Welcome to Spotlight Advanced. I'm Colin Luther and I'm Meganolette. Spotlight uses a
special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand no matter
where in the world they live. Arunachulum Murrigananthem 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. Marugananthem 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 Arunachulum Morrigananthum, the
padman. Arunanchulum Murugananthum was born in Coimbatore, a city in southern India.
His parents or 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, Morgananthum 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 Morogananthem and Chanty
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 surprised
Morogananthem. 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. Morogananthem
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
Mourgananthem began studying sanitary pads. He cut one open. He discovered that it
was made of cheap matia curials. It 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, Morogananthem 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
Morrogananthem 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 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.
Ghita 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 a food container. Because of this, women in
India do not know much about their periods. They hide that they have them.
They might stop going to school or work during their periods. Some may
eat believe that menstruation is evil. This also made Murugananthum seem very strange.
Some people even believed that Muruganantham 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. Murugananthem 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, Morgananthem 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 murugan Anthem's work and he began making more machines.
He could have made a lot of money selling these. Instead, Mourugananthem
decided to give the machines away. It was not his goal to get rich.
He only wanted women to have safe menstrual help. Today, Moragananthem 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,
Morgananthem'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. Murugan Antham's family also returned to him. He
and his wife Shanti are together again. Their daughter Pretty Sri 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 emailers at Radio at Radio English dot net.
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 Unit, 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 pad Men. You can also get
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English app. We hope you can join us again for the next Spotlight program. Goodbye,