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Family, which put Hapur on Oscar map, reveals how it beat stigma

Period – End of Sentence won an Oscar on Sunday, in the Documentary short subject category.

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The beaming employees of the Sabla sanitary pad in Kathikhera village on Monday
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Locating a small, white-coloured house in a nondescript village about 60 kilometres from New Delhi should be a difficult task. But it isn't. Residents call this the "haveli", the place where a gori mem (foreign lady), with the help of six sisters, set up a small unit to make sanitary pads. And today, the entire world knew about the house's residents.

Period – End of Sentence won an Oscar on Sunday, in the Documentary short subject category. The film is the story of these sisters who manufacture sanitary pads, and their struggle to remove the stigma attached.

The family isn't aware of how coveted an honour it is to win the Oscar, but they are elated that the girls have achieved "something big". The main protagonists — Suman and Sneh — are currently in Los Angeles for the ceremony, but the family is happy enough to narrate their tale.

"Talking about menstruation is taboo here. We had no choice but to hide it from our father and brother, that we were manufacturing sanitary towels. We initially told them we were making children's diapers," giggles 22-year-old Preeti. "As we worked here, we understood that it was a natural bodily function and was nothing to be ashamed of. When we did tell our father, we were incredibly surprised that he supported us," 20-year-old Rakhi, another of the sisters, says.

Father Bijender, who also has a cameo in the film, is busy with a steady stream of journalists. He nods admiringly from a distance. "Is mein ganda kuchh nahin hai. Is ke baare mein baat karni chahiye (There is nothing dirty about periods. We should discuss it openly). I am very proud of my daughters that they have been able to create awareness among illiterate villagers," he says.

But breaking the news to one's family was the easy part; it was an entirely different ball game to win over the support of the village. "Elders from the village came to our house and shamed us, that we were polluting the womenfolk. We were shut out by neighbours when we tried to talk about periods or the necessity of sanitary pads. Even when the movie was being shot, boys would mock us, saying, 'Tu Kareena Kapoor banegi'," recounts Preeti.

The family, meanwhile, stood by the daughters, motivating them to go ahead and face the taboo head on. "We visited women in the neighbourhood, teachers in schools and gradually dissipated the shame that they have been associating with menstruation for centuries. Now they come and buy pads from us without any inhibition," Rakhi smiles.

Today, the unit employs seven women, between 18 and 31 years of age, who work six days a week and are paid a monthly salary of Rs 2,500. The centre produces 600 pads a day which are sold under the brand name Fly.

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