komanam / kaupeenam panchakacham brahmacharyam

[Visalakshi Ramani]

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As long as it is NOT the only clothing it is OK
As for affordability, old dhotis and saris (!!!)
also served the purpose quite well after all.

 

[wrongan]

Generally only old dhothis is used and not colored cloth.

 

[kunjuppu]

Using the old cotton saris for the monthly cycles was a painful affair. We had to wash them free of smell, free of stains and dry them unseen, untouched, un-smelled and unknown to everyone BUT IN THE SUNLIGHT! :faint:

dear visa,

like all households, when i grew up, it was a case of using old saris. but it was done discretely, and me/my dad noticed but not noticed such stuff.

imagine my shock, when i started attending private hindi lessons and this hindi teacher, with two daughters, all proudly hung their 'thoora thuNi' right in the centre of the hall - all with stains, and strong dettol smell. i quit within the month

i had to feel sorry for the poor mama.

the fact was this was in adam street mylapore, a house portioned between 3 families, sharing bathrooms. the hindi teacher had only room, and a small smoke filled kitchen, separated by an open hall. so in retrospect, i guess, she really had no place to hang these separately. hence hung them in the hall along with other washed clothes right in front of us students.

the introduction of feminine napkins, was a 100 mile leap into healthy treatment of periods, though a new type of garbage ie used napkins started appearing in the streets, often pulled out by street dogs. not sure of the situation now in chennai though.

one teenage usa relative, girl, dumped her napkins in the hole in the ground toilet and the whole house went for #2 to the neighbours, while the whole cemented bathroom and external has to be dug up, to retrieve the offending luggage. the girl now in her thirties never visited india again. and among family circles, always referred to 'a xxx who put the napkin in the toilet and troubled us'

as a bonus, here is the story of muruganandam, and all the troubles he experienced, ... just to make cheap 'you know what stuff'. won a lot of awards too. and has a conscience not to make money out of it, but provide jobs for poor women.


http://newinventions.in/

 

[tbs]

Dear TBS garu,

Do you have any pic of your vedapathashala days?LOL

hi renu,

we are from remote village....even we have 5 t0 10 kms walk to reach our agraharams....no road facility was there

in those days....even electricity was rare....photos were not allowed in those days...Lah....LOL

 

[sadasivam.sridharan]

It is amusing to see the discussion on komanam is as long as komanam itself.

 

[Visalakshi Ramani]

Generally only old dhothis is used and not colored cloth.

UNLESS the coy mother in law finds joy in becoming

part of the dressing material and prevailing fragrance!


coy (koi)adj. coy·er, coy·est

1. Tending to avoid people and social situations; reserved.


2. Affectedly and usually flirtatiously shy or modest. See Synonyms at shy[SUP]1[/SUP].


3. Annoyingly unwilling to make a commitment.

coy - definition of coy by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.

 

[Visalakshi Ramani]

It is amusing to see the discussion on komanam is as long as komanam itself.

The KomaN is not really long
when compared to dhothi/ soman
but it appears to be very long
since its width is very small in comparison!
Hail the the principle of Iru Kodugal!!!

 

[Visalakshi Ramani]

dear Mr. Kunjuppu,

I had real problem since I had kept my two sons in the dark reg the monthly misery of women.

I HAD to do so, since I did not get the luxury of the three days complete rest
- which most other Brahmin ladies enjoyed at that time.

No entry into the kitchen meant no food for anyone in our home.

My in laws treated the women in monthly cycles as outlaws and
they had to beg for everything like the traditional ராப் பிச்சை
begging and waiting "அம்மா! *** கொடுங்கோ!"

*** = தண்ணி / காபி / டிபன் /சாப்பாடு etc

No handling water or touching of the water taps, no bathing, no brushing the teeth and no washing of ANY of the clothes for three full days. :scared:
The poor lady will smell like VIKING and the house like a battle field. :faint:

Somehow I managed to stay in my mother's house during all those troublesome days during all my visits during the annual vacation till I became free of that problem once for all.

In my Sister in law's house her own daughter did the plugging in her toilet and I was taken to task even though I never visit anyone during those days.

I had to prove that I was innocent!

In the colony the women used to do all sorts of nonsense including throwing the used pad from above the head - since we live in the ground level.

The stained pads strewn in the roads is another menace.

That time I feel it is far better that we wash and use the cloth instead of ruining the ecological balance.

As for drying the cloth I found out an effective method.

I used to keep the cloth in between the two layers of my skirt and hang it for drying using clips to keep the arrangement in tact.

