Medicine runs in my family genetics. However, as a little boy, I was not interested in medicine. I was appalled by the idea of charging a fee to treat other people’s illnesses, health concerns and problems. By the passage of time, I wanted to be a doctor in my own right, not because my parents were doctors. I chose homeopathy, because I felt it was easy to follow, though I realised later that it was not.
When I was studying homeopathy, I completed my BA in psychology, too: psychology gave me, I felt, my compass and radar to understand the mental underpinnings of my patients. After all, there is so much of mind in any illness, even when the disease per se is physical.
I graduated in medicine in 1973; I also got married, the same year. The early years proved to be a major, major struggle for us. I was offered a teaching post at my alma mater; the salary a princely Rs. 450 a month. It was good money, those days. My parents were aghast when I said no. The reason — I wanted clinical experience. I became an intern in a clinic. I received a modest stipend of `150 per month. I had a wife to support. It wasn’t easy.
For nine gruelling years, I lived with my family in a one-room apartment, courtesy of well-meaning friends, one of whom gave me the place on easy payment facility. I lived on vada-pav, changed three buses between my residence and my Malabar Hill workplace. There were times when my wife and I had to share a cup of coffee and batata vada in an Irani restaurant. Fortunately, I received salary hikes; patients also began to know me. When one well-meaning friend offered me a flat, I gained the confidence to start my own clinic, albeit a small clinic.
The breakthrough came in 1982, when I started my well-appointed clinic in South Mumbai.
My clinic was full of patients. By lunch-time, they would all disperse and I would be left with one or two — most often with someone having an intractable illness. I often thought it's such a huge responsibility to look at other people's pain, and know that they depend so much on you to help them. This is what that urges me to do my best— not just with a doctor’s stoical or guarded approach, but with humility, acceptance and a kindly countenance.
In due course, I began to write columns in their dozens for newspapers and magazines. I burned the midnight oil to make homeopathy popular — taking homeopathy everywhere, including the villages, as it were.
The urban-rural divide to me does not exist — it is a myth.
At one time, no publisher wanted books on homeopathy, and now there are a handful asking me for rights to bring out my columns in book form. Everything has changed. Only a few years ago, it was socially debasing to be a homeopath. Today, they come on the trot to you.
I drifted away from the stereotyped image of the homeopath. You know, a conventional medical doctor (allopath) often prescribes just by looking at the patient and hearing symptoms. He has a wide range of patent medicines, at hand, which temporarily crushes the symptoms; he prescribes one of them.
A good homeopath, on the other hand, has to know everything about a patient, before he can prescribe a medicine that will not only hold back the symptoms, but also heal them. One has to know the full medical history, the full physical, mental and psychological history of each patient.
I computerise them.
I had, not too long ago, two presentations to make to the world. One, that homeopathy is a respectable and a credible option for the sick. Two, hold the tag of a respectable and credible homoeopath.
The first thing I did to change the dreary notion was use a little psychology — to package the idea attractively. People always perceive homoeopaths as dispensers of sweet, little sugar pills. I had to revamp that image. I began to make it more upmarket. As everyone knows, upmarket costs money; it needs investment.
I made up my mind, that no matter what it cost, I would have a swanky office. I would look like I was crisply covered with a million bucks and smacked a futuristic air. And, so, with a 36 per cent loan, I set up an office that, today, would give ‘non-commercial’ art galleries a run for their money.
My patients are kings; even gods to me. I’m here to take care of their health and well-being in the best manner possible.
For critics of homeopathy, I have documented evidence in piles of albums displaying 'before' and the 'after' pictures of our treatments. No tall claims, but real-time results achieved through homeopathy.
My speciality clinics deal with several disorders — yet my patients know their chances of a good result on their first visit, even when it is a question of a not-so-easy illness to treat. I do not, of course, treat hernias, hydrocele, and heart attacks.
A conscientious, good homoeopath has to realise his limitations.
Today I've reached a stage where I don't have to see 25 patients a day. I restrict it to five or six. My speciality clinics and my doctors see hundreds of patients a day. I believe in delegation, not control or micro-management.
My need to reach out to people is as great as the people's need for quality homeopathy. I haven’t yet reached the peak. I have to move laterally; I have to evolve from the soul. In working terms, it means listening to my mind’s melodies, because the professional hazard of seeing so much pain should not desensitise us — medical doctors and healthcare providers.
Luckily, I'm not materialistic. I just look at the potential wealth adorning my walls. I never estimate, or evaluate, the value of paintings adorning my walls — they are priceless. This holds good for my photographs. Photography is a passion — a canvas that looks at life in all its varied hues.
For me, taking homeopathy to a community or society brought up on TV diet, or Mc-burgers, as it were, is a duty. This also includes reaching out to the not-so-privileged with my free health camps, charity and Positive Health Awards, instituted for those who have conquered severe and debilitating illnesses, aside from disability, to lead normal, inspiring lives; or, planning new strategies like direct mailing and over-the-counter (OTC) products, so that people's interest in homeopathy never wanes.
This is what that keeps me going.
I caught a spark in an idea. I’ve ignited it for the world… packaging homeopathy, reaching out to people who want quality holistic treatment and also stand by it.