Menstrual Man (2013) Movie Script
Tell me, kids, how many of
you here use pads?
Raise your hands high. What's
the matter? You skipped lunch?
How many use pads?
Some of you have sisters
or friends who use pads.
Speak to them about it
without any hesitation.
It's natural. Mothers, sisters,
wives -- All women have periods.
Can any woman avoid having them?
Okay?
Those of you using cloth,
have you ever seen a pad?
I have some here.
Let me show you.
Take a look. It's not
a laughing matter.
You won't even touch them?
Can't even look?
Here's the adhesive strip.
Remove it and use the pad.
Simple!
Very soon, they're going to
be made in your village.
They'll be easily available.
The man
responsible for that is
standing at the back.
Mr. Muruganantham.
You know my educational
qualifications?
Four years in Philadelphia and
five years in California -- No!
I'm only a 9th
grade-dropout because I
lost my father in
my schooling years.
Then I became a workshop helper.
I've designed my own English
and I speak it fluently.
Understanding me
is your problem.
I know you're educated people.
Your mind's tuned to
correct my English
for the right tense and verbs.
That's what usually happens
so it won't be a problem.
I intended to offer
this machine only
to women like my
mother across India.
And I'd been doing
that for three years
when one day I got a call on my
mobile. Are you Muruganantham?
They couldn't even pronounce
my name correctly.
That meant someone
educated was calling.
I said yes.
Then immediately I was
asked a question:
Are you supplying your machines
at the bottom of the pyramid?
I was surprised.
As far as I knew,
pyramids were found
only in Egypt.
I immediately refused.
No. I've never
supplied any machine
at the pyramids.
I'm only selling them
in the plains of India.
Only then I came to know
about the economic pyramid.
So now I know about
economic pyramid, bottom
of the pyramid, Below
Poverty Line --
And is it fair to
say that you come
from the bottom of the pyramid?
Not even the bottom
of the pyramid. You
can say from a scrap
of the pyramid.
I gave a talk at a conference
the other day.
One of the speakers
presented something
on the infrastructure field.
I saw only zeros in
the presentation.
He was talking trillions.
I still don't
know how many zeros
make up a trillion.
When I was delivering
my speech, I said:
For two days we've talked about
money, money, money.
I'm not going to
talk about money.
It will be a little different.
If you follow my way,
this money will follow you.
What I'm following is the
Butterfly Model of Business.
It will suck honey
from the flower
but cause no harm to the flower.
So what I'm insisting
is that you
do business the Butterfly Way.
Whatever your
business, address a
problem faced by
the common public.
You can only be healthy
if you stop using cloth.
Why am I going on about cloth?
Do you know the
implications of using it?
When you get a blood
stain on a cloth
you have to wash it. When you do
the stain isn't removed fully.
And even if they do wash it
the women are
too embarrassed
to dry the cloth in the sun.
Some people will see
it and eventually the
whole world will know
she's menstruating.
I mean there is that
constant taboo effect on
everything that happens
inside a woman's pants.
Her family honour rests here.
Not in her brain or abilities.
And not just
immediate family but
the entire bloodline's honour.
Extended uncle, aunty --
everyone's honour is lying here.
Since you don't sun-dry
the cloth, it's not sterilized.
And since they re-use it
again and again
it leads to an
ascending infection
which goes into the uterus
and infects all her
reproductive organs.
About 70% of reproductive
diseases in India
is caused by poor
menstrual hygiene.
Indirectly, maternal
mortality is also
associated with poor
menstrual hygiene.
There have been instances
where a lady has died
because an insect ascended
through her vagina
and into her uterus,
and she died because
of infection due to
poor menstrual hygiene.
Actually, Day One was when I saw
my wife not using sanitary pads.
That's how it started.
I asked her why she was adopting
that unhygienic method.
I wouldn't even use that
cloth to clean my scooter.
She replied, Okay, I also know
about sanitary pads. I watch TV.
But if your sisters and I
start using sanitary pads...
...then we have to cut
our family's milk budget.
Then later I came to know
it was not only Shanti, my wife.
My sisters, women in my village,
in my city...
...in my state, in my country
were not using sanitary pads.
I saw a problem in my country.
Indian
women are not using
sanitary pads.
It was shameful for me.
Finally, India needed
a school dropout
to make sanitary pads
for Indian women.
Making any other engineering
equipment was not
a problem. I could test
it in my workshop.
This being a sanitary pad,
where could I test it?
I needed a volunteer.
Medical research can be
conducted everywhere.
But apart from monkeys and pigs,
you need human test subjects.
The only available
choices are Africans and
Indians. Western countries
still use them.
So I caught my wife.
I thought women used
pads every day.
Then Shanti said it
wasn't possible.
I had to wait for some time.
The sanitary pad itself,
I made it in two
days by getting cotton
from a reputed mill.
The only problem
was making napkins
with different
types of cotton...
Handing them over to my wife...
...Waiting for her feedback...
It's a tedious process, no?
Waiting for a month for my wife
to get her period
was ridiculous.
At that rate, even after ten
years I wouldn't be done.
I needed more women volunteers.
The problem, as you
know, is that India
is a conservative and
orthodox society.
You broach this subject
and they will look at the ground
or around, or up.
Then I had an idea.
Why not use medical
college girls as volunteers
to test my pads?
I came up with
an Answer Sheet.
One side had questions
I intended to ask.
The other side was
for their answers.
Later I learned it's called
a Feedback Sheet.
I went to meet them
on a particular day.
I saw only three girls
hurriedly filling
up the forms for all the girls.
Even as an illiterate fellow,
I knew something was wrong.
I understood that the feedback
they were giving was false.
In our district of
East Godaveri alone
there are about
500,000 students.
Of which I'd say
anywhere between
250,000 to 300,000 are women.
So I'll take it as 250,000.
So 250,000 times 8
napkins a month.
Should be...
That's 2 million napkins.
To achieve that target
how many machines
do you think we'll need?
I'll calculate. You
just make a note.
Have you not considered tweaking
the shape? Something like this?
That's not necessary.
It's only for positioning.
Ours has adhesive
over the entire area.
Theirs don't, that's
why they shift.
Since the whole
area has adhesive,
there's no need for
wings and all.
So this is how it holds up?
They stick this side on
the panties and it holds.
OK, I get it. Maybe the Western
product is tailored for
the thongs and other panties
the Western girls wear.
And this is perfect for
the wrap-around type.
This is for the
post-delivery women?
It fits so close to the body,
there will be no leakage.
Two men discussing panties.
We're trying to find
a solution to a
problem we'll never
come across in life.
Actually he has.
His research was--
Yeah his research was in
an all-together different...
Yesterday I demonstrated
what I did eleven years ago.
Now we're going to make
an artificial uterus.
This is the story of The Man
Who Wore a Sanitary Pad.
You need patience to do this.
After getting their
false feedback sheets
I thought hereafter I shouldn't
depend on the medical students.