My nosy brother in law would go and check for anything concealed in the skirt, during our visits to the in law's house - who are better described by the word outlaws!

 

[renuka]

A world without borders = Globalization

An underwear without borders(without seams) = Komananization!

 

[wrongan]

It is amusing to see the discussion on komanam is as long as komanam itself.

Like pattu komanam.

 

[renuka]

No handling water or touching of the water taps, no bathing, no brushing the teeth and no washing of ANY of the clothes for three full days. :scared:

OMG! This is disgusting!

How can anyone survive this...without bathing or brushing teeth for 3 days.

 

[Visalakshi Ramani]

A world without borders = Globalization

An underwear without borders(without seams) = Komananization!

WOW!!! You a poetess yourself dear Renu!!! :clap2:

 

[Visalakshi Ramani]

OMG! This is disgusting!

How can anyone survive this...without bathing or brushing teeth for 3 days.

... and during those three days when we can't stand our own fragrance!!! :bolt:

I think this was one of the main reasons why many women in the past

preferred to be always pregnant - just to escape these miseries!!!

 

[kunjuppu]

dear visa,

there are folks like your brother in law, with some tangential interests in women's affairs. anything ranging from mild curiosity to absolute perversion. best to keep away from those folks.

it is amazing, that as a community, we take the gold medal in how we treated our women during their periods.

incidentally, if you see the movie angadi theru, there is a scene, where the brahmin middle class, dismisses her young maid on achieving puberty. incidentally, in almost all other tamil communities, this event is celebrated, even today with pomp (the movie star vijay came to toronto to celebrate his niece's attaining of age )

jeyamohan, the writer, who scripted this movie, was accused of anti brahminism..to which he replied - that the way the brahmins treated their own females was much crueller, than what this lady did to the maid.

incidentally my mother did the same thing. we had a malayali maid at home, live in, and the day she attained puberty, she was packed off to badagara. me being young, did not know the reason, till many many years later. something in our psyche, i guess.

 

[Visalakshi Ramani]

Like pattu komanam.

Poor mothers - in - law. Now they will have to sacrifice nice soft silk sarees

for making the colorful undies for their loving sons in law!!! :tsk:

 

[Visalakshi Ramani]

dear visa,

there are folks like your brother in law, with some tangential interests in women's affairs. anything ranging from mild curiosity to absolute perversion. best to keep away from those folks.

it is amazing, that as a community, we take the gold medal in how we treated our women during their periods.

incidentally, if you see the movie angadi theru, there is a scene, where the brahmin middle class, dismisses her young maid on achieving puberty. incidentally, in almost all other tamil communities, this event is celebrated, even today with pomp (the movie star vijay came to toronto to celebrate his niece's attaining of age )

jeyamohan, the writer, who scripted this movie, was accused of anti brahminism..to which he replied - that the way the brahmins treated their own females was much crueller, than what this lady did to the maid.

incidentally my mother did the same thing. we had a malayali maid at home, live in, and the day she attained puberty, she was packed off to badagara. me being young, did not know the reason, till many many years later. something in our psyche, i guess.

Dear Mr. kunjuppu,
Suppose these girls experiment with their hormone - manipulated bodies and get pregnant!!!!
That must have been the main reason for dropping the girls who attain puberty like hot potatoes.
They want people who are NOT in the fertility period of their lives...either small girls or old ladies free from the monthly cycles.
My M.I.L would ask the applicant for the post of a maid point blank "ThooraM ninaachchaa?" :moony:

 

[kunjuppu]

Dear Mr. kunjuppu,
Suppose these girls experiment with their hormone - manipulated bodies and get pregnant!!!!
That must have been the main reason for dropping the girls who attain puberty like hot potatoes.
They want people who are NOT in the fertility period of their lives...either small girls or old ladies free from the monthly cycles.
My M.I.L would ask the applicant for the post of a maid point blank "ThooraM ninaachchaa?" :moony:

dear visa,

just roll back time, to the years when you were a teenager. did you or anyone of your sisters 'experiment with your hormones - get your bodies 'manipulated' and get pregnant'?

i think it is middle class brahmin ingrained prejudice against the NB which is deep seated - as if these have a separate set of morals, and we have superior virgins in our household.

thankfully, these days, our younger generation, are breaking down these baseless paradigms, and learning to identify and work together with all groups and classes.

to be frank dear lady, there are as many tambram girls, in those days, who got pregnant, by their mamas and hidden away. i know of two in my extended family. the culprit mamas were not even admonished. but the girls were blamed.

maybe the truth is, that when these maids matured, the woman of the family was more scared, that the mama or the son will play around with her. that i think, is closer to the truth...than anything else.

