Background story – implications of pre dispositions/susceptible tendencies
As far as record goes and by memories / tell tales, our forefathers stayed at Malur taluk of Kolar Dist, earlier known as Malligepura, as many jasmine flower growers were there once upon a time. My grandfather Shri MR Krishna Rao (MRK) a teacher by profession, came to Bangalore during 1940s after his retirement.
Three generations of our lineage were teachers starting from Malur Raamaih to MRK and K. Seetharamaiah, my father. All were either named after Rama or Krishna !! Strict disciplinarians they were, having a great reputation in their times so much that our grand father used to sit along with Panchas for dispute resolution of the near by villages, even though he was officially just a School-master. He was also a Scout teacher and we have a proud photo of him with children and also participated in freedom struggle.
An interesting story is that there was a theft in the village in which we lost many gold jewellery during a marriage ceremony. MRK had only Son and seven daughters to take care. It is said that there is always one or the other daughter at all times in our house for delivering a baby. The Scout programme is said to be a fund raiser for compensating the monetary loss caused due to theft which would have otherwise strained relationship with in laws. Those days anything was possible to help the school-master!!
After shifting to Bangalore in search of better education and career, they stayed close to Malleshwaram in Bangalore. Appa was later transferred to Chamarajpet Middle School, making the family to move to Gavipuram area. It appears that one day the land Lady “Hombalamma” scolded my mother on the ground that there was a paralytic patient (Appa’s maternal uncle Mr.Vasudevachar, another interesting character of our family whom we will see later) at home and daily chores for his “U ma he” was disgusting. This irritated my father so much; and without second thoughts he decided to move out of rented house.
Within a month our new house was built in three days during 1966 for a meagre Rs.3,500/-. I was a new born baby and there was all new mud construction in a remote part of underdeveloped Bangalore. My ill health as a child is attributed to cold and in hospitable condition’s of this new area in revenue pocket of Bangalore. You can see this prediction in my horoscope also – child will have “Sheetha badhe” – cold related issues. Also, Appa lost his money purse in Ganesha temple on the day I was born and I was also branded as born in “Chor Nakshatra” !!
The family of K Seetharamaiah settled down in Srinagar and I have fond memories of Amba Bhavani School nearby, where I had to literally run across the small hilly terrain to reach school. It was scary to see and we used to run through the path. By this time, Akkaji was also married and settled in Nanjamba Agrahara whih is just across the Kempambudhi lake, which we used to fondly walk through. There was also a Hindu Cemetery and in fact initially we could even see the glazing pyres as there were no buildings in between.
Visiting Akka - Bhava in Chamarajpet was one of our regular routines. We two Kitty and Cheeni were ferocious kids who like to play all the time. WE also had a special task some times to go the Akkaji’s factory to give lunch. Family of four with Andalamma being the second daughter and we two were happy enough, even though there was generally a shortage of food and comforts of life. We grew well in our own secluded place as there were not many Brahmin families around and we were not encouraged to make friends from the area.
Though Appa had no inhibition about the caste formations, Amma was bit ortho. She was a strict disciplinarian as far as “vratha-nema” and would not drink water during her upavas vrath. I remember she climbing Tirumala hills without taking any food till Darshan of Lord Venkateshwara. We never followed ritualistic path, as appa was very rational and encouraged us to develop good conscience and made us to listen to it more than inculcating a god fearing attitude.
Following our own Conscience, maintaining integrity of character, is what he use to tell always and made us follow through out. We loved to listen to stories from Amma and every summer vacation is fully of learning new things, languages, going to relatives as far as Yelahanka to visit our grand father’s house. We had good entertainment in those days with Upendra, Radhakrishna and Manju, our cousins.
The other places of frequent visit being Kaval - byrasandra to meet our Alamelu atte family and another aunt Nagatthe family, at Yadagondanahalli. Distinctly remember the fabulous treatment we use to get in these places, as Appa was very much liked by everyone and known for his generosity to take care of his nephews and nieces. He is the only son in the family and all the sisters look upon him as a saviour in their troubled times. We got royal treatment in these places. I even remember a long journey to Basavapattana far off in North Karnataka where my maternal uncle Ramu Mava was working. He had three daughters and we were the future possible’s !!.