So what I did: I
made an artificial
uterus from a football bladder.
I filled animal blood
inside the bladder.
As I was walking or cycling,
I'd press the bladder.
A dosage of blood would go to
the napkin I was wearing.
Whenever I was out,
I'd pull at my clothes.
Just to check for stains.
I'd become a woman.
And where did you
get the blood from?
As I said, I'm a school dropout.
Majority
of my classmates run
chicken stalls.
The rest of them sell mutton.
They kill goats.
So one my ex-classmates
is a butcher.
Whenever he was going
to kill a goat, he'd
ring his cycle bell
in front of my house.
I'd go to his shop and
we'd fill hot goat blood in.
With some additive,
else it would clot.
That I got from a guy who
worked at a blood bank.
Even after mixing
in the additive,
it would last for up to an hour.
Then it would clot.
And in this heat it
would start smelling?
The smell would come
within half an hour.
So I used to wash
my clothes and the
football bladder
in a public well.
The whole village thought
I had a sexual disease.
They didn't know what
I was doing. They
thought I was washing
my private parts.
That meant it was in an extreme
condition that was incurable.
It was dangerous.
I'd see some friends
walking towards
me. They'd change their route!
Meanwhile, my wife thought I was
using this sanitary
napkin research
as a trump card to speak
secretly with women
and to roam with the girls.
I had become a pervert.
See God's sense of humor. I'd
started the research
for my wife.
After eighteen
months she left me.
But I didn't want to
give up the research.
Somebody was making
napkins out of
cotton. It was
accepted by women.
But I was trying with cotton
and it wasn't working out.
The property of cotton
is that it will
absorb liquid --
with hesitation.
Ordinary cotton won't
absorb the liquid instantly.
Even after absorption,
if you pressed it gently
or the women closed their legs,
the liquid would squeeze out.
Then what's the use
of the sanitary pad?
Then I thought, instead
of giving sanitary
pads to women and
asking for feedback
why not ask for their used pads?
That would reveal everything.
But how can you ask for
used pads from women
in a conservative
society like India?
If my wife was with
me, I could have
used her pads to
conduct the research.
But she had separated from me.
She
was staying with her parents.
If I went and asked
for her sanitary
pad, they would
definitely have thought
the son-in-law is going to cast
black magic on their daughter.
He's going to mesmerize
her or something.
Then again, I had to depend
on the medical college girls.
The agreement was, I'd supply
sanitary pads along
with carry-bags.
They'd use the pads and
leave them in the carry-bags.
I'd go and collect them like
a municipal garbage cleaner.
It was a Sunday, I remember.
I was conducting my research.
But then my mother came near
and saw that--
She thought her son was
cleaning chicken for Sunday
because we usually eat
non-vegetarian food
only on Sundays.
The moment she came closer,
she saw other women's used pads.
She started crying.
My God! Somebody's
done something
to my son. He's
become totally mad
She spread her saree
on the ground...
Put all her belongings on it...
Tied it into a knot...
Then she also left me.
It takes six months
to ready the team.
Don't start your
branding till then.
At first they'll
put anything into
the packets to finish the job.
Have them put the
napkins on the table.
Someone can inspect
them before packing.
We'll do the packing ourselves.
Remove any flawed product. Don't
let it out into the market.
How's Feel Free &
Clean as a name?
Or Feel Care? Which is better?
Why not have a Tamil name
instead of an English one?
Sir, why don't
you recommend one?
You suggest some
in Tamil first.
Mother Care?
Okay. So go with
Annai (Mother).
Annai or Amma. Might help you
get more government loans.
They decided on
Mother Care napkins.
And how do you feel about that?
It's nice. Because no one
cares more than a mother.
So I think it's a
good brand name.
My wife left eighteen months
into the research.
Four months later, my mother
also left me. Now I was alone.
After 2 years and 3 months,
I found the real raw material.
Ordinary cellulose, or cotton,
is derived from a plant.
What the corporations
are doing is
they're also using
cellulose, or cotton.
But it's derived from
the bark of a tree.
That cellulose will
absorb liquid instantly.
And it will retain it
even under pressure.
Press it. The water
will stay inside.
It didn't come out.
It's magic.
This is the material used
by big companies.
It's their
sixty-year-old secret.
I solved one problem. I
found the raw material.
It's derived from
the bark of a tree.
But how do you process it?
You need a multi-million dollar
production line to
process this material.
Where could I get a
million dollars?
Through trial-and-error for
the next four and a half years
I succeeded in
re-engineering that
big plant into 3-4
smaller machines.
Now any rural woman can
produce a world-class napkin
with my machine.
Because I'm uneducated,
I kept going.
If you're educated,
what would happen?
You'd stop.
Why?
People are only using
education as a tool to survive.
Not to achieve something.
I was seventeen
when I got married.
My husband owned a
confectionery store.
Slowly things began to change at
home. He picked up
some bad habits.
Drinking. Gambling.
It wasn't long before he stopped
caring about his wife and kids.
Arguing and beating
became the norm.
He'd come home drunk.
I'd ask him
to eat something,
but he'd refuse.
He'd leave to get
even more drunk.
Later he'd return and demand:
Give me money, bitch!
How could I? How much had
he earned to begin with?
The little he'd
leave for household
expenses, he would take back.
If I tried stopping him,
the arguing would begin.
The bottom line is
I got used to the beating.
It happened every second
or third day.
Wasn't long before
it happened every day.
He owed money to
six or seven people.
So he told me to go
to bed with each one.
An hour each and
my debts will be paid.
You're mine anyway.
You've already made
my life hell, I said.
What will you do to me
if I went with them?
He'd call repeatedly and
ask to speak to me.
Said he wanted two
hundred thousand
rupees. Five hundred
thousand even.
Where could we get
so much money?
So he'd beat her some more.
One day, he beat me
over and over again.
He even threw
hot oil at me.
I took my kids and left
that very night.
Didn't even bother
taking any belongings.
I didn't have a single rupee
to my name.
After I lost my father, I saw my
mother struggle to
support the family.
Now because of my
research and the
machines that resulted from it
I was capable of creating
sustainable rural employment
for women like my mother.
This is not a project for those
who already have some ornaments
but are looking to buy more.
This is a project to
only provide sustainable
employment for one's livelihood.
Note the word: 'Livelihood'.
Not to buy an Audi car.
Whenever I am coming out of my town
I never book a return ticket.
It's not programmed
like, We have to
install three machines
in three days.
That definitely won't work,
I know from experience.
We started traveling
in the morning
and arrived here around noon.
But here nothing's
been arranged.
Even the building is not open.
There is no electricity.
In some areas, we
even have to wait
for days for electrical power.
In such cases, I'll
hire a generator
or make other provisions.
But I'm not stressed because I
haven't paid for
a return ticket.
Now they're cleaning
the building.
Then we have to open the boxes.
Then we'll assemble
the machines.
And then we'll
give the training.
Awaken, friend, awaken...
We call them beemaru
(sick) states.
