Journey of Neev

This article is written by Komal Nanaware and Amisha Dusane.

Today we tell you a story. In a kingdom far far away there was evil. It was the epitome of power, harmful beliefs and misunderstanding that spread its wrath everywhere. The evil had powers of manipulation. It came in a weary coat of misconception to rule over the world.

The evil made a strategic plan, to create confusion and chaos about the secrets of mankind. Secrets, that created a divide, that created denial. The evil took these secrets and distorted reality. All of this only created a gap that lasted forever.

Many centuries passed by, the gap that was created kept increasing. The divide now became ingrained into the roots of society. But there was a kingdom, that identified the divide as a problem. A problem that now had started affecting everyone's self-worth and created shame. A problem that stopped important conversations from happening. The people of the kingdom thought, what can be the solution to this deep-rooted cycle of shame and stigma. The solution was simple, to attack these roots and create a stronger foundation.

This gave rise to a hero who assembled an army to fight the Evil. Let us just take this moment to tell you that these are not the Avengers neither are these the Justice League but these are Aware-Rangers. But they required a name for the people to know who they are and what they wanted to do. And thus from their goals to create a new and strong foundation they named themselves Neev.

Neev started its revolution with 3 brave heroes who spread their white light of knowledge. The 3 heroes started to make ripples through beliefs and taboos by taking one step at a time. Even though the steps were not big but they inspired other like-minded heroes to join in their fight. A fight that started with just 3 heroes, now had become an army of 20. To attack the blinding darkness of the Evil, they had a plan. They strategized by creating 2 battalions and select a source to spread their knowledge. They fought with the sharp points of their words to tell the world that the shame and stigma around the sacred acts were not real. With the might of their words, they started to let people know that all of it is an illusion created by the Evil. Soon, they started to shred this illusion. They created a community of aware individuals who learnt that they have a right to question.

During this journey, the army of Neev, the Neevians, realised that the Evil's power had spread its wrath not just into the sacred acts but also into being human- a state special to only humans of being happy, safe, and free. And so the mighty army decided to multiply its further goals. They needed a new strategy and planned to increase their battalions to 4 but now there was a problem, they needed more warriors. So they reached out for help, slowly the army grew from 3 to 30 knights.

It has been a year since this revolution started. Our brave Neevians keep pushing themselves forward to distort the illusion of the Evil for a brighter future.

As much as fantastical this story sounds, it is based on our journey. Our journey of how Neev started by identifying the misconceptions, harmful myths and lack of awareness as the Evil. This Evil had distorted our perception of the sacred act i.e. menstruation to be something shameful. As time passed by these stigmas and myths have become more and more harmful. The shame around talking about menstruation leads to so many menstruators not reaching out to get proper help. It has also led to menstruators not having access or resources or knowledge to buy and use the right products. The lack of knowledge on how to use the appropriate period products leads to menstruators bleeding and disposing of the products in unhygienic ways.

As we had started working on spreading awareness about periods we realised that these misconceptions, harmful myths and lack of awareness have also spread in being human i.e. mental health. So we decided to battle this Evil as well. Through the power of words, we tried to spread knowledge and start a conversation.

Neev started as the vision of one, now it has become the goal of 30. Our journey through the last year has only been a learning experience for all. While we were spreading out the word and breaking the stigmas we have also grown. We learnt to be inclusive, sustainable and humble. As the story grows our efforts continue to grow more to ward off misconceptions, stigmas and shame. As we step into a new year of possibilities we wish to grow more and reach out to more and more people.

We also want to take this moment to say thank you to each one of you for supporting us throughout this journey and believing in our vision.