We grew up and studied at local schools and colleges. Ashu studied science with Biology and Appa wanted her to be a teacher. Hence she also did B.Ed. As destiny decided, she could not continue for long as a teacher and joined ESIC. Seeing the difficulty of a Factory life of Akkaji, it was a conscious decision to make her join a government department. We use to call her Andalamma as she has good appetite and little plumy.
Her future took a turn after marriage with TVS and they settled down in Azadnagar, after a brief stint at Mumbai. Their two adorable kids Ajay and Sheru were the ones whose child hood opened up our own dreams and particularly, Ajay was my tryst with a young life and made me feel very proud, as if he is my son. Sheru was so innocent and sweet, that I used to call him Mankanna. Both these little cuties were the centre of attraction and when Ajay was born I was almost free of my studies and enjoyed taking care of the kids.
Kitty joined BSNL after some stint in private sector and settled down in life in 1988. The bride was from a well to do family and we had issues back home, as in any middle class Brahmin family. Quietly we tried to settle down, as we had lost Amma few years before and Ashu has moved out after marriage. Three gentlemen (?) with one dignified lady member had difficulties in adjusting and we pulled on with new life of Kitty, trying to blend into a normal family life which was shattered due to loss of Amma in 1984. After Ashu’s marriage in 1985, we were literally orphaned and three of us had tough times till Kitty got married in 1988, creating more expectations in our joint futures.
I started earning immediately after my II PUC and worked in an Engine Overhauling concern as Typist/Assistant. My first pay was just Rs.70/- and I also further continued to work in the typing instituted as Instructor. Income earned was just sufficient for my needs to buy some books spend on my own. After losing Amma in my I year B.Com, the life became very dreaded and tough, and may be I lost a few more sentiments left out in the rational mind.
I finished Degree and joined ICWA for better career prospects. Before I could take exams, I had to join IT Department at Mysore and it was a real turning point of my life. Knowing the promotion aspects, I took some competitive exams to excel and became an Inspector during 1990. My father was proud with my achievements and he used to boast with all known people that my son is an Inspector!!
All these years of my growth seem to be quite dry as I did not enjoy most of it in a very positive manner. I had no plans to get married also and probably would have remained a vagabond, had I not asked a question to Veenu on the fateful day of 15th Jan 1994. We had gone for a long walk to Sri Ramana Maharshi Ashram in Mekhri Circle and after visiting the Shrine came out to sit on a big rock for a while. I initiated the discussion with her to seek her opinion about future course of action after completing degree.
Having lost her father very early age and some of her external beauty due to accident, I felt it was now our responsibility to take care. Just like Appa took care of his nephews and nieces, I also thought it is my job. I wanted to know whether she would like to work/study or get married. More importantly, marriage was the main topic.
Surprisingly and shockingly, she said in very clear terms that she wants to marry ME only, without any second thoughts. I never knew her intention though I knew that she had liking for my qualities. I used to entertain her with lot of stories, both known and cooked up ones, which she used to enjoy during her visit to our house. She even pretend that she is not well or gone to sleep to avoid her going back to parents house. She had admirable qualities in work and I had a liking for that only. After giving a brief thought, I consented and our LIFE journey started. Many times, I don’t remember when we got married, but I know the date on which I got involved in this proposal!!!!
With the above background, I will now shift to Health issues in the family.
Ours was a con-sanguial marriage (marriage within the family) and Akkaji also had same. It was therefore double con-sanguial on both sides. Even before I got married, I was very health conscious due to history of early deaths in our family and this factor made us more conscious. One of my deepest regrets in life is that both my parents did not live longer to see our progress. We ourselves were very unfortunate and never saw our grand parents. Whenever I see some one grand parenting and great grand parenting, I feel terrible. One of my child hood days dream was to live for more than 100 years and see all my great grandchildren. Of course now I don’t have that kind of interest!! It is only a question of remaining relevant to the present.
From the age of 12, I had observed Amma suffering from health issues, particularly stomach related issues and eventually leaving us when she was barely 45. Her physique was quite fragile and delicate ever since I remember her. Mentally strong but physiologically not. She also had a traumatic life after marriage with many mis carriages and in getting used to rustic life my father could offer her. Her main complaint was acidity resulted in surgery of appendix/ulcerated part which later got converted into Stomach Cancer. Two consequent surgeries virtually made her fragile and she could not withstand the onslaught of medicines given. Her metabolism had gone bad for several years and I have seen her barely able to eat two idlies after the surgery.