Poor, under-developed states.
These are the areas I'm keen on.
Just imagine an area where women
walk 19 km to fetch
a pot of water.
If they have no drinking water
on those five days
the whole family suffers
because the lady can't work.
Now even on those days the
women are able to fetch water.
I'm very happy now.
I used to long for every cent.
To buy milk for my children.
To send them to school.
I couldn't do any of that.
Granted, my parents would
give me some money
but I had to ask them for it.
Now I don't need to ask anyone.
I'm
working. I have money to spend.
Neither my family nor I
have any worries now.
But my parents did object to
my having a job at first.
They said my father and brother
were still around.
I could tend to the
cattle at home.
But I was getting depressed
just sitting around at home.
And I knew the neighbours
would start to gossip.
They do gossip.
Four neighbours,
four gossip tales.
Now they say, She's out all day.
What
kind of school
keeps her so busy?
It's something new each time
but I've stopped caring.
And so my mindset has changed.
I've built a new
life for myself.
I used to be afraid to speak. I
barely said anything to others.
I'd speak when spoken to
but otherwise I'd stay silent.
It was as if I didn't exist.
But now? If others don't
start the conversation, I will.
I'm speaking to you from a
remote village in Chhattisgarh.
Okay sir, we can do it.
But we intend to
work only in remote
parts of the country.
We're not interested in metro
cities. So that's why...
That's why I have
yet to appoint any
dealers or distributors
in my own country.
You know, there are 639
districts in India.
Even if a dealer
was only required
to order five machines from me
just calculate how many I could
sell in a single stroke.
Millions would fall on my table.
I never did that.
I'm shifting the
billion-dollar industry's
profit to stakeholders
of small groups.
So many industry
people say my machine
looks like The Wright
Brothers' plane.
It looks skeletal.
But if you keep the
machine very simple
the women's group will attain
breakeven very easily.
Secondly, they never
need to bother
about servicing the machine.
Why am I using wood? I can
use stainless steel instead.
Instead of a pedal,
I can make small DC motors.
I know how to
complicate the machine
with a bunch of cables and all.
When you complicate
the machine, at
some point it will
require servicing.
There are no servicing problems.
A rural woman can
learn to use the
machine and troubleshoot too.
I turned a very complicated
process into four simple steps.
First, uncompressing the
cellulose into fluffy form.
That's done on a small,
kitchen grinder-like
Then they pack the
fluffy material
into rectangular cakes
Thirdly they will go to a
They will wrap the
non-woven cloth
using a thermal heating method.
After that, because
the rural women
are making the napkins by hand
for hygiene purposes,
they have to disinfect them.
So finally before
packing them they
will put the napkins inside an
The moment they take them out
they will pack them
into a wrapper,
seal it, and the
napkins are made.
This is the napkin they made.
Is it properly made, sir?
Yes. It's very nice.
She did good?
Not bad.
Now you make one.
Any rural woman can learn
this process in a single day.
In this way we are creating
rural employment
as well as improving hygiene
among rural women.
That's called rural marketing.
That's called
empowering a country.
That's called
empowering a woman.
If I'd been this
person before...
The one who has a job...
The one with confidence and
ability to speak her mind...
I would never have
put up with the beating.
I'd have hit him
instead.
And if he was here
that's what I'd do.
If you asked politicians
or economists,
What is important for a country?
the economists might
say currency.
Gold mines. Or coal mines.
Or offshore drilling
and gas beds.
I say just empower women. It's
nothing but empowering
the country.
If you give money
to men and women,
their spending patterns
are different.
If you give me
money, even I would
spend on clothes, or
shoes, or liquor.
But if you give the
money to a woman
it goes to nourishing
her children.
And education of her children.
Once a knowledgeable
society is created
all the roads, dams --
everything comes automatically.
Say a woman is marketing
napkins in this area.
And another woman has
extra chillis and onions.
They're exchanging
onions for napkins.
It's the barter system
all over again.
Imagine bartering your products
for others? Is it possible?
That's why I say
multinationals will
never exchange products
for anything...
other than this.
You people are still selling the
product. I've moved
away from selling.
All the village women
here used cloth.
And out of embarrassment,
they'd re-use the rags
without first drying
them in the sun.
So the rags would get
infested with germs
and the women would catch
some disease or the other.
At our regular women's
meetings, they'd
tell us about each
other's illnesses.
So our founder, Bunker
Roy, began searching
for a solution to
protect the women.
He wondered if there
was a machine
we could setup for
their benefit.
So he ordered these machines and
started this facility
in July 2010.
Who knew about pads before?
No one.
The elders still wouldn't be
able to explain their function.
It's only the younger women
who use them
because they're studying or
since we've spoken to them.
During my research I
tried giving away
free sanitary pads
in my village.
The next day I saw many children
playing with my napkins.
They had tied strings
to the ends!
I saw many adults using
the soft area to
clean the headlights
of their scooters.
Why aren't sanitary pads
used by rural women?
The majority of people think
it's a double-A problem.
Availability and Affordability
In our experience
we found a third
A -- Awareness -- was missing.
They napkin they will have
to use to prevent illness.
That awareness is missing
among rural women.
This is a subject
that can't be tackled
by a marketing or
advertising team.
Every time you see
an advertisement,
it's of a girl wearing
tight jeans...
Running behind a small dog, then
jumping over a compound wall.
What are you saying? That
sanitary pads provide comfort.
You never discuss the importance
of cleanliness and hygiene.
They understand the
point about comfort.
But what about it? The rural
women don't have dogs.
Even if they did, they have no
need to jump over
a compound wall.
Of course, there are
the new commercials.
With that music....
There's always
some woman jamming
in the background.
With these new sanitary napkin commercials.
The heart desires,
so I can soar.
I'm, like, this is so inspiring!
Suddenly I'm feeling patriotic
towards pads.
I'm telling you, the next big
product is going to be...
Lady Bits.
Now with a top layer designed
by Manish Malhotra.
For your girliness.
And your wetness.
No! I want to wear white pants.
I want to sleep on
my white bedsheets.
That's not a real issue.
That's not what chicks do.
They don't spend five days
a month worrying:
Holy crap! White pants.
Now I'll have
to go buy different
colored pants.
So something more relevant
would be nice to see.
The people we met from
Tiripur this morning?
This machine is being
delivered to them.
It's sixty kilometres away from
here. A small satellite town.
They're going to cater
to the suburb areas.
Coming out with my own brand
is not an important issue.
I don't want to scale up.
I want to scale deep.
Or branch out everywhere
like a movement.
Now, by only investing
a few thousand dollars
anyone can enter this business.
It was a centralized,
macro-business
model since the
Second World War.
Because of my
innovation, it's become
a de-centralized, micro-model.
There's was no uneasiness
on their part, or mine
because I'd start with
the elderly women.
I'd chat with them and
make small talk.
Then they'd ask about me,
where I was from.
I'd tell them I was from
Pardada Pardadi School
and I had brought some pads
to sell in their village.
