Look Inwards

... Period. Period. Part 1

"Come on, let's get going already. They are waiting!! What's the hold up?" my boyfriend chafed.
"Hold it dude, I'm just taking a pill"
"Pill? Why, what happened?"
"Ahh, nothing, let's go". I said after gulping the whole pain killer.

And so we, the gang of 10 bitchin playerz, started our cheap thrill journey.

Hopped in a crowded local train where people were packed like atoms in a crystal and breaths were exchanged like free flowing electrons. No wonder he wouldn't take advantage of that steamy situation. His arms went all around me and we were kissing as discreetly as possible there. Hell, the irony of it! As stations after stations arrived, that human crystal JUST KEPT GROWING!.

Our station finally arrived and we all boarded a bus. Boys separate compartment, girls separate compartment. And we had to split in 5 and 5. If you want to know what's worst than 2 girls under the same roof, it's the 5 of us, bitchin under the same roof.

"Why the hell does this rule exist for couples! Duh", I complained.
"Looks like someone got extra cozy in train", she poked at me.
"Looks like someone was paying attention to the wrong person in there 😉", we crackled.
"Talk about attention, you were boning him even before we started today"
"No, I couldn't find the pain killer, bloody periods had to come today", I said and they pinched me so damn hard.
"Ouu, WTF!"
And all of them said in melodious harmony
"PERIOD SYNC!!"
We were crackling until we realized, every pair of eyes were staring at us... in a bad way, even our boyfriends.

PVR finally arrived and we occupied the corner seats, one pair at a time. We reached just before SOTY2 was about to start. The best thing about watching shitty Bollywood movie is you get cheap tickets, corner seats and who the hell came to watch the movie anyway. How else did you think they make a profit 🤣, every time.

Movie ended, credits started rolling and so did the cleaning crew.
"Why can't they come after  the credits.", I thought. 
"Let's gooo!!", howled the playerz.
First, it was happy hours, and second everyone was so damn thirsty, for actual liquids this time.

"1 Kingfisher for me, thanks", I gave my order while I sat back and watched them. The pain killer had started loosing it's effect already.

"Heineken for me"
"Carlsbe...--"
         "--NO NO, Carlsberg for me too"
"BUDWEISER!!"
"Foster --"
         "--Ooooo"
"Budweiser? bro seriously. You wanna drink breezer instead? Make his order as Carlsberg."
"Hoegaarden or kings??"
        "--Hoegaar--"
        "--KINGSS!--"
                "--Make my order as Hoeg--"
                "--KINGSS! KINGSS! KINGSS--"
       "--Okayy okayy, kings it is"

"Okay so the order is, 3 Carlsberg, 1 Foster's, and 1 Kings. All in happy hours."

I felt my abdomen trying to turn inside out as I started to feel the cramps.
"Can we please leave?", I asked my bf.
"What, why, we haven't even started yet!", he said.
"I'm on my periods and it's paining a lot. I've already taken a pill this morning and I won't take another.", I said, desperately, and he made that confused face which completely threw me off.
"Umm...??", he said.
"Just leave it be!", I said and went to sit in a corner, watching them ordering the bitterest beer to prove who is the manliest of them all.

"Make it Daredevil for me--"
       "--and me--"
             "--for me too--"
       "--buddy, you gotta drink it Twice--"
             "--baap ko mat sikha--" ("--Don't teach your father how to make babies--")

"Alright let me repeat the order, 3 Daredevil, 1 Foster's, and 1 Kings. All in happy hours."

And as everybody started drinking themselves to death, I started missing home. God! Someone needs to pamper me, now!

All of us girls gathered in my table
"Why are you so quiet?" she asked me.
"Mood swings... and ache. I wanna go home!!"
"I've got pain killer, chug it", and she gave me another pill and said, "Well, what else can you do?"
"He won't even try to understand, and I have to deal with it all alone!"
"Aww, common, it'll fade. Cheers! to kings of good times" they said.
"Cheers to pain killers!" and I chugged another pill with a mouth full of beer.

After it took a life time to for this party to end, and we were finally back home. Never missed the bed more before.

Days started passing in a jiffy and worst seem to be behind. Except it's called period for a reason. It always comes back!

Today they had to plan another party, yet again. We were all gathered at college canteen.

"Why today?" I asked my bf.
"It's another weekend. And guess what, movie name is kissebaaz"😉😉.
"No dude, next week. Or you should have planned it previous week."
"Why, everyone's agreed to go. Plus from next week, we'll have exams. It can't be next week" he asserted.
"Fine, go alone. I can't. I'm on periods and previous 'party' was a disaster for me."
"But that's not my problem, just pop a pill like before and let's go."
"WTF! I didn't choose to be in so much pain for 4 days every month", I was so infuriated. "You know what, pop a pill to this", and I kicked him hard between the legs and left him whimpering on the floor.

Periods. Why is it a taboo? Half the world has or will get it. And "men" talk about "female empowerment policies" when they can't give an extra holiday for all the pain every girl will go through. Their ignorance is insensitive and the society built by men has made it a taboo. It wouldn't be a taboo, if men were having period. Period.