Geeta was curled up in pain, the all-too-familiar ache in her lower body making everything feel unbearable. She was dealing with a Bartholin’s cyst — a painful swelling that forms near the vaginal opening when a tiny gland gets blocked. It can cause a lump so sore that even walking, sitting, or wearing underwear feels like sandpaper against skin. Then, as if things couldn’t get worse, her period started.

She reached for a pad, hoping to get through it, but the thin plastic scraped against her already sore skin, each step sending a sting through her body. “I can’t use this, I just can’t,” she cried out.

Her mother walked in, wordless at first, watching her daughter struggle. Then she quietly handed her a soft cotton cloth. “Try this instead,” she said.

Geeta frowned. “This is gross; it will give me an infection.” But her mother just looked at her, calm and certain. “I’ve used this all my life, and so has your grandmother. We’ve never gotten infected.”

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Too drained to argue, Geeta tried it. And in that small act of surrender, something shifted. The cloth was gentle. The rashes didn’t come. The pain eased, even just a little.

That moment — simple, quiet, and unexpected — stayed with her. What began as an act of care between mother and daughter would later spark something far bigger: a movement to change how women across rural India experience menstruation.

‘We couldn’t afford pads unless it was a wedding’

Geeta Solanki spent her childhood in Veraval, a coastal town in Gujarat’s Saurashtra region. Like most others in the area, her family was steeped in agriculture. Among the many conversations shared in her extended household, one recurring theme stuck with her: the sheer inconvenience and indignity that came with managing periods in rural India.

Her cousins often spoke about how disposable pads were too expensive to use daily. They were saved for special occasions like weddings or long journeys. On regular days, women had no choice but to stretch a single pad across an entire day, leading to discomfort, frequent infections, and painful rashes.

© The Better India