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From my remote den in Mysore,I wanted to show the people I met pictures of our beautiful Mauritius. I recalled that I had in my hard disk memory through my del.icio.us tag the wonderful slide shows of my dear old friend Robert Li Pi Shan and that of Philip Lim’s and Sylviane Rochecouste’s. My public was stunned with the beauty!

Thanks to these wonderful Mauritian artists,who publish their work for the world to see,I made my night!

From my chalet next to one of the sacred hill of Mysore, I am enjoying the view of the most beautiful Lathila palace against a blue sky in the background, whilst in the foreground an array of coconuts trees filled with a lush vegetation completes my panorama. Believe you me with the sound of Radio one blasting from the speakers of my laptop!This is the world on internet today!

A fortnight, ago on the advice of Dr. Tavane Krishna, I bought the services provided by Reliance Company for wireless internet connection through CDMA. The cost was an initial one time fee of INR. 5000 for the card and registration and a charge of INR 50 daily payable on monthly basis for illimited internet services. The service speed,I have experienced is faster that MyT back home although the cut off time for non utilisation seems to be very short. After a non activity of 2 hours the net connection cuts off when you are asked to reconnect.

I am really pleased to have the service on the desk in my room without having to go to the front office where internet service on ADSL at a much slower speed is offered. The savings made on international calls with the use of SKYPE is well worth it!
Out of the country but still connected with Radio One!for a couple of INR. I am happy. The BBC world service is perfect though RFI has been erratic.

Marlyse Grossenbacher, who I mentioned in my blog of the 12th is now spending more time at the centre to deepen her knowledge in Ayurveda massage and treatments. She is a very well versed lady in the subject and has studies years  to tune her up to run a reputable centre in Switzerland, not so many of its kind!Her web site is well worth a visit. I found  that the Vedic chanting  provided thereon  to be exceptionally soothing for relaxation and meditation. Bravo Marlyse!Marie Anne got to know her a little better. “Marlyse degage un air de serenite!”
Her set up in Switzerland is in association with the well known French institution dispensing Ayurvedic treatment in Normandie and Paris directed by Kiran Vyas who has published several books in french on Yoga and related subject.

Through the weeks, my daily encounter with the chief medical officer got me to know him a little bit better. A person of some 50 years of age, he has been practicing ayurvedic medicine for many years, after having qualified as a doctor. He has been blessed with 2 children, a boy and a girl, who are already in their early twenties and starting up their professional lives.

He is a very dedicated doctor, well known in this province of Karnataka. Before taking up his present position, he had been a professor of ayurvedic medecine in various institutes and tought at the ayurveda training school. One of his hobby is to perform as a vocalist in Karnatak classical music. Indeed, a man of many talents! I was struck by his great modesty,knowledge,kindness and understanding of people. He is jovial, warm and affectionate. What drives him is to get the best out of people, and he’s always listening, to improve himself and the others. I had the opportunity to listen to the weekly lectures that he gives to guests on ayurveda.  His demeanor was very much that of a university professor, where timing, precision  and  imparting of knowledge were of essence. I, and most of the people present really enjoyed the 30 mins talk where unusual eastern concepts were made simple to us westerners. I have now a better knowledge of vata, pitta and kapha.

We are now in our 3rd week of stay at IVAC Mysore.  Judging by the amount of people we have met, it would appear that this centre is one of the choicest of its kind. We understand that it is featured as a premium ayurvedic centre in the Lonely Planet and other tourist guides. Marlise, who is herself a proud owner of an ayurvedic centre in Switzerland, agrees with us that the quality of cure given by the centre is outstanding, compared to those she had experienced elsewhere in India, where she has travelled extensively.  This morning, we got an email from Eric, another Swiss, with whom we exchanged during the last week. The owner of a lithographic company, he told us that he arrived home near Geneva safely, happy and refreshed from his Indian escapade. We had a chance to meet a flamboyant Catalan wonderful lady. Mind you, she is a great Barcelona football fan, as she works for  FC Barcelone! Just imagine to be in Mysore and to talk about Ronaldo and Ronaldino and european football!  Last night, Marie Anne had to pull me from the dinner table, as I was engaged in a very interesting conversation with my neighbours, an Italian couple, who live in Venice. He was a very well known businessman, who was the president of the the association of industrialists in his city. The conversation was about Italian culinary likes and dislikes. He told us how he loves Ravi Shankar who gave a concert 200 meters away from his home! Yes, the world is becoming a small village!

Until then, we shall have more stories of wonderful people that we are meeting.

During the past week ending on Friday, I underwent for 7 days a very special treatment practised by Ayurvedic specialists from Onkola, which is a village in the far north of Karnataka state near Goa, on persons in my condition. I am back to a normal diet today having only lost 1.5 kilos, after being fed only on rice and mung Dhal water and no solid.

I really enjoyed this morning the papaya, doss (Indian salty crispy wafers) and stir fried broken wheat with vegetables. A very festive meal for me.

