I have been wondering for sometime now what I should compare ayurveda to. It struck me that comparing it to a ‘typical’ wife would be apt. The wife gets to support the husband, ensures that he is well when he is establishing himself in a new venture or job.
The wife then goes on to have kids, looks after their welfare and takes a backseat so that the said husband is free to concentrate on his passion. So the world learns about Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon; about Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft; and about Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google. These characters are feted and dined, praised and recognised as world leaders and game changers.
All three of them had or have amazingly charming, very intelligent and smart women as wives. But the world does not know that. Jeff Bezos’ wife made news only when Bezos had an affair and divorce proceedings were initiated. She studied at Princeton University and started her career along with Bezos at D E Shaw & Co and contributed to the starting of Amazon. She went on to support him, took care of the family and had four children. Satya Nadella also married a smart lady—an architect—but when a child was born with special needs, she allowed Nadella to follow his dreams while she supported him and raised her family of three. The story of Sergey Brin is almost similar. A brilliant scientist she raised her two children while running her innovative company 23andMe amidst challenging circumstances. Brin and his wife are now divorced.
How many of our readers know the names of these three amazing women? Like these wives who support and protect their husbands and families—ayurveda does the same. Many who take ayurvedic medicines do very well—they recover from illnesses without side effects but rarely does it make the press, much like our wives here. There are so many undocumented stories of people recovering from cancers, of patients where cancer metastases have been prevented, where nasal polyps disappear, where recurrent migraines do not happen any longer, of skin infections which have disappeared, etc. So too in the lives of these business leaders, the family is bouncing along well, the children are well taken care, there is happiness brought about by their wives, but their roles are not acknowledged.
Many patients who take allopathy along with ayurveda are supremely reluctant to acknowledge the role of ayurveda because they feel that it cannot be conventionally proved. How can it be proved that Satya Nadella became CEO of Microsoft because his wife took on the major responsibility of caring for the special child?
Ayurveda is like the wife who supports and cares for the individual without any recognition. If any of the individuals mentioned in this article happens to read it, please do something for the preservation and promotion of ayurveda, and I don’t mean research. No research is needed to state that Satya Nadella is who he is today because his wife took on a difficult role. Similarly in ayurveda, most research is done to pander to Western notions of research and to prove the obvious. Ayurveda needs funding to move it out of the ‘supportive wife role image’ and bring it to the centrestage. Anybody listening out there?
The writer is retired Additional Chief Secretary of Tamil Nadu. She can be reached at sheelarani.
arogyamantra@gmail.com/arogyamantra.blogspot.com