Tisca turns author with new book

The actor hopes to normalize conversations around menstruation

Tisca Chopra’s latest book “What’s Up With Me?” delves into topics as puberty and menstruation. The actor hopes her effort will help prompts conversations around these topics, which might be uncomfortable, but necessary.

“‘What’s Up With Me?’ is a book that talks about everything around puberty from a young girl’s perspective. It is her guide and friend in her journey through periods, pimples, acne, developing breasts, buying bras, sanitary napkins, her changing hormones, moods, relationship with her friends, boys, parents, and the emotional and physical changes that her body and psyche go through,” Tisca said.

“It’s a friendly guide backed by science. Gynecologist Dr Mala Arora and therapist Dr Malvika Verma have worked with me on the book,” she said about the book, which was launched last month.

Is the taboo around topics such as menstruation gradually breaking, unlike even 10 years ago? “The taboo around menstruation might have changed or is still changing in big cities, but in small cities and towns, it is nowhere close to change. Fathers are still not a part of the discussion, mothers, cousins, or sisters will talk to a young girl about her periods, it’s not something to be disclosed openly, chemists will still wrap sanitary pads in the newspaper, don’t go into the kitchen, don’t touch pickles, don’t enter temples — all these leave the girl feeling that it is something dirty or unclean,” she replied.

“A lot of young girls who are friends of my daughter, their fathers have said they have enjoyed the book and there are many things they didn’t know simply because no one told them! So I hope my book encourages conversations, which might be uncomfortable but necessary,” said Tisca.

The actor has carved a niche with her acting skills and has lately started taking interest in filmmaking, too.

Quizzed which role she enjoys the most, she replied: “Can’t say which role I enjoy more — actor, filmmaker or author. I have been shooting for a web series in Rajasthan and enjoying myself.

The filmmaker is a role that I enjoy tremendously, too, and I am looking forward to directing a feature towards the end of this year. An author, of course, is an ongoing thing, I keep writing stuff, so it all goes hand-in-hand. I think I enjoy my life doing multiple things, I would be easily bored if I did just one thing.”

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