Next deep impact was the devastating death of Bhavaji due to Kidney failure at his prime age, leaving two vulnerable daughters at tender age to their fate, an aged mother who solely depended on him and a loving wife who cared for him. The kind of health issues faced by both, I have seen very closely and tried to analyse them at very young age. Both did not live longer to fulfil their obligation towards their siblings and many of our infirmities in personality, immaturities and foolishness, might be due to their absence in most formative part of our lives. I never wanted this to happen to our future generations.
As I look back now, we have a great history of early deaths, untimely departures in the whole family, which I have tried to trace upto two-to-three generations. Before going into those details, I will narrate our sojourn from marriage till date relating to Health issues, in the above background and certain hard decisions taken to avoid such issues in our own case.
Bhavaji was a very fine personality, well mannered, highly intellectual, well read and soft spoken person. He was a kind of role model for us and we admire adore and seek his wisdom always. In spite of all his virtues, what made him to leave early, was a million-dollar question for me. The kind of trauma and tension prevailing in our family during his ill health, is un forgettable. Why it happened, if we objectively analyse, it appears that he had all the good qualities with a great taste for food.
He was a good eater and connoisseur of food and movies. I remember his penchant for different dishes prepared in various hotels and he used to enjoy them with friends and family. He lost his father even before he was born and there is a family history of early death. This habbit of eating tasty food probably landed him in trouble. He was a long standing diabetic since the age of 30 and this has finally resulted in kidney failure at the age of 44.
With all the virtues in life and wisdom of life, he couldn’t stay longer with family. This is one of the main reasons which imprinted in my mind that we should never go after taste alone. Developing a taste is one thing and being addicted to eating tasty food is another. I never commented on the quality of food and mostly took it as my destiny to eat. My eating habits were different from young age itself and I never preferred to eat anything in between meals. Home food was my favourite and I remember, even after coming back from search duty, I used to have dinner at midnight as late as 2 a.m. and then only go to sleep. This ideology got imbued into my personality, when I saw two untimely deaths in our family.
Secondly, my mother’s early departure, was devastating to us particularly, Appa suffered loneliness, became highly irritable and felt purposeless. He used to find purpose in going out in the pretesxt of some odd job, and service to society in his own way. Amma was a stubborn lady with a delicate body and used to be constantly worrying all the time, which probably caused her ulcers and later turned into Cancer. She could not face tough life offered by Appa and sulked for long. All these are my inferences and I do not really know.
Journey from Naturopathy to Homeopathy:
After the marriage, we took an informal owe to maintain health in the most natural way. I had attended Yoga programme at Maradi Subbaiah Chowltry premises in my earlier days and we both attended a Naturopathy course at that time. In this course, we were also taught about acupressure, reiki and other systems of healing along with naturopathy. Incidentally, we were also introduced to Vipassana and both of us did a two 10 day course, which got us into the field of philosophy put to use. This is actually a turning point which made both of us aware of our strength and weaknesses and the ways to over come, besides giving a perspective of life.
Veenu was against any allopathic treatment as she also suffered due to over medication at her early days. She had a weak constitution and parents tried their best to give all kinds of food to build her strength. Every time she fell sick, there will be a medical intervention at the immediate instance and she has taken allopathic drugs and carried a weak constitution. She realised this and practiced yoga and naturopathy more vigorously. Though we can’t blame the parents, their ignorance and too much concern for the first baby costed her health. Probably they were also scared of their con-sanguial marriage and the complications noted in the second child.
With renewed vigour both started practicing alternative method since 1996 and our drugless journey started. Meanwhile, she did some advanced courses in healing and I had also an occasion to pursue homeopathic studies for long. As naturopathy may not be completely suitable for kids, I started to take interest in life sciences and studied further. In fact during the first pregnancy, Veenu went to SVYASA to get yogic assistance and stayed there under a special programme for pregnant women for 15 days.
In spite of all the precautions and preparations made, the first baby born through caesarean and this shattered our confidence. When we saw the medical complications and the diagnosis made, treatment suggested for the one month old kid, heavens virtually fell and we had no one to give support. At this point of time, we were introduced to Dr.Devaki Devadas, who was primarily a paediatrician in St John’s Hospital later converted into homeopathic practice.
