Know the Indian man who revolutionized menstrual health for women

New Delhi: Menstruation is still a taboo in rural India. A menstruating woman in villages, even towns is treated indifferently by the people. Till now, they are told not to sleep on bed; their belongings and everything are kept aside from other family members' articles. In villages, sanitary conditions for menstruating women are worse. Keep aside the affordability factor; rural women do not even know what sanitary napkins are. Knowledge without application is simply knowledge. Applying the knowledge to one's life is wisdom — and that is the ultimate virtue. Arunachalam Muruganantham, is one such person who despite being a school dropout, has created wonders in the field of sanitation for women. He is the inventor of inexpensive and easy-to-use sanitary napkins for women in rural India.Hailing from Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, Arunachalam has revolutionized the menstrual health of rural women by inventing a simple machine that can manufacture low cost sanitary pads. How did he strike upon this innovation? This started with his wife Shanthi in 1998 when he got married. Once, he saw his wife disposing off rags, nasty cloths which she used during menstruation.He told that those clothes were such that he could not even use them to clean his scooter.Thus, he wanted to support his wife and bought sanitary napkins for her from town.He wondered why 10 g of cotton was so expensive that it was being sold at 40 times the price in town.So, he decided to invent something which could resolve the problem of menstruating women in villages at a very cheap price.The process of invention He then made a sanitary pad out of cotton and asked his wife to test it. But, she could not do so as her menstruating period was over. He then wanted to test it and searched for volunteers but did not find as girls were too shy to discuss their menstrual problems with him. He then decided to test the product on himself. He created a uterus from a football bag by punching holes in it and filled it with goat's blood. His classmate who was also a butcher, would help him get goat's blood. He would collect the blood and mix it in an additive he got from another friend at a blood bank to prevent it clotting too quickly - but it didn't stop the smell. He then walked all around, ran and cycled with his football bag to test the absorption rate of his sanitary napkin. The village people thought he had a sexual disease and considered him a berserk. He used to wash his bloodied clothes at a public well and the whole village concluded he had a sexual disease. His wife left him too after 18 months.Then he started studying used pads. This idea posed an even greater risk in such a superstitious community. He supplied his group of medical students with sanitary pads and collected them afterwards. Once his mother saw him studying used pads in the backyard, she cried and left him. Even worse, the villagers were convinced that he was possessed by an evil spirit.But he did not give up until he discovered the mystery of the material used to make sanitary napkin. He then wrote a letter to the big manufacturing companies to ask about the material used to manufacture it.A few weeks later, mysterious hard boards appeared in the mail - cellulose, from the bark of a tree. It had taken two years and three months to discover what sanitary pads are made of, but there was a snag - the machine required to break this material down and turn it into pads cost many thousands of dollars. He would have to design his own.After four and a half years, he succeeded in creating a low-cost method for the production of sanitary towels. With no financial support and family support, he succeeded in competing with the MNCs. It took Muruganantham 18 months to build 250 machines, which he took out to the poorest and most underdeveloped states in Northern India - the so-called BIMARU or "sick" states of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh. How did it help rural women? His industrial plant had easy to use, low maintenance machines which could be taken care off by women. This way he provided employment to many rural women. He now works with schools, educating young girls. Now, Muruganantham lives with his family in a modest apartment and owns a jeep. He and his wife run the business that has given employment to a million rural women. He is expanding to 106 countries across the globe, including Kenya, Nigeria, Mauritius, the Philippines, and Bangladesh.