It would be great if you
could help me.
And then they'd take over.
Wait here, my dear .
We'll gather some women for you.
We made our pads
for rural women.
Not city folk. They can get
theirs from the stores.
We educated the
villagers about this.
Now they buy pads on
their own accord.
They want to protect themselves
against disease.
Cloth usage has dropped.
Most are using pads now.
So much so that even
shops selling regular
brands can't cope
with the demand.
We have an order for
2500 pads that I can't meet!
We've only delivered 600 so far.
We've run out of stock.
What can I do?
We have to create a
napkin-using culture.
That's only possible through
a women-to-women model.
Here there are a lot of taboos,
a lot of existing myths.
There's a belief in
one rural community
that any woman using
sanitary pads
will be blinded
by their goddess.
Then how will they dare
to use sanitary pads?
In another community
there's a myth
that if a woman
uses sanitary pads
she won't get married.
Lots of beliefs are there.
Once a woman makes
sanitary pads,
she will go tell other women
See, I've been
using them for two
months. No goddess
has taken my vision.
So every customer is
going to become
my partner, my well-wisher
my propaganda agent,
my brand ambassador.
They will take care of
spreading awareness.
That's why I call what
I'm doing building
a low-cost sanitary
pad movement.
... and this is my friend.
I often come here
to give her pads
which she then helps me to sell.
This is the same Guddiya.
Right, the one you
mentioned before.
I give her pads,
and she can tell
you how she feels about them.
I like them a lot.
Would you like
to tell us more?
There are some taboos which can
never be wiped out from India.
We have a custom where the girl,
upon attaining menarche
is given a set of
norms to follow.
Seclusion for five days is a
norm for the menstruating kids.
She's not allowed to
visit any public places.
She's considered impure and
barred from entering temples.
And she can't cook or touch
the household water supply.
She can't touch the laundry
and things have to be
handed to her.
She's like the fly you scoop
out of milk and toss aside.
She's not allowed to touch
her brothers, her sisters
or even her own mother
and father.
It amounts to untouchability.
Once the child attains menarche,
she is supposed to stay at home.
About 23% of girls
in India drop out of
school after the onset
of menstruation.
Women must advance themselves.
They fall behind because
they're afraid of men.
When a woman steps
out of her home,
people say all kinds
of things about her.
But they shouldn't lose courage.
They should insist on standing
shoulder-to-shoulder
with any man.
Nowadays women are advancing
further and further.
And they can do
anything men can.
Once women earn their own living
they can stand on their own feet
and leave men behind.
I've been here the last
thirty five years.
I'm very close to the women
and know them well.
When I meet them I see
their children stop going to
school once they reach puberty
because they're not able to
protect themselves.
And the women don't
have the proper materials
so they also feel insecure
during their periods.
It was on my mind
for many years.
How can we solve this problem?
Multinationals were
making this product
and it required
millions in investment.
Now I came to know there's one
Mr. Muruganantham in Coimbatore
who is able to give us machines
that we can afford.
Once the machines came
we had a problem.
We don't get eight
hours of electricity.
At the most we get
three hours a day.
Some days we get none.
They've only worked
one-third of the shift,
no? So it won't be
more than 1500 packs.
It should be 2500 in
the training period.
Then it has to go to
4000 packs a month.
Only then can we reach
our business...
neither profit nor loss...
- Breakeven?
- Breakeven.
When I was young,
whenever I heard the sound
ooo-AAA ooo-aa ooo-aa, I'd be
a little afraid. What was it?
My mother said it was
an ambulance or fire engine.
Then I learned that other than
ambulances and fire engines
cars used by politicians and
officials also have sirens.
Sirens on fire engines
or ambulances,
maybe it's to save many lives.
Why do politicians need sirens?
What's their urgency?
They say they're rushing to do
some good for society.
They've rushed for
67 years since
independence. What
have they done?
We have to make a
lot of adjustments
around this electricity problem.
At the unit we've got seven
women plus one supervisor.
And they really adjust
to the situation.
They get up early and
come to work at 6 a.m.
That shows their
level of interest.
They really want to learn and
commit to this unit.
In our village, we don't have
electricity. We use
kerosene lamps.
And nowadays kerosene
is too expensive.
That's why we were
chosen to come to
India to learn
solar engineering.
Us village women, we do domestic
work. We just stay at home.
Do the cooking,
sweeping, look after
the kids, prepare their food.
The men work in agriculture.
Some
go fishing, and we
sell the catch.
That's how we earn
money in our country.
- You malum (understand)?
- Malum. Malum.
- This... what's this called?
- Multimeter.
Multimeter malum?
Small malum. Small malum.
Two months ago, our Minister of
Women came to visit
us from Fiji.
She visited the
sanitary pad factory.
And she felt us Fiji women
should take this course too
because we don't have
such a factory in Fiji.
We were so excited.
All nine ladies felt it was so
simple to operate the machine.
They can go back
to Fiji and open a
factory. They can
work there as a team.
I hope all of Fiji
will be proud of us.
We've trained to make
sanitary pads and
we're going to start
a factory in Fiji.
Fiji is the same as India. Some
women don't use sanitary pads.
They just use cloth because the
cost of pads nowadays
is going up.
They called me a madman.
A pervert.
Then suddenly I was
in the limelight.
I was continuously seen in
newspapers and magazines.
I was live on TV.
Then the same people,
with the same tongue
they said, I always knew this
guy would amount to something.
Very importantly,
those who concluded
they would expel me
from the village
they come to my home and ask me
to inaugurate temples and so on.
I laugh, but I'm laughing
inside my heart.
On January 10th we
started the training.
And we felt the girls are ready
to start the unit.
What did you do when your girls
reached puberty?
You told them not to go out
during their periods.
Go out after 4 days.
You're looking guilty.
Please don't do that anymore.
While you were on
your way, I was
speaking to a
venture capitalist.
Another offer?
Yeah they offered some U.S.
dollars. I refused.
Left the people wondering.
I didn't
even show any interest
to get money.
I explained what I need. Not
money. I told them
I need people.
To do social entrepreneurship,
we need people. Not money.
I started in order to make a
low-cost sanitary
pad for my wife.
I did it.
Then I saw poor women
like my mother
who were unable to find
sustainable rural employment.
So far I've supplied
643 machines
across 23 states in India.
What I'm trying to do now is:
I want to make India a 100%
sanitary napkin-using country.
And I want to create
not less than
one million jobs for poor women.
So my dream, my imagination,
keeps expanding like this.
I'm looking through my
binoculars at the entire world.
My God! There are
hundreds of countries
where sanitary napkins
aren't accessible.
Now my dream is getting
bigger and bigger.
Why not start a
world movement in
making low cost sanitary pads?
Why not make all
developing nations
100% sanitary
pad-using countries?
By the way, why not create
10 million jobs?
Welcome.
It may seem crazy to you.
He's shooting this.
That's my daughter.
Yes, you must be crazy to
dream something big.
