NEW DELHI: "The dread of our menstrual cycle is ominously hanging above us," said a 17-year-old who is being deprived of basic hygiene in the relief tents. In the flood relief camp of Mayur Vihar, two Class 11 students, Rani and Lakshmi, struggle for dignity and a safe space like many other girls in the same age group.
Gripped by economic crisis, the teenage girls are forced to use cloth during menstruation, as buying a sanitary napkin is a luxury they can't afford. Privacy is a dream for these girls, who steal time and sight to relieve themselves.
Lakshmi said, “We are still figuring out how to manage during menstruation. Earlier, we used sanitary napkins, but given the situation now, making ends meet is more important.” The authorities provide a water tanker, but it is not enough to wash, bathe and clean ourselves, they said.
Sanitary napkins were distributed last time in 2023, when they were shifted to the camps, but the disposal of those was again a matter of concern; they were thrown out in the open just beside the tent they were living in. This year, they fear the same outcome.
The young girls, hence, do not just become vulnerable to diseases and infections, but they fear becoming a victim of assault, predatory gaze and perverted comments. Flies, snakes, mosquitoes and an unbearable stench amp up their despair, said the girls.
As night falls, the girls go behind the bushes behind the camp to defecate. Mentioning that they urinate hardly twice a day, Lakshmi said, “We go during odd hours for the toilet in the open area, especially after sunset, as there is chaos most of the time. There is no covered space for us to bathe and wash ourselves. It’s been four days; the girls who study in a government school in Pocket 4 have lost their books and most of their belongings and are struggling for basic needs.
Rani’s mother, a single parent who’s raising her kids without any financial support, was dependent on a land parcel she had leased. Her hope for a better life and the sown crops are now submerged under water. She said that she had enrolled Rani in the school so that she could provide for the family someday and take care of her younger siblings, who are still learning to walk, but the situation seems worse.
Uncertainty looms over her every single day—she lost her husband a few years back, fought the jhuggi demolition drive recently, and just when life seemed to be back on track, Yamuna washed away her hope. Even in 2023, the floods displaced her for weeks in makeshift tents.
Ambition and the dream to make a name for herself are suppressed by hunger. She said, “The government gives us food once a day at around 7 pm, but the queue for food is too long, with most people sleeping hungry at night. In such a situation, I have been skipping school and helping my parents in whatever way I can.”
Another friend of Rani said that her father didn’t enrol her in a school, so while her brothers go to school, she takes care of the cattle and household work.
The flood made her life worse—she spends the night taking care of her siblings and works during the day to clean the tent erected just beside the cattle they could save from the floods. She said with a smile, “What toilets and sanitary pads?
When hundreds of people are displaced from the place they call their home, nothing matters. We go wherever we find a spot, which is also difficult now, and it’s littered everywhere.”