Welcome to Spotlight. I'm Colin Lowther and I'm Megan Nolet. Spotlight uses a
special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand no matter
where in the world they live. Aronachlum Morgananthum sits at a table looking at
disposable sanitary pads. These pads are not normally something a man would think about.
Women use them to collect blood during their periods. They are very helpful
during this monthly blood flow also called menstruation, but many men do not know
how important they are. Murugananthum is different. He understands how important sanitary pads
are and he is trying to learn how to make them cost less so that
every woman can have one. This goal is extremely important to him. It
has cost him friends, it has even cost him his marriage, but it
will also change how people in India treat menstruation. It will provide better health
for all women in the country. Today's Spotlight is on Arunachalam Murugananthum, the
Padman. Arunachalam Muruganantham was born in Coimbatore, a city in southern India.
His parents were poor farmers. He did not receive much education When he was
fourteen, his father died. He had to leave school to help his family
survive. Still, Murugananthum wanted to learn. When he married, he noticed
that his wife, Shanty, was collecting pieces of paper and cloth. He
asked her what they were for. She did not like to talk about it,
but finally she told him that they were for her period. She would
use old pieces of paper and cloth to manage her period. Sometimes she would
use the same materials over many months. She knew about commercial sanitary pads,
but those cost too much money. If she bought those, she would not
have enough money to buy milk. Many other women where Muruganantham and Shanti lived
were in the same situation. Women living far from cities did not have enough
money for sanitary pads or there were no pads to buy. This so prized
Mourrogananthem. He did not know much about a woman's period, but he knew
the cloth could be dangerous. If it were dirty, it could cause infection.
It put his wife at risk, but she did not want to talk
about it. Being on her period caused her a lot of shame. Mourrogananthem
spoke to NPR in twenty eighteen. I was concerned about staying clean. I
was worried that not being clean would affect a woman's health. I knew that
the lack of good sanitary pads restricted a woman's ability to move around. It
took away her spirit. This was something I wanted to help with. So
Murugananthum began studying sanitary pads. He cut one open. He discovered that it
was made of cheap materials. They would not cost much to make. If
he could learn how, he could make sanitary pads for his wife and she
would not be in danger. Soon, Mogananthem began to experiment. He made
sanitary pads from different materials. He asked Shanty to try them out, but
progress was slow. He could only try one new pad per month, and
his wife was not happy with his interest in sanitary pads, so he began
to ask other women to try his pads. Many of them also turned Morgananthem
down. They believed he was strange for wanting to talk about menstruation. They
did not even want to talk about it themselves. Marugananthem did not understand why
women felt such shame. He saw menstruation as a natural process, but many
people in India did not agree. Speaking about menstruation is a taboo, something
not done in a culture. This may be because of India's main religion,
Hinduism. Gita Pandae is a writer for the British Broadcasting Corporation. She writes,
Hinduism teaches that menstruating women are not clean, so during her periods,
a woman cannot enter the temple, she cannot touch statues of religious worship.
She cannot enter the kitchen or even touch food. Because of this, women
in India do not know much about the periods. They hide that they have
them. They might stop going to school or work during their periods. Some
may even believe that menstruation is evil. This also made Murugananthum seem very strange.
Some people even believed that Murugananthum was evil. At one point, his
wife left him, people in his family did not want to talk to him.
Even his mother thought he was a devil. Murugananthum spoke to your story
dot com about one incident. Once my mother saw me with used sanitary pads
spread out on the table, she started to yell and cry out in fear.
The whole village gathered. They spread a story that I drank girl's blood.
Still Moregenanthem did not give up. He experimented with different sanitary pads for
nine years. He found new ways of making them. After some time,
he created a machine that would make sanitary pads more easily. It did not
take up much space and people could use it in any place that had electricity.
Soon people began to notice Murugananthem's work and he began making more machines.
He could have made a lot of money selling these. Instead, Murugananthum decided
to give the machines away. It was not his goal to get rich.
He only wanted women to have safe menstrual health. Today, Mouragananthum is very
well known in India. He is known as Padman. He has set up
hundreds of his machines in places far away from cities. But more importantly,
Mouragananthum's work has got people in the country talking. People still do not talk
about menstruation in many places, but more people know about the issue and they
know it is not something that they can avoid. Narendra Modi is the Prime
Minister of India. In twenty twenty, he became the first prime minister to
speak openly about menstrual health. Since then, the government of India has worked
to educate its people. Murugaanantham's family also returned to him. He and his
wife Shanti are together again. Their daughter Prettsri uses her father's invention for sanitary
pads, and he continues to work toward giving people better supplies for menstrual health.
In twenty twenty two, he spoke to the women on a mission conference
about his continued work. I used to read about people talking about sending women
to the moon. I thought, but first provide each and every woman in
India with a sanitary pad, then think about sending them to the moon.
Is menstruation? Talked about where you live? Can women get the menstrual supplies
that they need? Why or why not? You can leave a comment on
our website or email us at Radio at Radio English DOTT. You can also
comment on Facebook at Facebook, dot com, slash Spotlight Radio. The writer
of this program was Dan Chrisman. The producer was Dan Chrisman. The voices
you heard were from the United Kingdom and the United States. All quotes were
adapted for this program and voiced by Spotlight. You can listen to this program
again and read it on the internet at www dot Radio English dot net.
This program is called Becoming Padman. You can also get our programs delivered directly
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hope you can join us again for the next Spotlight program. Goodbye,