WEBVTT

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Welcome to Spotlight Advanced. I'm Colin
Luther and I'm Meganolette. Spotlight uses a

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special English method of broadcasting. It
is easier for people to understand no matter

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where in the world they live.
Arunachulum Murrigananthem sits at a table looking at

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disposable sanitary pads. These pads are
not normally something a man would think about.

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Women use them to collect blood during
their periods. They are very helpful

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during this monthly blood flow also called
menstruation, but many men do not know

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how important they are. Marugananthem is
different. He understands how important sanitary pads

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are and he is trying to learn
how to make them cost less so that

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every woman can have one. This
goal is extremely important to him. It

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has cost him friends, it has
even cost him his marriage, but it

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will also change how people in India
treat menstruation. It will provide better health

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for all women in the country.
Today's Spotlight is on Arunachulum Morrigananthum, the

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padman. Arunanchulum Murugananthum was born in
Coimbatore, a city in southern India.

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His parents or poor farmers. He
did not receive much education. When he

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was fourteen, his father died.
He had to leave school to help his

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family survive. Still, Morgananthum wanted
to learn. When he married, he

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noticed that his wife, Shanty,
was collecting pieces of paper and cloth.

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He asked her what they were for. She did not like to talk about

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it, but finally she told him
that they were for her period. She

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would use old pieces of paper and
cloth to manage her period. Sometimes she

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would use the same materials over many
months. She knew about commercial sanitary pads,

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but those cost too much money.
If she bought those, she would

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not have enough money to buy milk. Many other women where Morogananthem and Chanty

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lived were in the same situation.
Women living far from cities did not have

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enough money for sanitary pads or there
were no pads to buy. This surprised

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Morogananthem. He did not know much
about a woman's period, but he knew

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the cloth could be dangerous. If
it were dirty, it could cause infection.

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It put his wife at risk,
but she did not want to talk

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about it. Being on her period
caused her a lot of shame. Morogananthem

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spoke to NPR in twenty eighteen.
I was concerned about staying clean. I

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was worried that not being clean would
affect a woman's health. I knew that

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the lack of good sanitary pads restricted
a woman's ability to move around. It

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took away her spirit. This was
something I wanted to help with, So

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Mourgananthem began studying sanitary pads. He
cut one open. He discovered that it

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was made of cheap matia curials.
It would not cost much to make.

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If he could learn how, he
could make sanitary pads for his wife and

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she would not be in danger.
Soon, Morogananthem began to experiment. He

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made sanitary pads from different materials.
He asked Shanty to try them out,

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but progress was slow. He could
only try one new pad per month,

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and his wife was not happy with
his interest in sanitary pads, so he

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began to ask other women to try
his pads. Many of them also turned

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Morrogananthem down. They believed he was
strange for wanting to talk about menstruation.

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They did not even want to talk
about it themselves. Marugananthem did not understand

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why women felt such shame menstruation as
a natural process, but many people in

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India did not agree. Speaking about
menstruation is a taboo, something not done

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in a culture. This may be
because of India's main religion, Hinduism.

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Ghita Pandae is a writer for the
British Broadcasting Corporation. She writes Hinduism teaches

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that menstruating women are not clean,
so during her periods, a woman cannot

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enter the temple, she cannot touch
statues of religious worship. She cannot enter

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the kitchen or even touch a food
container. Because of this, women in

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India do not know much about their
periods. They hide that they have them.

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They might stop going to school or
work during their periods. Some may

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eat believe that menstruation is evil.
This also made Murugananthum seem very strange.

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Some people even believed that Muruganantham was
evil. At one point, his wife

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left him, people in his family
did not want to talk to him.

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Even his mother thought he was a
devil. Murugananthem spoke to your story dot

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com about one incident. Once my
mother saw me with used sanitary pads spread

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out on the table, she started
to yell and cry out in fear.

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The whole village gathered. They spread
a story that I drank girl's blood.

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Still, Morgananthem did not give up. He experimented with different sanitary pads for

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nine years. He found new ways
of making them. After some time,

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he created a machine that would make
sanitary pads more easily. It did not

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take up much space and people could
use it in any place that had electricity.

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Soon people began to notice murugan Anthem's
work and he began making more machines.

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He could have made a lot of
money selling these. Instead, Mourugananthem

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decided to give the machines away.
It was not his goal to get rich.

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He only wanted women to have safe
menstrual help. Today, Moragananthem is

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very well known in India. He
is known as Padman. He has set

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up hundreds of his machines in places
far away from cities. But more importantly,

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Morgananthem's work has got people in the
country talking. People still do not

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talk about menstruation in many places,
but more people know about the issue and

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they know it is not something that
they can avoid. Narendra Modi is the

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Prime Minister of India. In twenty
twenty, he became the first prime minister

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to speak openly about menstrual health.
Since then, the Government of India has

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worked to educate its people. Murugan
Antham's family also returned to him. He

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and his wife Shanti are together again. Their daughter Pretty Sri uses her father's

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invention for sanitary pads, and he
continues to work toward giving people better supplies

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for menstrual health. In twenty twenty
two, he spoke to the women on

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a mission conference about his continued work. I used to read about people talking

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about sending women to the moon.
I thought, but first provide each and

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every woman in India with a sanitary
pad, then think about sending them to

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the moon. Is menstruation? Talked
about where you live? Can women get

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the menstrual supplies that they need?
Why or why not? You can leave

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a comment on our website or emailers
at Radio at Radio English dot net.

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You can also comment on Facebook at
Facebook dot com, slash Spotlight Radio.

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The writer of this program was Dan
Chrisman. The producer was Dan Chrisman.

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The voices you heard were from the
Unit, Kingdom and the United States.

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All quotes were adapted for this program
and voiced by Spotlight. You can listen

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to this program again and read it
on the Internet at www dot Radio English

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dot net. This program is called
Becoming pad Men. You can also get

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our programs delivered directly to your Android
or Apple device through our free official Spotlight

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join us again for the next Spotlight program. Goodbye,