The Great Indian Kitchen (Malayalam; 2021)
After being denied by many OTT channels, because of the Sabarimala Trials' running narration in the background, it made its presence in an obscure platform, NeeStream in Kerala.No, this is not a cooking show showcasing the numerous mouth-watering cuisines from the Indian kitchens. Instead, it is an India bashing film to portray the slave-like conditions in which some Indian brides live as 24/7 cook, wife, servant, and gardener. Simultaneously, in this particularly orthodox Hindu household, she is locked away in a small room away from everybody view for a good one week every month. She is considered dirty and should not be allowed to prepare food, as it is regarded as a divine duty to feed the family's males.
Coming from a family with liberal views on women empowerment (the protagonist was a traditional dancer in a previous life!), she flips one day. She was done with making adjustments to fit in every time. She called it quits and resumes her former life as a Bharat Natyam teacher.
Surprisingly, female gender had been typecast to play second fiddle in a typified patriarchal society. What happened to the likes of Ubhaya Bharati who had been given the honour of judging a philosophical discourse between Adi Shankara and her husband Mandana Mishra circa 700AD. When her husband was outclassed by Adi Shankara, she debated with the latter. The Vedic society gave equal place for women in society. Pāṇini, 400BCE, the Master Sanskrit Grammarian, advocated women to study the Vedas equally with men. In his Mimamsa School of Philosophy, there were women philosophers. Mahabharata tells of polyandry and strong female characters. What gave? Did the meddling of Indian education by the British and Abrahamic religions dismantle an already functional traditional education system?
Many traditional societies view menstruation as unclean body fluid, and many restrictions are attached to it.
Sinu Joseph, an engineer by qualification and a menstrual educator, has researched much into traditional Indian outlook and tries to give an Ayurvedic scientific explanation to the body during that time of the month.
According to the agama shastras, each temple is designed to energise a specific chakra. By extension, each temple can have a particular impact on the body, and even a different effect on the male and female body.
This is also used to explain why menstruating women have been barred entry into temples. Traditionally, temples have been looked upon as, not as a place of worship, but as charging pods. Its location concerning magnetic forces of the Earth, its alignment, geometry and placing certain metals within its building makes it an opportune place for sojourners to rejuvenate themselves to meet the challenges of the day. A menstruating body has many internal hormonal circuits to handle, and entering such an institution may have a different impact on the internal milieu. According to the agama shastras, that the author cites several times in her book, each temple is designed to energise a specific chakra. By extension, each temple can have a distinct impact on an individual. Different restrictions have been placed by other worship houses to a targeted group of the population, i,e, ladies in the reproductive age group and restricted entry into the Sabarimala temple. There are even temples exclusively for women! Men are disallowed here. Talk about a reverse Sabarimala, but nobody talks about it.
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