Quotes from Arunachalam Muruganantham

My plea is that don't wait for a girl to become a woman to empower them. Empower a girl's life by giving sanitary pads to them. With pads, we give them wings.

You can send women to the Moon or Mars later. First, provide sanitary pads to them.

The strong creation created by God in the world is not the lion, not the elephant, not the tiger - the girl.

A male can be a boy, a man, a love/husband, a father, a grandfather, a great-grandfather, but they don't have any knowledge what's happening inside a woman's body. That's what I had learnt in my early married life.

To help my mother, I started working as a workshop helper. There I learned welding and other tools.

There are two kinds of students: those who study and work to survive, while others who want to be achievers.

I had been getting queries from regional filmmakers to do a movie based on my work. But I did not want my work and mission - to create awareness on menstrual hygiene - to be restricted to only a part of the country. In fact, I wanted to do the movie in Hollywood.

Every father, brother, and husband should know about menstruation. It is not just about women; it is about men, too.

There should be awareness on menstrual hygiene among men as well.

What kept me going was my desire to provide a hygiene product for my wife.

The government should include menstrual hygiene in the curriculum.

My argument is that there is already an automated machine to make pads. What I did - I reverse-engineered it to 'simple.' Anyone who wants to compete will have to come out with a simpler machine.

Most of the students whom I have lectured were inquisitive to learn and contribute towards my vision. So, the youth who want to achieve in life can do a lot for society.

I am the son of a hand-loom weaver. I have a connection with yarn. I thought, 'Why not try to make an affordable sanitary pad for my wife?'

I suffered a lot when I tried to make sanitary napkins and promote the idea. My family - including my mother and wife - deserted me. Villagers even tied me to a tree and beat me. But after seeing me successful now, they come and say that they all knew that I would become famous one day.

It took me eight years of trial and error to design the machines that would make low-cost pads: just Rs 2 each, compared to those made by the MNCs that are priced anywhere above Rs 6 to Rs 100.

Every year, in our country, we churn out more job seekers rather than job creators. We have to look at new business models, identify a problem, and work on a solution for the same. Today, the machines I have created have provided employment to many women in the rural areas across the country. Why can't youngsters follow suit?

The choice is yours: Do you want to exist, or do you want to live?

The world has a shortage of solution providers. Everybody want to be in the 'Forbes' list.

I am becoming a solution provider. I'm very happy. I don't want to make this as a corporate entity. I want to make this as a local sanitary pad movement across the globe.

The most difficult thing is changing people's mindset.

We keep discussing nuclear power and other issues, but we should spare a thought to the basic needs of our women.

Why buy sanitary napkins from multinationals when we can make them at home and generate employment?

Luckily, I'm not educated. If you act like an illiterate man, your learning will never stop.