Why is there a paudha in her pants, and other questions that bother Aditi Mittal

Now that she’s made the sanitary napkin a conversation starter, we have a chat with comedian Aditi Mittal.

WrittenBy:Urmi Duggal
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Considering the silence that surrounds it, there’s something rather special about the fact that stand-up comedian Aditi Mittal has managed to turn the sanitary napkin into a trending topic. Mittal recently released a video clip, in which she ponders upon the wonders and absurdities that surround the ‘pad’. This section is from Mittal’s show, Things They Wouldn’t Let Me Say. We chatted with her about being liberated, the murderous power of a woman’s period and more.

Why do you think even women from well-educated, middle-class, liberal backgrounds are hesitant to talk about their periods?

You know the funny thing is, everyone keeps saying “Oh, please! We are the liberated sort of middle class! Oh stand-up comedy, what are you [doing] talking about these things?” But you realise because we are the great middle class, we’ve added way more layers. It’s hilarious to deconstruct that because you’re like, “Wow! This is a lot of drama over something very minor.”

Where do you think our hesitation regarding periods comes from?

It’s about our reproductive process. It’s in the land down under or the Area That Must Not Be Named. What is inside a woman’s salwar has been very confusing and very mysterious, even medically. I remember the first time I told my mother that I want to go to a gynaecologist she said, “What are you, a slut?” and I said, “Are you serious, mom?”

She asked me “Kyun jana hai, kya ho raha hai tumhara?” [Why do you want to go? What’s going on?] I said, “Kuch nahi ho raha… mujhe bas bola ki yeh testing-vesting karvao toh…”[Nothing is going on, I was just told to get tests done]. And she said, “Nahi nahi, zaroorat nahi.”[No no, there is no need]. It was one of those things.

To me it didn’t make sense also, trying to process these messages. My personal objective to comedy is to try and understand the world around me.

What is the most ridiculous myth about menstruation that you have come across?

There are a bazillion. There was one which I thought somebody had definitely made up. First of all are the classics — the internet ones. Like ‘shark week’, because it was made scary. That was what was bothering me a lot.

I remember there was some tulsi plant in our house and on that particular day because I was feeling nurturing towards nature, in whatever format, I went to give water [to the plant] and the maid was so mad at me. The next day the tulsi plant, true to the maid’s tradition, died. She was like, “Tune usey maara hai!” [“You killed it.” — because Mittal had watered the plant during her period.] It could not be the placement of the pot, it could not be the sunlight, or all the factors that determine life. Why is the paudha [plant] inside my pants? What does this tulsi ka plant know and why does it know so much detail?

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Sanitary napkins aren’t the only things that fascinate Mittal. Over the past couple of years, she’s developed a number of characters, including the sexologist Dr Mrs. Lutchuke, and the film reviewer and aspiring actress Dolly Khurana. “My eternal aim is to try and make sense of things I don’t understand through comedy.” So is ours, Aditi.

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