Taboo: Where modern day society discusses age-old practices

“I grew up in a conventional household. For three to four days in a month, we would only dine outside at restaurants. Only after growing up did I realise that this practice was followed because the woman in the household was menstruating those days. 

I was even more struck that so many things [like this] went unspoken of, than by this belief that menstruating women are not meant to step into the kitchen,” said Siddharth Ganeriwala, the CEO of Auro Integrated Solutions, who organised the first edition of Taboo in Chennai, in partnership with Success Gyan, a company that organises seminars.

Discussing stigmas that impact people as well as traditions framed by a patriarchal society, Taboo aims to draw in people to have open, friendly conversations as a first step towards normalising ‘unconventional’ practices.

The spotlight was on 12 topics including socio-economic divide in ‘Modern Day Untouchability’; how the way one looks can impact their professional lives in ‘Survival of the Prettiest’; and stigma on approaching professionals for therapy on ‘Ayyo, Mental-aa’.

The guest speakers who also acted as facilitators to encourage two-way communication in the talks were MK Harris, cosmetologist Jayanthi Ravindran and Tara Srinivasan from SCARF.

Each open talk had a Q&A session, fish-bowl conversation, debate and more to bring about a healthy, participative vibe. A 23-year-old in the audience of the open talk on stay-at-home dads said, “All I want is to be a father, but the trajectory is to study, get a job, work for 4-5 years, get married and then become one, by which time I’ll have so many responsibilities that I won’t be able to enjoy time with the kid completely. I wish women and men could weigh the importance of domesticity as per their wishes, rather than adhering to societal norms.”

“This is our first edition in Chennai, and we are thrilled with the turnout,” said Siddharth. The organisers are planning to make Taboo an annual event in the city, and take it to other cities like Mumbai, Kolkata and Bengaluru over the next couple of years.