We desperately wanted to avoid Allopathic treatment and finally, we got an alternative. But every time we visit her, our EGO used to get hurt a lot as she was very shrewed and blunt. We couldn’t argue and silently suffered in long waits, frequent visits. Her main requirement was that there could not be any parallel medical support and it has to be pure classical homeopathy. No vaccination is to be administered and it is complete homeo cure which she guaranteed. We had seen one instance in family and we had no option. Her faith in the system was unflinchable and we had no option to believe in ourselves and give a try. The amount of pressure and tension at the crucial moments of his treatment is really unexplainable.
By god’s grace and our faith in Homeo sailed us through and both the children are on right track without any kind of vaccination till date (except recent one due to compulsion of college, which is now antidoted with homeo medicine !!). To come to this stage, it was not easy. Since the day Chinmaya was born and even before, we faced the dilemma. When he was a month old baby, the doctor called me for a discussion and suggested surgical procedure. After understanding the issue and discussion with other doctors, we took a stand that we will not allow any kind of surgical intervention at this age. Doctor was very upset and made a remark in the record that father is not agreeing and wants second opinion. We did all kinds of diagnostic tests suggested including a test in Nuclear medicine – which I don’t really know what it is. It was a painful test where the functioning of kidneys is assessed by injecting chemicals into kidney through urethra. I can never forgive myself for the pain and trauma caused to little beloved one.
Our tryst with Homeo was not very smooth and we had to face a tough doctor who will snub us for any enquiry and we had to wait for hours patiently. In fact this waiting has helped us in realising that the health can be regained only by sustained efforts and time given for cure. Once we are introduced to her maternal uncle Dr. Megharajan at Davanagare and it was a great blessing. He was a professor at IIT and resigned to do social service and practice homeopathy.
Divine soul as he was, I had a personal rapport and great admiration for his philosophical bent of mind and crisp understanding of homeo principles. He was a classical homeopath doing great service to patients in and around Davanagere. They originally belong to Tamilnadu and came long ago to settle down at Hiriyur and homeo health camps are regularly done for the benefit of villagers around.
His nephew is Dr.Rangarajan who is moulded by the principles of his uncle and continuing to do service to the needy patients. Our interactions with Dr.Rangarajan also made us understand the basics of Classical homeopathy and he eventually started teaching us the science behind homeopathy. I had an occasion to learn Homeo for about one year in Mysore conducted by World Teacher’s Trust and deeply inspired by its efficacy in curing chronic diseases. This helped me to strengthen the belief in the system of medicine which we are administering to both the sons since birth. In fact, for Yagnik it is before birth and he is under homeo care without any allopathic medicine/vaccinations.
Principles of Homeo:
The basic premise of Homeopathy is that there is a LIFE FORCE which takes care of most of the ailments bothering us and it is inherent nature of any being. The fundamental principle is that Similia Similibus curenthar – meaning similar cures to similar. Any medicinal substance which gives raise to a symptom in a healthy person (as per proving made with hundreds of volunteers and sometimes doctor himself); will cure the disease which produces a symptom in a sick person. In short, if a patient is getting symptoms due to disease, a remedy (drug) causing similar symptoms is administered.
The remedy will trigger the symptom to an optimum level and seek a proper response from te LIFE FORCE which will start working. The medicinal substances are from plant kingdom, animal kingdom, minerals, energy levels, and even diseased /dead tissues!! These are extracted and potentised to the required level. When a substance is diluted in the proportion of 1 x 100 and again 1 x 100 for nearly 30 times, it is called potency of 30C which is the normal minimum potency given. (One part of substance mixed with 99 parts of alcohol/liquid base and from this dilution one part is taken and again 99 parts is mixed. Like this 30 times is 30C).
You may not be even able to find out the chemical properties of the medicine originally extracted and how it works is a miracle. They say it may be water memory, energy spikes and chemical signature which remains after potentisation. These potencies go upto 200C and now we have 0/1, 0/2…. Potencies which are still more diluted in centesimal ratio. It only shows that the homeo remedies work at a deeper level which may be beyond molecular, cellular or even sub atomic levels. There are a number of researches which show that the remedies at very deeply to the level of miasms; ( genetic pre dispositions for which there are constitutional remedies in homeo.
