Joy J. Kaimaparamban is the author of The Ayurvedic Healer, a novel published by Copperhill Media. For further information log on to his blog at http://www.kaimaparamban.com.

My father had been a votary of Ayurveda. He had told me the reason for it.

When he was a boy, he was attacked by some ailment, which caused him lie on bed unconscious. His father and mother became anxious about it. In that time, physicians were rare.  In my hometown there was an Ayurvedic Healer who belonged to a traditional Ayurvedic medical practitioner’s family.

As my father was unconscious, my grandfather was not interested to take him to the infirmary. And the physician was an acquaintance of my grandfather. So he went quickly to the infirmary to bring the physician home. By this time half part of my father’s body became frozen. Seeing the condition, my grandmother and other female members of the family began to cry aloud.

Within minutes grandfather and the physician came to the house. The bewailing of the family members was greeting them. They might have thought the boy had expired. With giving that comment my father was laughing.  He had never feared death. The physician entered into the room where the patient had been lying.

The physician examined my father well. Then he took out some medicinal leaves and a tablet from his box. The leaves were squeezed and the juice was taken into a small vessel. He put the tablet into the juice and dissolved it. Somehow, he could exert the medical liquid into the mouth of the patient. Very slowly it flowed into his stomach. The physician sat in a chair looking at his chain-watch, which he had brought. In that time wristwatches had not come into use.

The females stopped their bewailing. As the physician was famous for his medicinal treatment, they believed in him.

Frequently he examined the pulse rate and general body condition. His face showed the sign of expectation.

Within some minutes the frozen state of the half body seemed to have ended. The patient became conscious. The physician looked at each member of the family with a fully bloomed face. The boy had come out of his dangerous condition. But he had to take medicine for some days. Then the physician departed from the house.

My father had told me the story several times. And he had become the admirer of Ayurveda.