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Periods.

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Blood.

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Menstruation.

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Gross.

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Secret.

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Hidden.

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Why?

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A natural biological process

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that every girl and woman
goes through every month

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for about half of her life.

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A phenomenon that is so significant

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that the survival and propagation
of our species depends on it.

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Yet we consider it a taboo.

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We feel awkward
and shameful talking about it.

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When I got my first periods,

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I was told to keep it
a secret from others --

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even from my father and brother.

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Later when this chapter
appeared in our textbooks,

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our biology teacher skipped the subject.

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(Laughter)

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You know what I learned from it?

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I learned that it is really
shameful to talk about it.

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I learned to be ashamed of my body.

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I learned to stay unaware of periods

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in order to stay decent.

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Research in various parts of India

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shows that three out of every 10 girls
are not aware of menstruation

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at the time of their first periods.

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And in some parts of Rajasthan

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this number is as high as nine
out of 10 girls being unaware of it.

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You'd be surprised to know

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that most of the girls
that I have spoken to,

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who did not know about periods
at the time of their first menstruation

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thought that they have got blood cancer

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and they're going to die soon.

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Menstrual hygiene
is a very important risk factor

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for reproductive tract infections.

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But in India, only 12 percent
of girls and women

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have access to hygienic ways
of managing their periods.

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If you do the math,

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88 percent of girls and women use
unhygienic ways to manage their periods.

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I was one of them.

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I grew up in a small town
called Garhwa, in Jharkhand,

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where even buying a sanitary napkin
is considered shameful.

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So when I started getting my periods,

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I began with using rags.

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After every use
I would wash and reuse them.

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But to store them,

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I would hide and keep it
in a dark, damp place

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so that nobody finds out
that I'm menstruating.

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Due to repeated washing
the rags would become coarse,

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and I would often get rashes
and infections using them.

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I wore these already for five years
until I moved out of that town.

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Another issue
that periods brought in my life

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those of the social restrictions

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that are imposed upon our girls
and women when they're on their periods.

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I think you all must be aware of it,

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but I'll still list it
for the few who don't.

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I was not allowed to touch or eat pickles.

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I was not allowed to sit on the sofa
or some other family member's bed.

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I had to wash my bed sheet
after every period,

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even if it was not stained.

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I was considered impure

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and forbidden from worshipping or touching
any object of religious importance.

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You'll find signposts outside temples

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denying the entry
of menstruating girls and women.

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Ironically,

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most of the time it is the older woman

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who imposes such restrictions
on younger girls in a family.

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After all, they have grown up
accepting such restrictions as norms.

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And in the absence of any intervention,

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it is the myth and misconception

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that propagate
from generation to generation.

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During my years of work in this field,

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I have even come across stories

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where girls have to eat
and wash their dishes separately.

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They're not allowed
to take baths during periods,

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and in some households they are even
secluded from other family members.

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About 85 percent of girls
and women in India

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would follow one or more restrictive
customs on their periods every month.

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Can you imagine what this does

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to the self-esteem
and self-confidence of a young girl?

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The psychological trauma
that this inflicts,

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affecting her personality,

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her academic performance

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and every single aspect of growing up
during her early formative years?

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I religiously followed all these
restrictive customs for 13 years,

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until a discussion with my partner, Tuhin,

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changed my perception
about menstruation forever.

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In 2009, Tuhin and I were pursuing
our postgraduation in design.

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We fell in love with each other

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and I was at ease
discussing periods with him.

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Tuhin knew little about periods.

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(Laughter)

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He was astonished to know
that girls get painful cramps

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and we bleed every month.

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(Laughter)

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Yeah.

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He was completely shocked to know

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about the restrictions that are imposed
upon menstruating girls and women

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by their own families and their society.

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In order to help me with my cramps,

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he would go on the Internet
and learn more about menstruation.

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When he shared his findings with me,

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I realized how little I knew
about menstruation myself.

