Padmini Chennapragada was travelling from the Bengaluru airport on April 1 when she realised she had started menstruating. She did not have any period products with her, as she had left them in bags that she had already checked in. Thus began her excruciating journey of finding a toilet and a pharmacy, or any store that sold period products at the Kempegowda International Airport’s Terminal 2, with less than three hours left for her flight to take off.
Speaking to TNM, Padmini said, "The idea behind the location of the toilets seemed almost like they were meant to be hidden from the public.” Padmini is a disability sports researcher working with an initiative called the Indian Wheelchair Tennis Tour (IWTT), which helps persons with disabilities explore wheelchair tennis as a competitive sport.
Padmini noted that toilets in airports are usually clearly visible to the public, and located along the way as travellers move through various points. However, in Terminal 2, she said that one has to go in search of them. "Once you enter the place pointed by the sign board, there is an overwhelmingly long tunnel and the toilets are located on the other side. One has to walk around 100-200 metres after entering the tunnel, which can feel claustrophobic. There are also no signs pointing to a washroom between the entrance of the tunnel and right outside of it where the washroom actually was," she added, noting that in the absence of any signs, the tunnel appears misleading.
The search for a pharmacy or a general store, too, was exasperating and ultimately unsuccessful. "I walked all across T2 for an hour and asked many women workers there, but no one could point me to a place where I could at least buy period products. I returned to the security gate and was almost in tears when I approached a female security personnel. All of them shook their heads in disappointment," Padmini said, recalling the incident.
She was then taken to their supervisor’s station. Padmini said that two men sitting there told her that she would have to exit the departures section and go through the entire security screening procedure once again while going back inside, just to access a pharmacy in the arrivals section, which they weren’t sure even existed in the first place.
"Customer service representatives at T2, including women, were hostile when I asked them where I could buy period products. Every single person I spoke to did not know where the pharmacy was, and no one even bothered to ask why I wanted a pharmacy," Padmini said. She was finally able to get a period product after a security personnel kindly offered the one she was carrying. "Only after this, a terminal manager called me and told me that while there was no pharmacy available at T2, there were period products available in the washrooms. However, while I was in the washroom, I did not see any sign indicating that there were period products available," Padmini said.
Since the WA chat, in which I further continued to make inquires, I have been getting continuous calls from a Terminal Manager. A pharmacy is a basic need! I got no need speaking to someone if I had to depend on the generosity of a security personnel! https://t.co/4EIsyvWz1M
— Dr. Chennapragada (She/Her) (@Jussri) April 1, 2023
The upsetting experience has concerned the disability sports researcher regarding the airport’s accessibility to persons with disabilities, senior citizens, or pregnant people. In a complaint to the Bengaluru airport's management, Padmini wrote, "What training is being provided to your staff? If you had products available, clearly the labelling and identifiers are unclear or misleading. The medical room opposite the bathrooms had no one. I couldn't even get help from there. I can't imagine one of my fellow disabled citizens/senior citizens/pregnant women in this situation. The passage in which the medical room is located is absolutely deserted, and travellers won't know where it leads to. Why would I wait in such a deserted area for help while I wouldn't know when any staff would show up?"
Terminal 2 of the Bengaluru airport was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in November last year, with great fanfare. It has been promoted as an “eco-friendly facility” constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 5,000 crore, and has been referred to as a “Terminal in a garden."At the time of its inauguration, the airport officials had said that it was expected to cater to 2.5 crore passengers annually.
Responding to Padmini’s complaints, a representative of the Bengaluru airport’s engagement centre communicated to her on Wednesday, April 5, that construction of a clinic and pharmacy at Terminal 2 is expected to commence soon. Expressing “regret” over her “unpleasant experience,” the email said that all the CISF (Central Industrial Security Force) staff at Terminal 2 have been briefed to direct passengers to the terminal operations team to avail any pharmacy requirements.