To achieve something big.
That's all.
you here use pads?
Raise your hands high. What's
the matter? You skipped lunch?
How many use pads?
Some of you have sisters
or friends who use pads.
Speak to them about it
without any hesitation.
It's natural. Mothers, sisters,
wives -- All women have periods.
Can any woman avoid having them?
Okay?
Those of you using cloth,
have you ever seen a pad?
I have some here.
Let me show you.
Take a look. It's not
a laughing matter.
You won't even touch them?
Can't even look?
Here's the adhesive strip.
Remove it and use the pad.
Simple!
Very soon, they're going to
be made in your village.
They'll be easily available.
The man
responsible for that is
standing at the back.
Mr. Muruganantham.
You know my educational
qualifications?
Four years in Philadelphia and
five years in California -- No!
I'm only a 9th
grade-dropout because I
lost my father in
my schooling years.
Then I became a workshop helper.
I've designed my own English
and I speak it fluently.
Understanding me
is your problem.
I know you're educated people.
Your mind's tuned to
correct my English
for the right tense and verbs.
That's what usually happens
so it won't be a problem.
I intended to offer
this machine only
to women like my
mother across India.
And I'd been doing
that for three years
when one day I got a call on my
mobile. Are you Muruganantham?
They couldn't even pronounce
my name correctly.
That meant someone
educated was calling.
I said yes.
Then immediately I was
asked a question:
Are you supplying your machines
at the bottom of the pyramid?
I was surprised.
As far as I knew,
pyramids were found
only in Egypt.
I immediately refused.
No. I've never
supplied any machine
at the pyramids.
I'm only selling them
in the plains of India.
Only then I came to know
about the economic pyramid.
So now I know about
economic pyramid, bottom
of the pyramid, Below
Poverty Line --
And is it fair to
say that you come
from the bottom of the pyramid?
Not even the bottom
of the pyramid. You
can say from a scrap
of the pyramid.
I gave a talk at a conference
the other day.
One of the speakers
presented something
on the infrastructure field.
I saw only zeros in
the presentation.
He was talking trillions.
I still don't
know how many zeros
make up a trillion.
When I was delivering
my speech, I said:
For two days we've talked about
money, money, money.
I'm not going to
talk about money.
It will be a little different.
If you follow my way,
this money will follow you.
What I'm following is the
Butterfly Model of Business.
It will suck honey
from the flower
but cause no harm to the flower.
So what I'm insisting
is that you
do business the Butterfly Way.
Whatever your
business, address a
problem faced by
the common public.
You can only be healthy
if you stop using cloth.
Why am I going on about cloth?
Do you know the
implications of using it?
When you get a blood
stain on a cloth
you have to wash it. When you do
the stain isn't removed fully.
And even if they do wash it
the women are
too embarrassed
to dry the cloth in the sun.
Some people will see
it and eventually the
whole world will know
she's menstruating.
I mean there is that
constant taboo effect on
everything that happens
inside a woman's pants.
Her family honour rests here.
Not in her brain or abilities.
And not just
immediate family but
the entire bloodline's honour.
Extended uncle, aunty --
everyone's honour is lying here.
Since you don't sun-dry
the cloth, it's not sterilized.
And since they re-use it
again and again
it leads to an
ascending infection
which goes into the uterus
and infects all her
reproductive organs.
About 70% of reproductive
diseases in India
is caused by poor
menstrual hygiene.
Indirectly, maternal
mortality is also
associated with poor
menstrual hygiene.
There have been instances
where a lady has died
because an insect ascended
through her vagina
and into her uterus,
and she died because
of infection due to
poor menstrual hygiene.
Actually, Day One was when I saw
my wife not using sanitary pads.
That's how it started.
I asked her why she was adopting
that unhygienic method.
I wouldn't even use that
cloth to clean my scooter.
She replied, Okay, I also know
about sanitary pads. I watch TV.
But if your sisters and I
start using sanitary pads...
...then we have to cut
our family's milk budget.
Then later I came to know
it was not only Shanti, my wife.
My sisters, women in my village,
in my city...
...in my state, in my country
were not using sanitary pads.
I saw a problem in my country.
Indian
women are not using
sanitary pads.
It was shameful for me.
Finally, India needed
a school dropout
to make sanitary pads
for Indian women.
Making any other engineering
equipment was not
a problem. I could test
it in my workshop.
This being a sanitary pad,
where could I test it?
I needed a volunteer.
Medical research can be
conducted everywhere.
But apart from monkeys and pigs,
you need human test subjects.
The only available
choices are Africans and
Indians. Western countries
still use them.
So I caught my wife.
I thought women used
pads every day.
Then Shanti said it
wasn't possible.
I had to wait for some time.
The sanitary pad itself,
I made it in two
days by getting cotton
from a reputed mill.
The only problem
was making napkins
with different
types of cotton...
Handing them over to my wife...
...Waiting for her feedback...
It's a tedious process, no?
Waiting for a month for my wife
to get her period
was ridiculous.
At that rate, even after ten
years I wouldn't be done.
I needed more women volunteers.
The problem, as you
know, is that India
is a conservative and
orthodox society.
You broach this subject
and they will look at the ground
or around, or up.
Then I had an idea.
Why not use medical
college girls as volunteers
to test my pads?
I came up with
an Answer Sheet.
One side had questions
I intended to ask.
The other side was
for their answers.
Later I learned it's called
a Feedback Sheet.
I went to meet them
on a particular day.
I saw only three girls
hurriedly filling
up the forms for all the girls.
Even as an illiterate fellow,
I knew something was wrong.
I understood that the feedback
they were giving was false.
In our district of
East Godaveri alone
there are about
500,000 students.
Of which I'd say
anywhere between
250,000 to 300,000 are women.
So I'll take it as 250,000.
So 250,000 times 8
napkins a month.
Should be...
That's 2 million napkins.
To achieve that target
how many machines
do you think we'll need?
I'll calculate. You
just make a note.
Have you not considered tweaking
the shape? Something like this?
That's not necessary.
It's only for positioning.
Ours has adhesive
over the entire area.
Theirs don't, that's
why they shift.
Since the whole
area has adhesive,
there's no need for
wings and all.
So this is how it holds up?
They stick this side on
the panties and it holds.
OK, I get it. Maybe the Western
product is tailored for
the thongs and other panties
the Western girls wear.
And this is perfect for
the wrap-around type.
This is for the
post-delivery women?
It fits so close to the body,
there will be no leakage.
Two men discussing panties.
We're trying to find
a solution to a
problem we'll never
come across in life.
Actually he has.
His research was--
Yeah his research was in
an all-together different...
Yesterday I demonstrated
what I did eleven years ago.
Now we're going to make
an artificial uterus.
This is the story of The Man
Who Wore a Sanitary Pad.
You need patience to do this.
After getting their
false feedback sheets
I thought hereafter I shouldn't
depend on the medical students.
So what I did: I
made an artificial
uterus from a football bladder.
