Restrictions

My cousin, Rita called me this morning. She did sound really excited. She asked me if I was going to my cousin's place tomorrow for Ganesh Chaturthi.

"It is little dicy for me. That time of the month. So I am not sure whether I will come," I said with a disappointment explaining my dilemma to her.

"Oh I am going to miss you. This patriarchy is horrible," she said.

I stopped. I waited for a few moment and I decided to ask her, "what does patriarchy need to do with this?" I knew that 'patriarchy' is the keyword that has been used everywhere on the social media to make their content sound trendy and cool. I knew it had nothing to do with patriarchy but decided to ask my cousin why she thought so.

" How can you be so naive? Patriachy is keeping you away. We are women living in men's world and following their rules. I thought you would not bend to such rules but unfortunately you do. Sad," Rita said while sounding disappointed.

I too was disappointed listening to Rita who had been completely influenced by social media. I decided to share my knowledge with her, "do you know Rita why women are asked to spend time only in one room during that time? Our ancestors knew that this is a physically challenging time for women. They knew that this is the time when women require rest. That is why during this time women were excused from work and were ask to confine themselves in a room where they can rest. Unfortunately your social media influencers would never tell you this." I replied.

"That definitely sounds thoughtful. But what about the religious ceremonies? Isn't that they say that we are not pure enough?" She had questions in her mind.

I knew the answer to that question. I replied, "there is a scientific explanation for that. At religious ceremonies or when we say prayers, the blood flows upwards towards our head. During that time of the month for women the blood flow is downwards. If we pray the blood flow gets restricted and causing the increased risk of clotting. And you know clothing is the root cause of major health issues including cardiac issues. This is why it is asked for us to stay away from religious ceremonies for the benefit of our own health. Again this is something that you are favourite influencers would never tell you," I explained the concept in detail to my dear cousin.

" Oh I get it now. Unfortunately nobody tells these reasons and they always scream that patriarchy is the reason for everything," Rita had now changed her side.

"Exactly my sister. Our ancestors had the wisdom and based on it they created certain traditions and rituals. Later on they were made into certain traditions for which the explanation was not provided. Now the influencers say things that are beyond their understanding and when they cannot find a reason for it they try to blame it on any trending topic. Our ancestors were not only intelligent but wiser that the social media influences can never even dream about. If it was all about patriarchy we would worshipped Devis" I told my cousin. Of course I did not want to sound to preachy so I change the topic to asked her about the the outfit and the jewellery that she was planning to wear.

While ending the call I felt a strange feeling of fullfilmint to share the knowledge with my cousin. I felt proud of myself that I was able to speak about the wisdom and knowledge of our ancestors.