Behind Every Successful Woman is Sometimes a Man

You get a hint of the humorous and witty tone the talk is about to adopt when the presentation slides start running with a 'Stauary' warning to the audience that the speaker, Arunachalam Muruganatham lacks English speaking skills and that he's a school dropout. You immediately get an idea of his familiarity with technology when he advises you, the educated audience, to forget the right-click option we use on our computers to change pronunciation and tense for the moment and understand the real meat of the matter.

The inspiring TEDxGateway Mumbai talk - 

Franklin Templeton Investments partnered the TEDxGateway Mumbai in December 2012

The talk is about sanitary pads. Guys, don't be grossed out. There are important lessons to be learnt here. For instance, this man's journey to discovering a low-cost sanitary napkin that would help balance his (and others') household budget and his unflinching approach right from the outset, not worrying what this or that person may say - a very rare quality. He never lost hope or faltered despite facing opposition from society because his goal was so clear in his mind. He seems to have learned along the way that the 'Teee & Eeee Method' always works. What's that, you ask? It's plain ol trial and error which he attributes to his ability to today rub shoulders with Johnson & Johnson and other biggies such as Proctor & Gamble.

The 3 biggest lessons to take away from this TED talk:

1. Don't be intimidated by the so-called educated elite and the jargon they employ. Lack of education need not hold you back. 
2. If you flow against the stream, you will face obstacles, especially from parts of society that's not used to change. Change is good.
3. Don't chase money to lead a meaningful life. All you need is a problem that needs solving and a solution that you come up with, mostly as you go along. 

Read up at Wikipedia about Arunachalam, the founder of Jayashree Industries which markets cost-effective sanitary pad manufacturing machines to rural women all over India and provides them with employment. This man has a soft spot for women, can't you tell? :)

Here's looking forward to a day when commercially sold pads will be available in our cities as single pieces the way the rural staff of Jayashree Industries are instructed to sell them, if need be.