I filled animal blood
inside the bladder.
As I was walking or cycling,
I'd press the bladder.
A dosage of blood would go to
the napkin I was wearing.
Whenever I was out,
I'd pull at my clothes.
Just to check for stains.
I'd become a woman.
And where did you
get the blood from?
As I said, I'm a school dropout.
Majority
of my classmates run
chicken stalls.
The rest of them sell mutton.
They kill goats.
So one my ex-classmates
is a butcher.
Whenever he was going
to kill a goat, he'd
ring his cycle bell
in front of my house.
I'd go to his shop and
we'd fill hot goat blood in.
With some additive,
else it would clot.
That I got from a guy who
worked at a blood bank.
Even after mixing
in the additive,
it would last for up to an hour.
Then it would clot.
And in this heat it
would start smelling?
The smell would come
within half an hour.
So I used to wash
my clothes and the
football bladder
in a public well.
The whole village thought
I had a sexual disease.
They didn't know what
I was doing. They
thought I was washing
my private parts.
That meant it was in an extreme
condition that was incurable.
It was dangerous.
I'd see some friends
walking towards
me. They'd change their route!
Meanwhile, my wife thought I was
using this sanitary
napkin research
as a trump card to speak
secretly with women
and to roam with the girls.
I had become a pervert.
See God's sense of humor. I'd
started the research
for my wife.
After eighteen
months she left me.
But I didn't want to
give up the research.
Somebody was making
napkins out of
cotton. It was
accepted by women.
But I was trying with cotton
and it wasn't working out.
The property of cotton
is that it will
absorb liquid --
with hesitation.
Ordinary cotton won't
absorb the liquid instantly.
Even after absorption,
if you pressed it gently
or the women closed their legs,
the liquid would squeeze out.
Then what's the use
of the sanitary pad?
Then I thought, instead
of giving sanitary
pads to women and
asking for feedback
why not ask for their used pads?
That would reveal everything.
But how can you ask for
used pads from women
in a conservative
society like India?
If my wife was with
me, I could have
used her pads to
conduct the research.
But she had separated from me.
She
was staying with her parents.
If I went and asked
for her sanitary
pad, they would
definitely have thought
the son-in-law is going to cast
black magic on their daughter.
He's going to mesmerize
her or something.
Then again, I had to depend
on the medical college girls.
The agreement was, I'd supply
sanitary pads along
with carry-bags.
They'd use the pads and
leave them in the carry-bags.
I'd go and collect them like
a municipal garbage cleaner.
It was a Sunday, I remember.
I was conducting my research.
But then my mother came near
and saw that--
She thought her son was
cleaning chicken for Sunday
because we usually eat
non-vegetarian food
only on Sundays.
The moment she came closer,
she saw other women's used pads.
She started crying.
My God! Somebody's
done something
to my son. He's
become totally mad
She spread her saree
on the ground...
Put all her belongings on it...
Tied it into a knot...
Then she also left me.
It takes six months
to ready the team.
Don't start your
branding till then.
At first they'll
put anything into
the packets to finish the job.
Have them put the
napkins on the table.
Someone can inspect
them before packing.
We'll do the packing ourselves.
Remove any flawed product. Don't
let it out into the market.
How's Feel Free &
Clean as a name?
Or Feel Care? Which is better?
Why not have a Tamil name
instead of an English one?
Sir, why don't
you recommend one?
You suggest some
in Tamil first.
Mother Care?
Okay. So go with
Annai (Mother).
Annai or Amma. Might help you
get more government loans.
They decided on
Mother Care napkins.
And how do you feel about that?
It's nice. Because no one
cares more than a mother.
So I think it's a
good brand name.
My wife left eighteen months
into the research.
Four months later, my mother
also left me. Now I was alone.
After 2 years and 3 months,
I found the real raw material.
Ordinary cellulose, or cotton,
is derived from a plant.
What the corporations
are doing is
they're also using
cellulose, or cotton.
But it's derived from
the bark of a tree.
That cellulose will
absorb liquid instantly.
And it will retain it
even under pressure.
Press it. The water
will stay inside.
It didn't come out.
It's magic.
This is the material used
by big companies.
It's their
sixty-year-old secret.
I solved one problem. I
found the raw material.
It's derived from
the bark of a tree.
But how do you process it?
You need a multi-million dollar
production line to
process this material.
Where could I get a
million dollars?
Through trial-and-error for
the next four and a half years
I succeeded in
re-engineering that
big plant into 3-4
smaller machines.
Now any rural woman can
produce a world-class napkin
with my machine.
Because I'm uneducated,
I kept going.
If you're educated,
what would happen?
You'd stop.
Why?
People are only using
education as a tool to survive.
Not to achieve something.
I was seventeen
when I got married.
My husband owned a
confectionery store.
Slowly things began to change at
home. He picked up
some bad habits.
Drinking. Gambling.
It wasn't long before he stopped
caring about his wife and kids.
Arguing and beating
became the norm.
He'd come home drunk.
I'd ask him
to eat something,
but he'd refuse.
He'd leave to get
even more drunk.
Later he'd return and demand:
Give me money, bitch!
How could I? How much had
he earned to begin with?
The little he'd
leave for household
expenses, he would take back.
If I tried stopping him,
the arguing would begin.
The bottom line is
I got used to the beating.
It happened every second
or third day.
Wasn't long before
it happened every day.
He owed money to
six or seven people.
So he told me to go
to bed with each one.
An hour each and
my debts will be paid.
You're mine anyway.
You've already made
my life hell, I said.
What will you do to me
if I went with them?
He'd call repeatedly and
ask to speak to me.
Said he wanted two
hundred thousand
rupees. Five hundred
thousand even.
Where could we get
so much money?
So he'd beat her some more.
One day, he beat me
over and over again.
He even threw
hot oil at me.
I took my kids and left
that very night.
Didn't even bother
taking any belongings.
I didn't have a single rupee
to my name.
After I lost my father, I saw my
mother struggle to
support the family.
Now because of my
research and the
machines that resulted from it
I was capable of creating
sustainable rural employment
for women like my mother.
This is not a project for those
who already have some ornaments
but are looking to buy more.
This is a project to
only provide sustainable
employment for one's livelihood.
Note the word: 'Livelihood'.
Not to buy an Audi car.
Whenever I am coming out of my town
I never book a return ticket.
It's not programmed
like, We have to
install three machines
in three days.
That definitely won't work,
I know from experience.
We started traveling
in the morning
and arrived here around noon.
But here nothing's
been arranged.
Even the building is not open.
There is no electricity.
In some areas, we
even have to wait
for days for electrical power.
In such cases, I'll
hire a generator
or make other provisions.
But I'm not stressed because I
haven't paid for
a return ticket.
Now they're cleaning
the building.
Then we have to open the boxes.
Then we'll assemble
the machines.
And then we'll
give the training.
Awaken, friend, awaken...
We call them beemaru
(sick) states.
Poor, under-developed states.
