So I tried to do a small good thing for my wife. It makes me to stand here, the fame, the money I got out of it. So what I did, I'd gone back to my early marriage days. What you did in the early marriage days, you tried to impress your wife. I did the same. On that occasion, I found my wife carrying something like this. I saw. "What is that?" I asked. My wife replied, "None of your business." Then, being her husband, I ran behind her and saw she had a nasty rag cloth. I don't even use that cloth to clean my two-wheeler. Then I understood this -- adapting that unhygienic method to manage her period days.
我打算为我妻子做点小事 而那件事使我站在这里 那件事也使我取得了荣誉和财富 这个故事要从我刚结婚的时候说起 你刚结婚时候都干些什么? 要想给妻子留个好印象,对吧,我也是一样。 偶然,我发现我妻子 这样子拿着一样东西 我问:“那是什么呀?” 我妻子回答:“不关你的事。” 但是,我是她丈夫呀,我悄悄跟着她 看见她好像有块脏抹布 脏得我甚至不想用它来擦屁股 我很快明白了她拿着这个不卫生的东西的原因 她来月经了
Then I immediately asked her, why are you [using] that unhygienic method? She replied, I also know about [sanitary pads], but myself and my sisters, if they start using that, we have to cut our family milk budget. Then I was shocked. What is the connection between using a sanitary pad and a milk budget? And it's called affordability. I tried to impress my new wife by offering her a packet of sanitary pads. I went to a local shop, I tried to buy her a sanitary pad packet. That fellow looks left and right, and spreads a newspaper, rolls it into the newspaper, gives it to me like a banned item, something like that. I don't know why. I did not ask for a condom. Then I took that pad. I want to see that. What is inside it?
我当时就问她,你怎么用这种不卫生的东西? 她回答说,我也知道有卫生巾 但我和姐妹们如果用卫生巾的话 我们就没有那么多钱买牛奶了 我被她的话震惊了 用卫生巾和买牛奶有什么联系? 通常人们称之为:经济负担能力 于是我打算给我的新婚妻子买了一大盒卫生巾来博取她对我的好印象 我走进一家小店买了一盒卫生巾 卖东西的伙计左右看看 铺开一张报纸,裹着它 递给我,像是在做贼一样 我想:他在干嘛呢?我又不是要买避孕套 然后我就打量着那个盒子,我想看看里面有什么
The very first time, at the age of 29, that day I am touching the sanitary pad, first ever. I must know: How many of the guys here have touched a sanitary pad? They are not going to touch that, because it's not your matter. Then I thought to myself, white substance, made of cotton -- oh my God, that guy is just using a penny value of raw material -- inside they are selling for pounds, dollars. Why not make a local sanitary pad for my new wife? That's how all this started, but after making a sanitary pad, where can I check it? It's not like I can just check it in the lab. I need a woman volunteer. Where can I get one in India? Even in Bangalore you won't get [one], in India. So only problem: the only available victim is my wife.
那时候我29岁 第一次接触到卫生巾 我很想知道,在座有多少男士碰过卫生巾? 这不管我们男士的事?对吗? 我琢磨开了,白色的,不就是棉花吗 天哪,成本才几分钱而已 他们竟然卖好几美元 我为什么不为我的新妻子做一点卫生巾呢? 这就是故事的起因。可是做好之后 我到哪儿去检验一下呢? 实验室好像不干这个 我需要一个女性志愿者,可是在印度 甚至在班加罗尔(印度南部城市),没有 所以唯一的受害者就只能是我妻子了
Then I made a sanitary pad and handed it to Shanti -- my wife's name is Shanti. "Close your eyes. Whatever I give, it will be not a diamond pendant not a diamond ring, even a chocolate, I will give you a surprise with a lot of tinsel paper rolled up with it. Close your eyes." Because I tried to make it intimate. Because it's an arranged marriage, not a love marriage. (Laughter) So one day she said, openly, I'm not going to support this research. Then other victims, they got into my sisters. But even sisters, wives, they're not ready to support in the research. That's why I am always jealous with the saints in India. They are having a lot of women volunteers around them. Why I am not getting [any]? You know, without them even calling, they'll get a lot of women volunteers. Then I used, tried to use the medical college girls. They also refused. Finally, I decide, use sanitary pad myself. Now I am having a title like the first man to set foot on the moon. Armstrong. Then Tenzing [and] Hillary, in Everest, like that Muruganantham is the first man wore a sanitary pad across the globe.
