The National Institute of Naturopathy - Pune

The government is the agency that everyone loves to hate.
Sometimes the government surprises us by undertaking some useful and even pleasant activities. The National Institute of Naturopathy in Pune is one such example of government oversight.

This pleasant discovery was made recently when my wife and I took my old aunt there for treatment. Poor lady was suffering from neck and shoulder pains and no medicines were helping.

Appropriately housed in a 1.6 acre lush, green, and quiet place, the institute is located at Tadiwala Road and quite close to the noisy Pune railway station.

The moment you enter the calming premises you leave behind the hustle and bustle behind almost immediately. However our first visit there will be always remembered as a frightening experience.

As we approached the treatment area, our hearts stopped for a moment.Two bluish grey aliens came towards us walking real funny and even strange. May the Lord be praised! They spoke Hindi. It seemed they were ordinary folks, merely caked completely in mud (this is part of the full-body mudpack treatment). The hardened mud all over the body, between the thighs and around the crotch explained their strange gait.

Once we got over that scary bit, we went in to meet the consulting doctors. Dr.Dinesh Kumar & Dr Sathyanath. Consultations are helpful to understand the ailments and likely causes and are genuinely free,(normally anything said to be free, comes with hidden strings attached and a pay later tag). The doctors are knowledgeable, pleasant and behave like healers. We sometimes confuse treating with healing and can say they are healers.

Then stealing a few more minutes of their time we got a quick tour of the facilities, the history and the activities of the institute.

The centre has been around for nearly a century. Even Mahatma Gandhi ji started visiting the institute regularly from 1936 onwards. He is reported to have conducted several experiments in naturopathy during his stay. The bungalow and the adjoining cottages along with the land was gifted by Dr. Dinshaw Mehta in 1986 to the Government of India and named 'Bapu Bhavan' in honour of Gandhiji.

The doctors explained how naturopathy worked. The human body has enormous resilience and capability to heal itself. The institute helped people by de-stressing them using, yoga, employing mudpacks, various massages and bath treatments.

Results speak louder than words. We studied the expressions of most of the people leaving the institute after receiving treatment and were happy to note that they appeared mostly relaxed and happy. Even my normally grumpy aunt deemed it worthy to permit herself the luxury of a smile.

Operating under the Ministry of Health in Delhi , it's the only such facility in India. It's an institute with good yoga centres, gymnasium, library, research facilities, training centre, health shop and health-food restaurant.

Providing free training and even a stipend to 50 Young men and women each year. These trained personnel are picked up for suitable jobs almost immediately after completion of training. These youngsters earn handsome salaries in addition to providing wellness to scores of people all over the world. They are in much demand for the skills and practice they acquire at the institute.

I am sure you must be thinking, many things are simply associated with the government; it is expensive, dirty and the staff must be quite disinterested, blah, blah.....

The institute shocks you because it's clean, airy and well managed. It surprises you further because the charges for everything are either free or quite low. The staff are efficient, cordial and helpful. They do not receive nor expect any tips or gifts or favours.

Maybe these folks are drinking too much of those very reasonably priced healthy juices and herbal teas, otherwise how else can you explain this unusual efficiency and pleasantness. God bless these wonderfully helpful people.


p.s.

1. My Aunt is feeling much better now.
2. You can get more information at the institutes website http://punenin.org. While informative the website does not bring out effectively the fact that they are spreading wellness and enriching lives.