These are the areas I'm keen on.
Just imagine an area where women
walk 19 km to fetch
a pot of water.
If they have no drinking water
on those five days
the whole family suffers
because the lady can't work.
Now even on those days the
women are able to fetch water.
I'm very happy now.
I used to long for every cent.
To buy milk for my children.
To send them to school.
I couldn't do any of that.
Granted, my parents would
give me some money
but I had to ask them for it.
Now I don't need to ask anyone.
I'm
working. I have money to spend.
Neither my family nor I
have any worries now.
But my parents did object to
my having a job at first.
They said my father and brother
were still around.
I could tend to the
cattle at home.
But I was getting depressed
just sitting around at home.
And I knew the neighbours
would start to gossip.
They do gossip.
Four neighbours,
four gossip tales.
Now they say, She's out all day.
What
kind of school
keeps her so busy?
It's something new each time
but I've stopped caring.
And so my mindset has changed.
I've built a new
life for myself.
I used to be afraid to speak. I
barely said anything to others.
I'd speak when spoken to
but otherwise I'd stay silent.
It was as if I didn't exist.
But now? If others don't
start the conversation, I will.
I'm speaking to you from a
remote village in Chhattisgarh.
Okay sir, we can do it.
But we intend to
work only in remote
parts of the country.
We're not interested in metro
cities. So that's why...
That's why I have
yet to appoint any
dealers or distributors
in my own country.
You know, there are 639
districts in India.
Even if a dealer
was only required
to order five machines from me
just calculate how many I could
sell in a single stroke.
Millions would fall on my table.
I never did that.
I'm shifting the
billion-dollar industry's
profit to stakeholders
of small groups.
So many industry
people say my machine
looks like The Wright
Brothers' plane.
It looks skeletal.
But if you keep the
machine very simple
the women's group will attain
breakeven very easily.
Secondly, they never
need to bother
about servicing the machine.
Why am I using wood? I can
use stainless steel instead.
Instead of a pedal,
I can make small DC motors.
I know how to
complicate the machine
with a bunch of cables and all.
When you complicate
the machine, at
some point it will
require servicing.
There are no servicing problems.
A rural woman can
learn to use the
machine and troubleshoot too.
I turned a very complicated
process into four simple steps.
First, uncompressing the
cellulose into fluffy form.
That's done on a small,
kitchen grinder-like
Then they pack the
fluffy material
into rectangular cakes
Thirdly they will go to a
They will wrap the
non-woven cloth
using a thermal heating method.
After that, because
the rural women
are making the napkins by hand
for hygiene purposes,
they have to disinfect them.
So finally before
packing them they
will put the napkins inside an
The moment they take them out
they will pack them
into a wrapper,
seal it, and the
napkins are made.
This is the napkin they made.
Is it properly made, sir?
Yes. It's very nice.
She did good?
Not bad.
Now you make one.
Any rural woman can learn
this process in a single day.
In this way we are creating
rural employment
as well as improving hygiene
among rural women.
That's called rural marketing.
That's called
empowering a country.
That's called
empowering a woman.
If I'd been this
person before...
The one who has a job...
The one with confidence and
ability to speak her mind...
I would never have
put up with the beating.
I'd have hit him
instead.
And if he was here
that's what I'd do.
If you asked politicians
or economists,
What is important for a country?
the economists might
say currency.
Gold mines. Or coal mines.
Or offshore drilling
and gas beds.
I say just empower women. It's
nothing but empowering
the country.
If you give money
to men and women,
their spending patterns
are different.
If you give me
money, even I would
spend on clothes, or
shoes, or liquor.
But if you give the
money to a woman
it goes to nourishing
her children.
And education of her children.
Once a knowledgeable
society is created
all the roads, dams --
everything comes automatically.
Say a woman is marketing
napkins in this area.
And another woman has
extra chillis and onions.
They're exchanging
onions for napkins.
It's the barter system
all over again.
Imagine bartering your products
for others? Is it possible?
That's why I say
multinationals will
never exchange products
for anything...
other than this.
You people are still selling the
product. I've moved
away from selling.
All the village women
here used cloth.
And out of embarrassment,
they'd re-use the rags
without first drying
them in the sun.
So the rags would get
infested with germs
and the women would catch
some disease or the other.
At our regular women's
meetings, they'd
tell us about each
other's illnesses.
So our founder, Bunker
Roy, began searching
for a solution to
protect the women.
He wondered if there
was a machine
we could setup for
their benefit.
So he ordered these machines and
started this facility
in July 2010.
Who knew about pads before?
No one.
The elders still wouldn't be
able to explain their function.
It's only the younger women
who use them
because they're studying or
since we've spoken to them.
During my research I
tried giving away
free sanitary pads
in my village.
The next day I saw many children
playing with my napkins.
They had tied strings
to the ends!
I saw many adults using
the soft area to
clean the headlights
of their scooters.
Why aren't sanitary pads
used by rural women?
The majority of people think
it's a double-A problem.
Availability and Affordability
In our experience
we found a third
A -- Awareness -- was missing.
They napkin they will have
to use to prevent illness.
That awareness is missing
among rural women.
This is a subject
that can't be tackled
by a marketing or
advertising team.
Every time you see
an advertisement,
it's of a girl wearing
tight jeans...
Running behind a small dog, then
jumping over a compound wall.
What are you saying? That
sanitary pads provide comfort.
You never discuss the importance
of cleanliness and hygiene.
They understand the
point about comfort.
But what about it? The rural
women don't have dogs.
Even if they did, they have no
need to jump over
a compound wall.
Of course, there are
the new commercials.
With that music....
There's always
some woman jamming
in the background.
With these new sanitary napkin commercials.
The heart desires,
so I can soar.
I'm, like, this is so inspiring!
Suddenly I'm feeling patriotic
towards pads.
I'm telling you, the next big
product is going to be...
Lady Bits.
Now with a top layer designed
by Manish Malhotra.
For your girliness.
And your wetness.
No! I want to wear white pants.
I want to sleep on
my white bedsheets.
That's not a real issue.
That's not what chicks do.
They don't spend five days
a month worrying:
Holy crap! White pants.
Now I'll have
to go buy different
colored pants.
So something more relevant
would be nice to see.
The people we met from
Tiripur this morning?
This machine is being
delivered to them.
It's sixty kilometres away from
here. A small satellite town.
They're going to cater
to the suburb areas.
Coming out with my own brand
is not an important issue.
I don't want to scale up.
I want to scale deep.
Or branch out everywhere
like a movement.
Now, by only investing
a few thousand dollars
anyone can enter this business.
It was a centralized,
macro-business
model since the
Second World War.
Because of my
innovation, it's become
a de-centralized, micro-model.
There's was no uneasiness
on their part, or mine
because I'd start with
the elderly women.
I'd chat with them and
make small talk.
Then they'd ask about me,
where I was from.
I'd tell them I was from
Pardada Pardadi School
and I had brought some pads
to sell in their village.
It would be great if you
could help me.
