Natural wisdom

Gita Ramesh, entrepreneur, biochemist and writer; pioneer of ayurvedic spas in India and two healing centres in the UAE.

Her words:

When I was a little girl, I remember my mother treating us for cold and flu with herbs and powders, some off her kitchen shelf and others from the garden

I lived in Mumbai as a child and belonged to a family of businessmen. When I was very young, I had no idea what I would do, but I was sure I would run my own business.

The early 1970s was a very productive time in Mumbai, when girls were achieving a lot of milestones. Many of my contemporaries had turned into successful models and were celebrities. I knew I wanted to achieve something unusual.

I have always had great faith in the ancient Indian science of ayurveda, which is thousands of years old. It was something that was imbibed by most Indians unwittingly in their everyday life. The knowledge of herbs and powders was passed on by word of mouth, generation to generation, especially in South India.

My mother would sprinkle rasnadi powder on our hair so we would not catch a cold. For healthy hair we used amla (gooseberry) and areetha (soap nut) powder. These things were done spontaneously and were part of our lifestyle.
So I had great faith in the efficacy of herbs. I believe the use of herbs and ayurvedic concoctions has great preventive power. They are like tonics that can practically control all kinds of health problems – be it something cosmetic, like hair loss or obesity, or deeply pathological, such as liver or kidney infections. Ayurveda has a cure for everything, I am convinced. To this day, my family and I use herbal remedies to cure ourselves of ailments.

I wanted to modernise an ancient science.

I married into a family of Ayurvedic physicians from Kerala in 1977, [who have] practised for nearly eight decades. My father-in-law, Mr Vasudevan, was an ayurvedic physician who did not practise but ran an ayurvedic pharmacy, manufacturing herbal cures for a variety of illnesses. My husband, V. Ramesh, had departed from family traditions and opted to work in the construction business.

From the beginning, being the family biochemist [I have an MSc in biochemistry from Bombay University], I was in charge of supervising the manufacture of herbal medicines. I had a vision; I wanted to give Ayurveda a modern positioning, an advertising edge that would help more people benefit from its properties.

I visited Delhi and thought it would be a good idea to start an Ayurveda health spa there.

We opened the first one in Mehrauli in 1989. Some people were sceptical about its [likelihood of] success. The massages and treatments were expensive and could be afforded only by the upper middle class. Anyone who came in for a treatment would think twice before spending that kind of money.
However, I was sure the spa would work – and it did because of the publicity it got through word-of-mouth testimonials by those who had been successfully treated. Back then, we had plenty of women who came for massages and treatment to fight obesity. In most cases, obesity occurs when [poor dietary] habits and a sedentary lifestyle are followed for a period of time. This also leads to toxins collecting in the body. Correcting your lifestyle, eating right and following our massage-based treatment reduces the fat cells and tones the body.

The success of the centre inspired us to open six more in India – two in Delhi and others in Khajuraho, Mumbai, Coimbatore and Trivandrum. As the business grew, we decided to provide the know-how through a franchise agreement with other centres. We supply medicines and masseurs [to centres] in many places in India on a fixed-revenue basis.

The next step was to open a residential spa.

We had 50 acres of sprawling ancestral land in Palakkad, our home town in Kerala. I thought it would be a great idea to open a health spa there, as most of our treatments require repeated visits. So we opened the Kairali Health Resort on 12 acres of this land in 1998.

We built 30 cottages, all vaastu compliant [designed to harmonise the flow of energy through a building] and each is named after a zodiac sign. Herbal plants and trees matching these birth signs were planted around the cottages and a Valambiri conch is put in every room to send positive vibrations to the body. We also have resident astrologers and yoga experts.

We have many tourists from Europe, Australia, Asia and the US checking in for a 21-day detoxification or treatment programme. Prompted by the success of this resort, we opened two more in Karnataka. The Kerala resort was so popular it was named Best Ayurvedic Centre at the SpaAsia Crystal Awards, 2005.

Opened in 2003, the spas in Abu Dhabi and Dubai were initially follow-up centres, as we had many people from this region visiting our spas in India.
They were looking to follow-up on their treatment locally. It isn't always possible for patients to take long holidays, so I decided the best thing would be to open centres here.

I'd like this knowledge to reach more people …

… so I recently wrote a book [Ayurvedic Herbal Massage] on how to massage yourself. [Due to work demands], I have no time to read or pursue any leisure activities. But I am fond of travelling and love seeing the world. Both my sons are engineers and are married. Abhilash helps me in the business while Abhishek, the younger one, is settled in the US.

Being healthy in mind and body is the path to happiness and contentment.
Alternative and holistic healing has caught on worldwide. I often visit Japan, where they are researching the rejuvenating benefits of Ayurveda.

I hope more people help themselves to the nuggets Ayurveda has to offer. It will enrich them … drive them away from the frustration and despair our modern lifestyles often impose on us.