I Was Shamed For Being “Impure”

Women still grapple with the tradition of period isolation in southern India

Credit: Radiokukka/iStock/Getty Images Plus

My grandmother Ritu was a tough village girl, always roughhousing with her cousins. She lived in a farmhouse with a cavernous granary for the rice her grandfather sold, a large central room that echoed with laughter during meal times. The family ate in rows, Brown legs crossed on…