In rural Tamil Nadu’s Naicker Theru of Ariyagoundampatti village, a 13-year-old girl, experiencing her first day of menstruation, sat on the steps of a designated ‘rest house’ – a place meant for isolating menstruating girls and women. The ‘rest house’ had a dusty, cobweb-ridden room, a dilapidated bathroom and a water tank filled with algae. The room which could hardly accommodate three people, often had eight women and girls crammed in. These ‘rest houses’ are called muttuveedu or muttutharai.
The ‘rest house’ was originally intended to serve as a community hall, inaugurated in 2007 by former Adi Dravidar welfare minister A Tamizharasi, but had eventually transformed into a sequestering room for menstruating women.
