The 'Menstruation' Man

First part of the broadcast in http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01pz6z9 , reuploaded towards making it accessible via captioning. From the original description:

"Arunachalam Muruganantham is the Indian inventor who has ignored taboos about menstruation to invent a low-cost sanitary pad. He was abandoned by his wife and mother and shunned by neighbours on his journey to improve the health of millions of women. (...)

First broadcast: Wednesday 22 January 2014"

Hello and welcome to Outlook from the BBC world service. I am Matthew Bannister.

On today`s program, the Indian inventor has braved taboos to invent a low cost sanitary pad

and improve the health of millions of women.

An American woman tells how her father accidentally ran over her

with her car leaving her paralyzed from the neck down

And in Bosnia, one man`s mission to heal the wounds of war

through cows.

Some people, it means that for the first time

since the war, they can guarantee food on the table

They have a cow to feed them and they can make their own cheese.

You could say that I have made survival possible

And also with me in the studio is Mike Rutherford

guitarist with ``The Wrong Man Genesis``

and leader of ``Mike and the Mechanics``. Welcome to the program, Mike.

Good to have you here. (pause) Thank you.

Big crook healing.........................................

If you had not been a rock star, what would you have done, do you think?

Probably one of two things:

either a journalist, my first idea

I probably made the right choice there

or a sports person

I mean, I like all the sports

people I know very well

maybe a polo player. I was a very keen polo player at the time.

You actually played polo?

For twenty five years, yeah.

And you broke your nose and your chest

I had an awful lot of it, that is why I stopped eventually, yeah.

Right, but would you have liked to taken that on professionally?

Um, I think so. There is something nice about the regime of a sports person.

a lot similar to what I do now, in a way.

Well, we will talk some more later on, but it is great to have you on the program, Mike.

Mike Rutherford, from Genesis.

But let us start with this story

The Indian inventor Arunachalam Muruganantham has come up with a low cost sanitary pad

which is transforming the lives of millions of women.

But his obsession with helping women improve their menstrual health

came at a cost

His wife left him for a time, his mother refused to speak to him,

and his neighbors accused him of being possessed by evil spirits.

Now, his simple machine for making sanitary pads is being taken up by groups of women

in many Indian states.

Not only helping them to avoid dangerous infections, but also giving them a source of income.

When I spoke to him through a translator on the line,

from Quinbatorua, in south India

he told me what first set him off on his mission

(Hindi being spoken)

One day, I saw something. She`s trying to run away from me, hide something from me, which made me

all the more excited.

Why is this lady running around?

She`s running away from me, running towards