Bandana: ‘This is the mirror I use. I like to comb my hair, put on lipstick, kajal [eyeliner], and bindi while still looking at my mirror. When I had my first menstruation, my mother didn’t allow me to look into the mirror. There’s a common belief in our society that girls shouldn’t look at themselves in the mirror during their first menstruation because it is a bad omen. ‘I looked at myself in the mirror only after two days. After I looked at myself, nothing wrong happened to me so I feel it is not nice to restrict us from looking into mirrors’

Photograph: Bandana Khadka/WaterAid