February 12, 2012
Over 350 Ayurveda businesses are participating in the expo being held at Kanakakunnu Palace grounds. Since the weekends are pretty much the only evenings, I get to move around with Amma, we went for the Global Ayurveda Festival. The Sunday city crowd had already formed two lines at the ticket counter by 5:30pm. There was a stray brown puppy near the counter, mostly confused by all the crowd, entertaining the kids.
Before the entrance of the expo, a display of some old, traditional Ayurveda related utensils by the famous Somatheeram Ayurveda resort. A very impressive huge "uruli', the circular shallow vessel that is used for the various medicinal preparations. It is made from an alloy called Vellod formed by copper, tin, brass and a hint of lead. There were also the storage 'bharani' jars. The information boards said that tall "kuzhibharani"s were partly buried in the soil so maintain the temperature during storage.
Buyers crowded around every stall that had display and sales of various products. I felt a bald man at the sales counter for anti-hair loss cream was a marketing error. At couple of stalls brief history of 'Ayurveda' in murals. Mythology passes for history. Pictures of 'Dhanvanthiri', the god of Ayurveda were aplenty. Miniature ones were being freely distributed. Several medicinal plants with their different uses were showcased. The AVP logo of Arya Vaidya Pharmacy reminded me of the 'Alien Vs Predator' franchise.A very interesting booth about Ayurvedic psychiatry. Posters insisting that this wasn't some black magic but just a misunderstanding of the term "Bhootam" which means both the elements as well as demons in Malayalam.
Lot of students from the Ayurveda college, sporting their 'delegate' badges busied themselves around. Plenty of interest in the display boards that talked about the trees associated with the Indian zodiac signs. I wondered why cricket wasn't being used just like astrology to promote Ayurveda.
Kottakkal Arya Vaidyashala had a book sales as well. I saw copies of 'Nalacharitham' kathakali. Achan had been looking for that book. I will ask him to check out if this edition is worth buying. Copies were flying of the stacks of books about pregnancy care, baby care, child diseases etc. The stacks of books about sexual disorders and mental disorders stayed untouched. Clearly nobody in Kerala suffers from those. Why else would the pregnancy related books have brisk sales?!
The furniture used for oil bath and oil drip treatments were exhibited by a few businesses. Mr. Unni had returned with his 'Navara' rice. We bought a couple of packets. From the government coconut board's booth, Amma picked up a handy device to help spread oil on the dosa making pan. We had no intention to check out the food sales so we ended our visit at the booth that sold 'Brahmi payasam'. I have no idea what Brahmi tastes like but that payasam tasted just like any other payasam that doesn't hold back on the jaggery.
While we were walking out of the exhibition, we could hear poet Sugathakumari's voice on the loud speakers. She was inaugurating the evening's seminar. She talked about the common, non-medicinal 'communist pacha' plant, which got the 'communist' in its name because of the rapidity with which it spreads in the state, being used as the virtually no-cost subsitute for many herbs in the preparations.
We decided to check out the seminar. I was stunned to see that the entire Nishagandhi open air auditorium was covered up to form an airconditioned seminar venue. Sugathakumari finished her speech urging the Ayurveda students and business not to lose the sanctity of the field in the pursuit of profit.
Prof. Madhusoodanan Nair, the famous poet, began his address by talking about the cut outs of "Kattarvazha" (aloe-vera) that were kept near the welcoming board at the palace gates. He said this reminded him of the story of Dushyantha, the king from Mahabharatha, who conveniently exiled his wife after feigning a loss of memory and then pined for her in front of her painting. Professor said we have eliminated real plants and trees from our environment and now glorify them using their cardboard cut outs and paintings. Then he launched on a little bit of the standard anti-Western spiel by mentioning that the encyclopedic tome, Hortus Malabaricus the 17th century Dutch catalog of medicinal plants of Kerala, was an example of the exploitative attitude of the West! I wondered how it can be so when currently it remains the one go-to book to identify many species and the population in Kerala at that time were busy splitting themselves into communities that refused to touch or even see each other much less care about documenting the environment.
After that he talked about how calling Shiva a Dravidian god is a mistake that Indians are repeating after some Western historians. I am beginning to get used to such unsubstantiated assertions that pass for truths when delivered from the dias here. He received laughs and applause when he correctly pointed out that the only way all these Ayurvedic businesses can produce all these oils, unguents and ointments is by extracting them from either eucalyptus or rubber because those are the only two trees which retain a sizeable presence in Kerala. He rued the fact that parents these days ensure that their baby has no contact with the soil. He pitied the generations that never get to take a dip in a clean river or administer themselves some native herbal remedies for their small injuries.
Before finishing, he recited his famous poem "Agasthya Hridayam" written 25 years ago. Absolutely magnificent. I got goosebumps and it wasn't from the numerous coolers blasting cold air. It was great to see an audience of a nearly a thousand, mostly students, listen to his stunning rendition with rapt attention. The emcee requested Sugathakumari to recite a poem by popular demand. She obliged and recited her famous "What is the color of love?"
Sugathakumari had written a sharp piece in this morning Mathrubhumi newspaper against the proposed Aranmula airport. Any sane person would wonder why tiny Kerala needs more than 4 airports and that too by destroying paddy fields in the fertile Pamba plains. But I guess if Ambani wants the land, all the political parties will be racing with each other to make the sale. Solitary voices like Sugathakumari's will remain. But for how long?
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