When I further completed another online course by Dr.Bhatia for two to three months, I could get vast amount of material to substantiate the claims made by Homeopaths. Some of the literatures and research articles written by Dr. Rajan Sankaran strengthened our belief about this system of medicine as it is very close to Naturopathy, where we allow the body to cure itself and give support. We basically turned to Homeo only for the kids as they may not be able to follow principles of Naturopathy and may need assistance. Dr Rajan Sankaran’’s works on the nature of dreams and its indications in treating through homeo medicine is amazing. Deep insight into human psychology and also the complex nature of physiological systems which we are trying to understand/cure were obtained through this.
With all the above struggles and adventures/mis-adventures over a period of more than 25 years, we have come to believe that there won’t be any need for major medical assistance. It is basically because of the fact that this human machine is self contained, self healing and self reconstructing mechanism which needs to be handled with due care. These systems have evolved over millions of years and its too naïve to measure them in terms of numbers which are randomized on the basis of a few hundred persons. All these parameters beginning from pulse rate, temperature, blood pressure and now the latest, Oxygen levels are dynamic in nature.
Any treatment has to be holistic and the method of treatment has to consider a person as one whole unit requiring attention. You can’t treat your skin without treating the Kidneys / lungs which is giving problem. Most of the so called diseases like fever, cold, head aches are only symptoms and at best a reaction to a situation created from outside and some times due to inherent pre dispositions. If they are persisting over a period of time and creating trouble, you may need medical intervention. Not everyone getting wet in rain would catch cold and we have to distinguish between the root cause and the maintaining cause of a disease.
Unless we understand the problem and its root cause in physiological terms it is not possible to cure. All these diseases are actually an expression of the body which we fail to respond properly with proper life style, food habits and diet. Understanding the language of body is paramount importance than understanding the parameters given in numbers and ratios which can be very misleading when we look at a person a whole. They also create more and more inhibitions and fear psychosis and do not allow us think about the present and clear danger which is expressed by the body in its own language.
Finally coming to our encounter with Corona, I believe, I got it during first wave itself and it was asymptomatic. The trouble was least, lasting about a week with mild fever, body pain and head ache with loss of smell/taste. It was not alarming and it died down without any kind of medication. But during April, when we did the function at Bangalore, its effects were severe and suffering was longer/intense. The latest mutant (B.1.617 – Delta version) appears to be more infectious and troublesome. However, Homeo did not fail us and with proper diet and rest, all four of us successfully came out unscathed. There is a great rejuvenation after the recovery; my back ache, sleep apnea and other small issues have gone for a toss. We are more confident of facing any future variant since our bodies are more equipped now.
It’s very clear that if you can face the disease without much medical intervention and hospitalization, it is going to go naturally. More and more medicines would definitely reduce your natural immunity and the resistance artificially caused would invite more superior variants as a reaction. There are studies that indicate vaccination would induce more mutations and infections. Probably this is what happened during second wave in our case also. It is an admitted fact that vaccination does not give immunity from getting infected again and some of the vaccines have not even cleared Phase 3 trials. It is expressly given as an Emergency usage basis which indicates that it should not be administered very routinely.
Natural methods of healing, alternative systems of medicine – (a misnomer, since everyone believes that Allopathy is the main system and others are only alternatives !!) - can do miracles with a proper understanding of our physiology, nature of disease and the kind of treatment required in each and every case. There cannot be an attitude of “One hat fits all” especially in health matters as each individual is unique carrying genetic pre dispositions of multitude nature. It requires a will to persevere with the process of getting cured and public faith clubbed with government patronage which is very much lacking, probably due to pharma lobby and vested interest of medical practitioners’.
The times ahead would not be as simple as before, due to over conscious health behavior, undue health awareness artificially triggered by the insecurity caused by Virus and of course our own ageing factors. We are going to see a new world order creating unnecessary dependency on medical support and exploitation by the privileged few. We have to gear up ourselves to survive in the tough world which is going to be. Make your choices wisely with proper background study and develop right perspective about the nature of Health. All the very best in your endeavor to remain with the nature for a purpose living ahead and to achieve over all well being. Thank you for your time and patience in reading a lengthy passage.