我拿着做好的卫生巾对 Shanti 说,对了,她的名字 “闭上眼,猜猜是什么 很可惜不是个钻石项链 也不是钻石戒指,甚至不是巧克力 这个东西是用纸做的 请闭上眼睛吧“ 我想要把事情搞得亲密一些 因为这是父母安排的婚姻,不是恋爱婚姻 (笑) 终于有一天,她坦白的告诉我,她不再支持我的研究了 后来也就来了别的牺牲者,我的姐妹 即使是姐妹和妻子,她们也不支持我 这就是我为什么妒忌印度的圣人 他们总是有那么多女性志愿者围着他们 为什么我就没有? 你知道,那些圣人不用开口,就有许多女性志愿者过来了 我去找那些医学院的女孩 她们也拒绝了我。最终,我决定 我自己用 我感觉我真像那个 第一次在月球上留下脚印的 Armstrong 或者是登上珠穆朗玛峰的 Tenzing 和 Hillary 我,Muruganantham 是全世界第一个 穿着卫生巾的男人
I wore a sanitary pad. I filled animal blood in a football bottle, I tied it up here, there is a tube going into my panties, while I'm walking, while I'm cycling, I made a press, doses of blood will go there. That makes me bow down to any woman in front of me to give full respect. That five days I'll never forget -- the messy days, the lousy days, that wetness. My God, it's unbelievable.
我穿着卫生巾,还弄些动物血在瓶子里 我把瓶子绑在这儿,再插一根管子通到我的内裤里 当我走路骑车的时候,我按一下那个瓶子 血就会流到“那儿” 这件事让我对女人非常敬佩 那五天的实验我一辈子也忘不掉 五个混乱,肮脏,潮湿的日子 天哪,真是难以置信
But here the problem is, one company is making napkin out of cotton. It is working well. But I am also trying to make sanitary pad with the good cotton. It's not working. That makes me to want to refuse to continue this research and research and research. You need first funds. Not only financial crises, but because of the sanitary pad research, I come through all sorts of problems, including a divorce notice from my wife. Why is this? I used medical college girls. She suspects I am using as a trump card to run behind medical college girls. Finally, I came to know it is a special cellulose derived from a pinewood, but even after that, you need a multimillion-dollar plant like this to process that material. Again, a stop-up. Then I spend another four years to create my own machine tools, a simple machine tool like this. In this machine, any rural woman can apply the same raw materials that they are processing in the multinational plant, anyone can make a world-class napkin at your dining hall. That is my invention.
问题是,工厂可以用棉花 做出很好的餐巾纸 我同样用好棉花,就做不出好用的卫生巾 这让我很沮丧,甚至不再想继续试验 而且实验也是需要资金的 还并不只是资金 这些研究还给我带来了一系列的麻烦, 比如: 一封来自妻子的离婚申请书 为什么?就因为那些医学院的女孩 她怀疑我做实验只是个借口 从而可以去追那些女孩 最终,我终于了解到了一种特别的纤维素 从松树中获得,但即使这样 照样也需要价值上百万的机器 来处理这些原料。所以,工作又停顿下来 接着,我又用了四年时间开发我自己的机器 一个简单的机器,看起来像这样 这个机器使得任何乡下的妇女都能处理原材料 和那些跨国公司处理的过程一样 卫生巾人人都可以在餐厅里就做出来,还是世界级的 这就是我的发明
So after that, what I did, usually if anyone got a patent or an invention, immediately you want to make, convert into this. I never did this. I dropped it just like this, because you do this, if anyone runs after money, their life will not [have] any beauty. It is boredom. A lot of people making a lot of money, billion, billions of dollars accumulating. Why are they coming for, finally, for philanthropy? Why the need for accumulating money, then doing philanthropy? What if one decided to start philanthropy from the day one? That's why I am giving this machine only in rural India, for rural women, because in India, [you'll be] surprised, only two percent of women are using sanitary pads. The rest, they're using a rag cloth, a leaf, husk, [saw] dust, everything except sanitary pads. It is the same in the 21st century. That's why I am going to decide to give this machine only for poor women across India. So far, 630 installations happened in 23 states in six other countries.