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And many of my beliefs
actually turned out to be myths.

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That's when we wondered:

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if we, being so well educated,

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were so ill-informed about menstruation,

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there would be millions of girls out there
who would be ill-informed, too.

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To study --

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to understand the problem better,

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I undertook a year-long research to study
the lack of awareness about menstruation

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and the root cause behind it.

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While it is generally believed

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that menstrual unawareness
and misconception is a rural phenomenon,

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during my research,

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I found that it is as much
an urban phenomenon as well.

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And it exists with the educated
urban class, also.

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While talking to many
parents and teachers,

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I found that many of them actually
wanted to educate girls about periods

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before they have started
getting their menstrual cycle.

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And --

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but they lacked
the proper means themselves.

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And since it is a taboo,

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they feel inhibition
and shameful in talking about it.

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Girls nowadays get their periods
in classes six and seven,

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but our educational curriculum

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teaches girls about periods
only in standard eight and nine.

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And since it is a taboo,

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teachers still
skip the subject altogether.

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So school does not
teach girls about periods,

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parents don't talk about it.

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Where do the girls go?

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Two decades ago and now --

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nothing has changed.

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I shared these finding with Tuhin
and we wondered:

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What if we could create something

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that would help girls understand
about menstruation on their own --

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something that would help
parents and teachers

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talk about periods
comfortably to young girls?

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During my research,

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I was collecting a lot of stories.

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These were stories of experiences
of girls during their periods.

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These stories would make girls
curious and interested

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in talking about menstruation
in their close circle.

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That's what we wanted.

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We wanted something
that would make the girls curious

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and drive them to learn about it.

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We wanted to use these stories
to teach girls about periods.

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So we decided to create a comic book,

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where the cartoon characters
would enact these stories

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and educate girls about menstruation
in a fun and engaging way.

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To represent girls
in their different phases of puberty,

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we have three characters.

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Pinki, who has not gotten her period yet,

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Jiya who gets her period
during the narrative of the book

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and Mira who has already
been getting her period.

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There is a fourth character, Priya Didi.

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Through her, girls come to know
about the various aspects of growing up

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and menstrual hygiene management.

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While making the book, we took great care

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that none of the illustrations
were objectionable in any way

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and that it is culturally sensitive.

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During our prototype testing,
we found that the girls loved the book.

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They were keen on reading it

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and knowing more and more
about periods on their own.

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Parents and teachers were
comfortable in talking about periods

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to young girls using the book,

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and sometimes even boys
were interested in reading it.

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(Laughter)

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(Applause)

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The comic book helped
in creating an environment

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where menstruation ceased to be a taboo.

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Many of the volunteers took this prototype
themselves to educate girls

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and take menstrual awareness workshops
in five different states in India.

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And one of the volunteers
took this prototype to educate young monks

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and took it to this monastery in Ladakh.

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We made the final version of the book,
called "Menstrupedia Comic"

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and launched in September last year.

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And so far,

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more than 4,000 girls have been
educated by using the book in India and --

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(Applause)

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Thank you.

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(Applause)

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And 10 different countries.

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We are constantly translating the book
into different languages

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and collaborating with local organizations

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to make this book available
in different countries.

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15 schools in different parts of India

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have made this book
a part of their school curriculum

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to teach girls about menstruation.

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(Applause)

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I am amazed to see how volunteers,

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individuals, parents,
teachers, school principals,

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have come together

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and taken this menstrual awareness
drive to their own communities,

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have made sure that the girls
learn about periods at the right age

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and helped in breaking this taboo.

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I dream of a future
where menstruation is not a curse,

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not a disease,

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but a welcoming change in a girl's life.

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And I would --

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(Applause)

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And I would like to end this

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with a small request
to all the parents here.

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Dear parents,

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if you would be ashamed of periods,

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your daughters would be, too.

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So please be period positive.

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(Laughter)

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Thank you.

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(Applause)