When Dwayne Bravo learnt to make a sanitary pad from Padman

The Chennai Super Kings player came all the way to Coimbatore to meet Arunachalam Muruganantham and train under him to take the message of menstrual hygiene to the island of Trinidad.

Arunachalam Muruganantham had an unlikely visitor today. The Coimbatore-based 56-year-old, whose low-cost machine for making sanitary pads has played a major role in improving the lives of thousands of women across the world, saw a sudden buzz at the entrance of his company, Jayaashree Industries, on Thadagam Road in the city.

He realised he had an important visitor, but had no idea who it was. Mr. Muruganantham found himself welcoming Trinidadian cricketer Dwayne Bravo, a former captain of the West Indies team.

“People around me then explained to me who he was,” says an excited Mr. Muruganantham, who was the inspiration for the Bollywood film Padman. Mr. Bravo had planned a trip to Coimbatore just to meet Mr. Muruganantham. “He had watched Padman, and read up a lot on me and my work. I didn’t have to speak about myself at all,” he says, adding that the cricketer spent two-and-a-half-hours with him.

“He told me that back home in Trinidad, they too had similar problems — girls were dropping out of schools because they didn’t have access to sanitary pads,” explains Mr. Muruganantham. “Bravo learned how to make one using the machine,” he says, “He made his first one in just 15 minutes.”

Mr. Bravo has vowed to spread awareness on menstrual hygiene in Trinidad, according to Mr. Muruganantham. “He said he was planning to set it up in a training centre in Trinidad and Tobago and take it to more people,” he adds.

Mr. Muruganantham explains that apart from the machine, he will be sharing raw material and the complete technology with regard to making sanitary napkins with Mr. Bravo. “I don’t believe in selling my machines just for a profit,” he observes.

Mr. Muruganantham won the National Innovation Foundation’s Fifth National Grassroots Technological Innovations and Traditional Knowledge Award from President Pratibha Patil in 2006 for his machine. He has trained several women’s self-help groups and NGOs across the world to make sanitary pads and today, his machines run in 27 countries.

The man is all praise for Mr. Bravo. “He’s the first cricketer to speak about periods and menstrual hygiene,” he says. “This action of his will inspire the younger generation.”

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