The film Pad Man and the Pad Man challenge may be clogging your timelines, but a group of students got to watch the movie with the original Pad Man himself - Arunachalam Muruganantham from our very own Coimbatore, was in Chennai on Tuesday to enjoy the film. He spent time watching it amongst students from across the city including a few from special schools.
The minute Muruganantham entered SPI Cinemas, he was flooded with people young and old — everyone wanted a selfie with him. He didn't deny even one of them. He smiled at every camera directed at him. The screening was an initiative of #StandByHer by Mariazeena Johnson, Managing Director, Sathyabama University. Johnson said that she was motivated to organise the event to give a chance to students to get the chance to meet the inspirational Muruganantham.
Understandably, the 'Pad Man' took the stage to roaring applause, "So many celebrities have put up their selfies with a sanitary pad. It is time the common man starts doing it too. Each of you has to also take a selfie with a pad," he said to all the students.
On cue, they all lifted their hands to display the pad they were holding in their hands. "The one thing we can all do to make conversations about menstruation more common is by letting others know how comfortable we are with it. A picture with a pad is worth 1000 words. Holding up a pad shows others that menstruation is a very normal process and it is nothing to be ashamed of. Let us all participate in this movement to make women's hygiene a priority and let sanitary napkins become accessible to the farthest villages," he said.
Johnson also thanked Muruganantham for making menstruation a topic that could be freely discussed with our family and friends, "We should not just stop with selfies. Each of us should take an oath to ensure we do our part to make pads accessible to every woman we know. As students, you should go back to your schools and find out if you have a sanitary pad dispenser. If you don't, find out how you can set up one," she advised the students. "We have already started providing free napkins in 10 government schools and ten orphanages. We're working with Muruganantham to figure out ways to expand this everywhere," Johnson said.
