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The Menstrual Man: An Outcast To Indian Society
Arunachalam Muruganantham is the Menstrual Man, whose actions have brought the menstrual cycle and the limited access to hygiene products in India into the limelight.
In 1998, Arunachalam Muruganantham noticed that his wife was using a dirty rag during her period. He questioned his wife about her use of the dirty towel and was stunned to hear her reply. She told Muruganantham that in order to afford sanitary pads, there would need to be big budget cuts to their daily lives.
Muruganantham and his wife led a very modest lifestyle, and the cost of feminine hygiene products was astronomically high. "One weighed less than half an ounce but was being sold at 40 times the price of raw cotton — for something that looked so ugly," he told the Huffington Post UK – Lifestyle.
Source: turnstylenews.com
“One lunch time I saw her carrying something behind her back and I kept asking ‘Shanthi, tell me, what’s in your hand?' She slapped me on my cheek and said ‘none of your business’. Then I saw it was a nasty rag… I asked: ‘Why don’t you buy sanitary towels?’ She said that she had to use it because sanitary towels are expensive."
The bitter reality of his wife's situation led Muruganantham to invent a machine that creates cheap sanitary towels for women in rural India — providing them the sanitary materials they need during their menstruation cycle. These sanitary pads are produced at a very cheap cost, and Muruganantham travels to various rural villages in India to install the machines for use by local women.
During the time he spent researching how he could create this machine and help women in India, Muruganantham's mother moved out of their home. She objected to his desire to help rural women. Neighbours and fellow villagers wanted him out of their area, and he also lost his wife.
Sourrce: www.menstrualman.com
Due to his amazing efforts to help women in rural India, Muruganantham was named one of the world's 100 most influential people by Time Magazine in 2014. His work is also vividly laid out in detail in the documentary Menstrual Man, which was featured at the Hot Docs festival this past spring and at the 2015 Indian Summer Festival in Vancouver, Canada.
Source: Huffington Post UK – Lifestyle & CBC News Canada
Photo Credits: Featured Image: www.huffingtonpost.co.uk
Check out the trailer for Menstrual Man below:
Daniel Pillai
Author
Daniel is the Digital Media Manager for ANOKHI MEDIA and the host for ANOKHI's entertainment channel, PULSE TV. As part of the dream team, Daniel manages all multiple channels under ANOKHI’s portfolio, while also training new on-air talent, and showing budding p...
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