And then they'd take over.
Wait here, my dear .
We'll gather some women for you.
We made our pads
for rural women.
Not city folk. They can get
theirs from the stores.
We educated the
villagers about this.
Now they buy pads on
their own accord.
They want to protect themselves
against disease.
Cloth usage has dropped.
Most are using pads now.
So much so that even
shops selling regular
brands can't cope
with the demand.
We have an order for
2500 pads that I can't meet!
We've only delivered 600 so far.
We've run out of stock.
What can I do?
We have to create a
napkin-using culture.
That's only possible through
a women-to-women model.
Here there are a lot of taboos,
a lot of existing myths.
There's a belief in
one rural community
that any woman using
sanitary pads
will be blinded
by their goddess.
Then how will they dare
to use sanitary pads?
In another community
there's a myth
that if a woman
uses sanitary pads
she won't get married.
Lots of beliefs are there.
Once a woman makes
sanitary pads,
she will go tell other women
See, I've been
using them for two
months. No goddess
has taken my vision.
So every customer is
going to become
my partner, my well-wisher
my propaganda agent,
my brand ambassador.
They will take care of
spreading awareness.
That's why I call what
I'm doing building
a low-cost sanitary
pad movement.
... and this is my friend.
I often come here
to give her pads
which she then helps me to sell.
This is the same Guddiya.
Right, the one you
mentioned before.
I give her pads,
and she can tell
you how she feels about them.
I like them a lot.
Would you like
to tell us more?
There are some taboos which can
never be wiped out from India.
We have a custom where the girl,
upon attaining menarche
is given a set of
norms to follow.
Seclusion for five days is a
norm for the menstruating kids.
She's not allowed to
visit any public places.
She's considered impure and
barred from entering temples.
And she can't cook or touch
the household water supply.
She can't touch the laundry
and things have to be
handed to her.
She's like the fly you scoop
out of milk and toss aside.
She's not allowed to touch
her brothers, her sisters
or even her own mother
and father.
It amounts to untouchability.
Once the child attains menarche,
she is supposed to stay at home.
About 23% of girls
in India drop out of
school after the onset
of menstruation.
Women must advance themselves.
They fall behind because
they're afraid of men.
When a woman steps
out of her home,
people say all kinds
of things about her.
But they shouldn't lose courage.
They should insist on standing
shoulder-to-shoulder
with any man.
Nowadays women are advancing
further and further.
And they can do
anything men can.
Once women earn their own living
they can stand on their own feet
and leave men behind.
I've been here the last
thirty five years.
I'm very close to the women
and know them well.
When I meet them I see
their children stop going to
school once they reach puberty
because they're not able to
protect themselves.
And the women don't
have the proper materials
so they also feel insecure
during their periods.
It was on my mind
for many years.
How can we solve this problem?
Multinationals were
making this product
and it required
millions in investment.
Now I came to know there's one
Mr. Muruganantham in Coimbatore
who is able to give us machines
that we can afford.
Once the machines came
we had a problem.
We don't get eight
hours of electricity.
At the most we get
three hours a day.
Some days we get none.
They've only worked
one-third of the shift,
no? So it won't be
more than 1500 packs.
It should be 2500 in
the training period.
Then it has to go to
4000 packs a month.
Only then can we reach
our business...
neither profit nor loss...
- Breakeven?
- Breakeven.
When I was young,
whenever I heard the sound
ooo-AAA ooo-aa ooo-aa, I'd be
a little afraid. What was it?
My mother said it was
an ambulance or fire engine.
Then I learned that other than
ambulances and fire engines
cars used by politicians and
officials also have sirens.
Sirens on fire engines
or ambulances,
maybe it's to save many lives.
Why do politicians need sirens?
What's their urgency?
They say they're rushing to do
some good for society.
They've rushed for
67 years since
independence. What
have they done?
We have to make a
lot of adjustments
around this electricity problem.
At the unit we've got seven
women plus one supervisor.
And they really adjust
to the situation.
They get up early and
come to work at 6 a.m.
That shows their
level of interest.
They really want to learn and
commit to this unit.
In our village, we don't have
electricity. We use
kerosene lamps.
And nowadays kerosene
is too expensive.
That's why we were
chosen to come to
India to learn
solar engineering.
Us village women, we do domestic
work. We just stay at home.
Do the cooking,
sweeping, look after
the kids, prepare their food.
The men work in agriculture.
Some
go fishing, and we
sell the catch.
That's how we earn
money in our country.
- You malum (understand)?
- Malum. Malum.
- This... what's this called?
- Multimeter.
Multimeter malum?
Small malum. Small malum.
Two months ago, our Minister of
Women came to visit
us from Fiji.
She visited the
sanitary pad factory.
And she felt us Fiji women
should take this course too
because we don't have
such a factory in Fiji.
We were so excited.
All nine ladies felt it was so
simple to operate the machine.
They can go back
to Fiji and open a
factory. They can
work there as a team.
I hope all of Fiji
will be proud of us.
We've trained to make
sanitary pads and
we're going to start
a factory in Fiji.
Fiji is the same as India. Some
women don't use sanitary pads.
They just use cloth because the
cost of pads nowadays
is going up.
They called me a madman.
A pervert.
Then suddenly I was
in the limelight.
I was continuously seen in
newspapers and magazines.
I was live on TV.
Then the same people,
with the same tongue
they said, I always knew this
guy would amount to something.
Very importantly,
those who concluded
they would expel me
from the village
they come to my home and ask me
to inaugurate temples and so on.
I laugh, but I'm laughing
inside my heart.
On January 10th we
started the training.
And we felt the girls are ready
to start the unit.
What did you do when your girls
reached puberty?
You told them not to go out
during their periods.
Go out after 4 days.
You're looking guilty.
Please don't do that anymore.
While you were on
your way, I was
speaking to a
venture capitalist.
Another offer?
Yeah they offered some U.S.
dollars. I refused.
Left the people wondering.
I didn't
even show any interest
to get money.
I explained what I need. Not
money. I told them
I need people.
To do social entrepreneurship,
we need people. Not money.
I started in order to make a
low-cost sanitary
pad for my wife.
I did it.
Then I saw poor women
like my mother
who were unable to find
sustainable rural employment.
So far I've supplied
643 machines
across 23 states in India.
What I'm trying to do now is:
I want to make India a 100%
sanitary napkin-using country.
And I want to create
not less than
one million jobs for poor women.
So my dream, my imagination,
keeps expanding like this.
I'm looking through my
binoculars at the entire world.
My God! There are
hundreds of countries
where sanitary napkins
aren't accessible.
Now my dream is getting
bigger and bigger.
Why not start a
world movement in
making low cost sanitary pads?
Why not make all
developing nations
100% sanitary
pad-using countries?
By the way, why not create
10 million jobs?
Welcome.
It may seem crazy to you.
He's shooting this.
That's my daughter.
Yes, you must be crazy to
dream something big.
To achieve something big.
That's all.