Menopause musings
Many articles discussed at length the problems faced when menopause set in. Advice pours in from all quarters old aunts, well read nieces, fresh – out – of – medical school nephews, trying –to- understand husband,… the list is endless. Secretly I like all the attention showered on me for something I am happy to be rid of. A new found dry freedom is mine. No more worrying about dates. Any religious function my mother-in-law would look at me “is it convenient? “Implying I check my period dates. It would be nowhere near it when I confirmed the dates, but it would promptly arrive on the day of the puja. People would glare at me and grumble “can’t she check… she wants to avoid work”. How could they know that my periods had an uncanny habit of arriving at all wrong times. I t had arrived during my honeymoon too!!! I was afraid my husband would head towards a divorce. Well!! His reactions and behavior was no less. I defended my body system by saying thank god it did not appear on the day of the wedding. That would be a public disaster.
I am free from the pain of checking and rechecking my back for possible stains. Taking a lecture during those wet days was a pain. I always felt when I turned my back to the students’ to face the board, the students spotted something. I kept covering my back with my pallu just in case …
Trips and picnics were always coupled with the fear of periods and loads of sanitary napkins. My worst night mare would be ending in some remote place where sanitary napkins were not available. Would I end in a pool of blood ???.
Now all that is history I can have a clean, dry and free of fear days. I treated myself to a couple of light colored breezy saris. All the dark colored might have stained saris were donated to the maid. It was a win win situation.