发明这台机器之后,我干了什么呢 通常如果有人得到了个专利或者发明了一样东西 他想做的第一件事就是把它变成这个(钱) 我没有这么做,我就这样放下了(钱) 因为我想,任何只追逐金钱的人 生命并不会快乐,只会空虚。 很多赚大钱的人 积累了几十亿 最后都干什么去了呢?做慈善了 那为什么要有钱了再去做慈善呢? 从现在就开始呗 所以我把这台机器送给 所有印度乡下的女性,因为在印度 只有百分之二的女性买得起卫生巾 其余的,都用脏布 甚至是树叶,泥土,就是没有卫生巾 同样是21世纪(怎么差别那么大咧)。我决定 无偿把机器贡献给贫穷的印度农村 至今,已经有630套这样的设备安置在 不同国家的不同地方 (他不是说只给印度吗……)
Now I'm on my seventh year sustaining against multinational, transnational giants -- makes all MBA students a question mark. A school dropout from Coimbatore, how he is able to sustaining? That makes me a visiting professor and guest lecturer in all IIMs. (Applause) Play video one.
现在,已经是我和那些商业巨头们较量 的第七个年头——这让所有的MBA学生纳闷 一个从 Coimbatore 辍学的家伙,怎么能干这么久? 因此他们邀请我去所有的印度管理学院做演讲 (掌声) 播一段视频
(Video) Arunachalam Muruganantham: The thing I saw in my wife's hand, "Why are you using that nasty cloth?" She replied immediately, "I know about napkins, but if I start using napkins, then we have to cut our family milk budget." Why not make myself a low-cost napkin? So I decided I'm going to sell this new machine only for Women Self Help Groups. That is my idea.
(视频)Arunachalam Muruganantham: 我问我妻子:“你怎么能用那么脏的布头?” 她立刻回答:“如果我用卫生巾 我们就不得不少喝牛奶” 为什么不为自己做一种低成本的卫生巾呢? 因此我决定把这种机器卖给(您不是说好了要送的吗?) 自助小组(贫困地区的人们组成的,互相帮助的小团体) 这是我的主意
AM: And previously, you need a multimillion investment for machine and all. Now, any rural woman can. They are performing puja. (Video): (Singing) You just think, competing giants, even from Harvard, Oxford, is difficult. I make a rural woman to compete with multinationals. I'm sustaining on seventh year. Already 600 installations. What is my mission? I'm going to make India [into] a 100-percent-sanitary-napkin-using country in my lifetime. In this way I'm going to provide not less than a million rural employment that I'm going to create. That's why I'm not running after this bloody money. I'm doing something serious. If you chase a girl, the girl won't like you. Do your job simply, the girl will chase you. Like that, I never chased Mahalakshmi. Mahalakshmi is chasing me, I am keeping in the back pocket. Not in front pocket. I'm a back pocket man. That's all. A school dropout saw your problem in the society of not using sanitary pad. 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. That's why I put all the details on public domain like an open software. Now 110 countries are accessing it. Okay? So I classify the people into three: uneducated, little educated, surplus educated. Little educated, done this. Surplus educated, what are you going to do for the society?
以前,你需要几百万投资 去买设备。现在,任何乡下的妇女都可以 这个视频是她们在礼拜(印度教) (视频)(演唱) 你想一下,要和商业巨头对抗 就算你是哈佛,牛津来的也很困难 但我让一个乡下女人能够对抗跨国公司 而且坚持了七年 已经600套了。我接下来的任务是什么? 我要让印度的女性,在我的有生之年 全部用上卫生巾 还有,我要在印度农村提供 不少于100万个就业机会,靠这台机器 这就是为什么我不急于追求血钱 我要做些大事 如果你只是去追女孩,女孩不一定喜欢你 如果你埋头干你的事,女孩会主动来追你 真的,我从来没追过 Mahalakshmi. 是 Mahalakshmi (第二个老婆?)追的我 我没上心,我无所谓 就这样,我从一个不用卫生巾的社会里 看到了问题 我提供了解决方案,我非常快乐 我不想去办什么大企业 我就想让那些当地用不起卫生巾的女性们用上卫生巾 全球也一样。这就是为什么我公开全部资料 就像一个公共开放的软件 现在有110个国家开始引进它了,很好? 我把人们分成三种情况 没受过教育,受过少许教育和受过很好教育 受过少许教育的人,做了这个 而受高等教育的人,你们都为社会做了些什么呢?
Thank you very much. Bye!
非常感谢,再见!
(Applause)
(鼓掌)