 

[Visalakshi Ramani]

dear Mr. Kunjuppu,
You are right. May be the mistrust on the male members in the household was also another strong reason - to get rid of the girls once they attain puberty.

Why to experiment by keeping fire and cotton in close proximity???

I have heard of a girl who became pregnant by her own brother and delivered the child!

Recently there was a case in Kerala where the entire male population in that house had been using a girl as an outlet for their needs - brother, chittappa and mama. I hope and pray that her father was not in the list!

As Dr. Renu said elsewhere, the product of this cosmic soup can only be named as Harmony!

 

[Visalakshi Ramani]

ref #92 by Mr. Kunjuppu

...the culprit mamas were not even admonished. but the girls were blamed.

It is usually put in the form on an adage or proverb.

oosi idam kodukkaama nool nuzhaiyumaa?

 

[renuka]

Dear Mr. kunjuppu,
Suppose these girls experiment with their hormone - manipulated bodies and get pregnant!!!!
:moony:

Dear VR ji,

I disagree with what you wrote cos generally Indian girls are well behaved with matters related to sex.. basically the lower socio economic status girls will be timid and shy but sometimes too innocent and end up being manipulated by others.

As Kunjuppu ji rightly said ..none of us girls experimented and manipulated our bodies after puberty as to land up pregnant.

 

[renuka]

My M.I.L would ask the applicant for the post of a maid point blank "ThooraM ninaachchaa?" :moony:

Dear VR ji,


BTW attaining menopause does not stop anyone from having sex..so even if the Thooram has stopped the Dvaram(doors) can be still wide open"!LOL

 

[renuka]

that the way the brahmins treated their own females was much crueller, than what this lady did to the maid.

Dear Kunjs,

I remember reading something like this in some Dalit Blogspot sometime back where they were commenting on the practices of treating Brahmin females badly during menses by Brahmins.

 

[renuka]

Now I understand why some females makes such a big deal of having a head bath after menses..I used to think what is the big deal of any bathe since we all bath 2x a day and some of us(like me) wash our hair daily too..so the standard of hygiene is high to start with..so why make a big deal of a head bath after menses?

So I get it now..cos women of the past were confined without bath for 3 days and so I guess the head bath after those 3 days was a much needed event.

BTW a normal menstrual cycle can range from 3-7 days...so what about those who had a longer cycle??

Were they confined for 7 days?

 

[kunjuppu]

Now I understand why some females makes such a big deal of having a head bath after menses..I used to think what is the big deal of any bathe since we all bath 2x a day and some of us(like me) wash our hair daily too..so the standard of hygiene is high to start with..so why make a big deal of a head bath after menses?

So I get it now..cos women of the past were confined without bath for 3 days and so I guess the head bath after those 3 days was a much needed event.

BTW a normal menstrual cycle can range from 3-7 days...so what about those who had a longer cycle??

Were they confined for 7 days?

dear renus,

from what i know and understand, the concept to be obeyed is ritual purity. someone somewhere long ago had prescribed 72 hours as the period of impurity. and once that passes, the female can cleanse herself. the concept had nothing to do with physical cleanliness, or at the most, a limited one. afaik.

personally, i suspect, many many females, in my own family, had periods lasting longer, as was evidenced by tell tale signs.

but after the 3rd day, they could get back into the 'society', and were eagerly welcomed by the fools the malefolks were, who were thankful for a hot fresh meal. that is all it amounted too.

in retrospect, disgusting and despicable... i am even ashamed to have such an heritage as part of mine.

 

[renuka]

dear renus,

from what i know and understand, the concept to be obeyed is ritual purity. someone somewhere long ago had prescribed 72 hours as the period of impurity. and once that passes, the female can cleanse herself.

personally, i suspect, many many females, in my own family, had periods lasting longer, as was evidenced by tell tale signs.

but after the 3rd day, they could get back into the 'society', and were eagerly welcomed by the fools the malefolks were, who were thankful for a hot fresh meal. that is all it amounted too.

in retrospect, disgusting and despicable... i am even ashamed to have such an heritage as part of mine.

Dear Kunjs,

But some Non Brahmins too practiced isolation during menses...I remember my dad' side in their house..menstruating females were not given free access to the whole house..there was a room where those with menses should sleep and eat and remain.

But they were allowed to take baths and their clothes can not be washed with the clothes of others and they had separate pails for clothes worn during menses.

Those who were menstruating were not allowed to cook too.

I used to think they were nuts and my mum was shocked to know this practice when she got married and entered her in laws house.

But now after many years...no one follows all these anymore.