Coimbatore :

It took a while for A Muruganantham, the 49-year-old resident of Coimbatore, known globally as the menstrual man for his revolutionary design in the production of low cost hygienic sanitary napkins, for the news to sink in when he came to know that he’s one among four Indians to be featured in the Time magazine list of 100 most influential people in the world along with BJP leader Narendra Modi, Aam Aadmi Party leader Aravind Kejriwal and writer Arundhathi Roy. The list also includes the likes of US President Barack Obama, Russian President Vladimir Putin, education activist Malala and whistle blower Edward Snowden.

“It is a great feeling to realise that I am sharing space with these people. But it has not been an easy journey for me so far even though I’m constantly trying to improvise and upgrade my skills, which is my main driving force,” said Muruganantham, seated inside his modest workshop in the outskirts of the city. When he is in Coimbatore, he spends most of his time tinkering with his production design for low cost sanitary napkins. But most of the time he is travelling across the globe delivering lectures and attending seminars organised by universities including Harvard University. A Muruganatham had decided to come up with the sanitary napkin manufacturing machine way back in 1998 when he realised that his wife Santhi used a piece of old rag cloth as a substitute for sanitary napkins. He realised that most Indian women like his wife were finding it difficult to access hygienic sanitary napkins due to lack of availability and affordability.

“Hailing from the family of a handloom weaver and making a living from a modest workshop, I realised that if the women in my family decide to opt for branded sanitary napkins then we will have to make major cuts in our family budget,” added Muruganantham.

His initial attempt involved buying 10 grams of cotton at 10p and presenting a sanitary napkin to his wife. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a major disaster. This forced him to do some ground research on the type of materials used in branded sanitary napkins.

“At once I realized I was in trouble as I was unable to get feedback on existing products. Besides, I didn’t have access to used napkins to study and understand the type of raw materials I would need. Fed up with my obsession, my wife left me for a while. There were rumours that I was a pervert in my village. Some even said I was a vampire yearning to drink blood,” he said.

But Muruganantham continued with his efforts and realised that the key raw material to manufacture sanitary napkins was cellulose which could be separated and turned into the fluffy cotton used inside the pad. After further research he came up with a design that was finally approved by IIT Madras. Instantly, his fortunes were reversed and he began to receive global attention in 2009. He went one step further and decided to supply the units to women self help groups in India and globally where groups of women could manufacture and market their own local brands of sanitary napkins.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Coimbatore / by Binoy Valsan, TNN / April 27th, 2014