TIRUPATI: Utukuri Badari Narayana, a professor in an Ayurvedic college run by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), has been trying hard to inspire his students to contribute a part of their routine to public service.
The 42-year-old has been teaching at Sri Venkateswara Ayurvedic College, Tirupati, for the past nine years. Born and brought up in a middle-class family, Narayana completed his schooling and Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery in Vijayawada in 1998. Since completing his Master’s in 2006, he has been practising and offering his service to the poor for at least an hour a day.
He spends a major chunk of his salary on service activities, including buying medicines for the poor. Many voluntary organisations have organised free medical camps with his support. His father Mallikarjuna Rao, who was also an Ayurvedic practitioner, inspired Badari to pursue a career in the traditional medicine system. Mallikarjuna Rao, who headed the Department of Biology at SVKP Degree College (Aided) in Markapuram of Prakasam district, continues to serve the needy.
Narayana played a key role in the preparation and distribution of concoctions prepared by B Anandaiah of Krishnapatnam, in Tirupati and its surrounding areas during the peak Covid-19 days. Back then, he offered medicines and immunity boosters to nearly 200 people a day for free. He often prescribes consumption of Aswagandha, Guduchi, Nelavemu and the likes that help one to fight the infectious disease better.
“I even suggested the outgoing students of the Ayurvedic college spend at least an hour a day in the service of the needy. It was my father who helped people in desperate times for free. I was very much inspired and imbibed that as my motto.” “Narayana interacts with each of his patients for 5-10 minutes. He treats them for free. I have been visiting his clinic at his residence for the last six months and seeking treatment for an ailment,” said Neelam Dhana Sree, a classical dancer.