A particular aspect which impressed me most was the constant prayer to God by the therapists before every treatment. During their prayer, looking at them, and hearing them sing the prayer, I could sense their deep reverence to God as God-fearing people.

Is it particular to these people of the centre, is it because they have been trained this way, is it part of ayurveda treatment which combines body, mind and soul?

I had a similar experience way back in 1996, when I visited the Madras, now Chennai, airport set up of the budding of Jet Airways, the most prestigious Indian airline for the present. Already in those days, each shift of staff taking up their duty, would get together as a team and hold hands to pray God to help them in their tour of duty. Thereafter, they would religiously recite the company’s mission statement as a mantra. The supervising manager would then ask each one what is the particular point he would watch out for the day. In turn, each individual will come up with his main objective for the day. Though I did not see first hand the break up of the shift, I was told similar ritual took place, where they all got together again to thank God for their work and would in turn, tell the assembly whether they succeeded in attaining the objective which they l have set out to accomplish.

I am in awe with such reverence to God and to the living up to their mission. This might be a lesson to learn from.

I’ve been reading the Mauritian newspapers the last few days, wherein was reported the wonderful story of CMT and more importantly, the challenge they are taking on to become the 10 biggest textile companies of the world! Hats off to Francois Woo and his team for what they have achieved from humble beginnings in St Pierre to the notoriety they have risen to.

The vision of the CMT team to look forward to play in the world class field and to equip their factories with state of the art machineries and to  train the whole of the  personnel to meet the challenges of tomorrow. Isn’t it a lesson to learn from? What better proof of entrepreneurship?

I wish them big success they deserve.

I have been quiet for the last few days because of my incapacity to approach my desktop, for fear of putting masala on the keyboard and spoiling my valuable equipment! Even today, I had Marie Anne type out what I have to write.
This morning, while I was sitting on a stool waiting for the paste over my body to dry, my wife Marie Anne came back from her royal rejuvenation treatment. Why royal? It’s because the treatment consisted of whole body massage, followed by a bathtub dip of 15 mins in hot water where herbal decoctions , ground sandal wood and rose petals had been added. When she breezed in, the perfume she exuded filled the air, whilst I was like a garlic/mustard seed/turmeric smelling monster cowering in the bathroom! Fortunately, I’m on my last day of this particular treatment, for the moment. After a week’s of normal massage with special oils brought in from Onkola, I’ll be having a second body paste regimen. The beauty is being rejuvenated whilst the beast is having the pungent smell and starving stance. This is my story of the Beauty and the Beast. To obtain a little bit of mobility in my condition, what will I not do and suffer? I really feel jealous of Marie Anne who is having an exhilarating stay here. If my jealousy would add to my cure, so much the better!

Last night we had a very emotional slide show after dinner given by a voluntary worker of the ADRA organisation. Helga an austrian,physically big framed, 66 years old determined lady touched the small group present after dinner by the works she has undertaken for the last 3 years.The pictures shown describe the story of the community of African origin who were brought to India a century or so and who have survived in the jungle of Karnataka and Kerala.

The poorest of the poorest is how she called them. These African slaves live today in the fringes of the jungle and are outcast of the Indian community. They almost live like wild animals. To be looked down by others would be a compliment for these African origin people as in that case,at least somebody is looking at you. They are just ignored and very often molested as devils from the Jungle.

We were shown the pictures of their habitat. It is unbelievable that these conditions still exist for humans today. They have no access to water. Helga with the help of donors of ADRA India has started a project to dig bore holes to provide water supply to them during the dry season. A small team made up of a german nurse and some paid local indians are attempting to teach them some simple hygiene concepts to save them from diseases that most of them suffer from. Another battle that Helga has to wage is the acceptance of the existance of this community so that they may have access to social benefits & care given to any citizen.
You might have seen how the untouchables are still being treated today in rural India. To be told first hand, and shown pictures proving that there is a lower class of people below them can only move me.We all left with a great feeling of sorrow and incapacity to act.And yet to listen to Helga,I am was thankful to the Lord to place a person like her to change the world.

We had lunch today with Dr. Krishna U.K.  He is the external ayurvedic authority advising IVAC. Whilst talking to him, we were stunned by his knowledge and life carreer.  He is presently the director of an ayurvedic teaching institution, of all places, Tokyo, Japan!  Some 20 years ago, when he graduated as a medical doctor in ayurveda, he was selected to travel to Japan to share his knowledge for a month. Thereon, he continued his studies in Japan where he learnt Japanese and obtained a PHD from a Japanese national university. His thesis, though related to the medical field, did  not cover ayurveda.  He studied the effect of charged isotopes, methyle alcohol on animals with specific diseases.  His papers were published in American universities.

I am very lucky to have met him and to get his advice on my condition.  He has, in the past, treated 100 similar cases. He proposes to treat my case with herbs and procedures that have been used for centuries whilst not being written in the ayurvedic manuals. These procedures and herbs respect fully the logic of ayurvedic cures.   Dr. Krishna travels regularly to other countries to give lectures on ayurveda.