The video by Mr. Arunachalam
Murugananatham, was really impressive. He was humble, and begged the pardon, of
his listeners, for his improper English language. He was just a metric passed
guy, who worked as a helper in a welding workshop. He kicked off the speech in
such a manner, that I thought it would be something philosophical, but very
soon the topic just deviated towards sanitary pads. Necessity has always been the mother of all
inventions and the thought becomes more meaningful with his fruitful attempts.
The idea to invent hygienic and low cost sanitary pads emerged from his own
house, where he found his wife using rags during her menstrual cycle. He tried
his inventions on his wife and then on his sisters, but when they denied being
his specimens, he fixed the newly invented pad on himself. He collected animal
blood in a tube and connected it to his belly and rode a cycle. The tube was
adjusted in such a manner that when he pedaled, it will get pressed by him and the blood will ooze to the pads.
He had to face lots of challenges, which extended up to his wife threatening him
to divorce.
Arunachalam belonged to a village
in Coimbatore. Even still, among many educated societies, a woman under her
menstrual cycle is considered impure and the issue itself a taboo. In India,
many women have been reported relying on cotton, rags and even soil and mud to
tackle the issue. When Arunachalam was all set to solve the issue, he was
expelled from his family and the village. It was his determination, which led him
to create a machine which helped in making the sanitary pads at a much cheaper
rate. He patented the machine and provided them to SHGs (self-help groups). It
was his selflessness, which prevented him from commercializing his invention.
Being a responsible citizen of the nation, he not only helped the poor women
folk to move freely during their menstruation, but also provided a means of
survival. Now with the help of his
machine thousands of trained women earn their living by making napkins. His Jayashree Industries, took up the social
initiative to distribute the machines all over India, which helped in
minimizing unemployment, poverty and has led to the upliftment of women as a
whole. When a large scale production model cost around Rs.3.5 crores initially,
Arunachalam’s machine made it possible with just Rs.75,000/-. This led many
small scale industries to plunge into the business. He received 2009’s best
Innovation Award from the President of India.
This is not just an isolated
story of Arunachalam, but any one of us with determination can make a change. A
small change from every one of us will help the nation to prosper. I loved the
way he concludes the speech, that if we want to lead a meaningful life, all we
want is a problem. He also suggested a simple way to innovate. We have to switch off the lights and should sit in the darkness for a while and think. The catchiest was the name he had given for his speech
“The Second White Revolution”, which in every means is true to the core in this
regard. Arunachalam proved that it’s not the education and money which laid the
foundation of his success, but his will power, to think and do differently, to
deal with an ostensibly social concern.
I was happy and moved as the people greeted his speech with a standing
ovation. It had never happened with me, but I too stood up from my chair and
clapped...
India requires more Arunachalams....
Franklin Templeton Investments
partnered the TEDxGateway Mumbai in December 2012 , where Mr. Arunachalam delivered his inspirational speech
