It was a lazy afternoon at the Muruganantham household. A. Muruganantham was watching a movie on his black-and-white TV after lunch. His wife Shanthi furtively left the room with dirty rags in hand. Muruganantham was shocked when he found out what they were for — Shanthi was using them for her monthly periods. Why resort to such unhygienic means, he asked her. Muruganantham didn't know then that Shanthi's reply would change his life and that of hundreds of women in India. “We can't afford milk for the family if I spend on sanitary napkins,” she said.

Muruganantham had no idea what a sanitary napkin was, back then. When he found out, he thought, why not make a cheaper version for his wife?

Every evening, after he finished his work welding gates and windows in a workshop in Coimbatore, he spent long hours in a 10x10 room behind his house and came up with a handmade sanitary pad made of cotton. He offered it to his wife, hoping it would be useful. But it was a failure — Shanthi criticised it and his efforts............Read More

Source: The Hindu