difficult for Tula to be in school and also fulfill her obligation to earn money for her family. She is considering quitting school, Basu says.
TO BE CONTINUED ON
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