An alternative medicine called Ayurveda can cure many ailments

My association with Ayurveda goes back to the time when I was suffering from a disease of blocked nose. It struck me during the Kumbhmela of 1991 and made my life miserable. The doctors prescribed nasal drops and I would get relief as long as the effects of the drop remained. As a result, I had to carry the bottle of drops with me even to work.
Nashik is the venue of Kumbhmela which is held once every 12-years. I came to Nashik in 1967 and that was the first Kumbhmela I witnessed. In those days, the population of Nashik was small and I used to stay in Deolali. Our bus would not enter the limits of Nashik City but still, in order to ensure protection against epidemics and diseases, we had to get ourselves inoculated.
The next time was in 1979 and I did not feel the urge to go to Nashik to participate in the celebrations but in 1991, I decided to go – I was influenced by a couple of my friends who were keen to go to Trimbakeshwar, nearly 50-Km away, which is where all the action was. Moreover, the women were united and I had to fall in line. Therefore, we left early in the morning by bus to Nashik city and from there by a second bus to Trimbakeshwar.

We had left at 8am and when we finally got down from the bus at Trimbakeshwar, it was nearly 1pm and it was raining. There was a long queue of devotees and the line stretched from the bus stop to the specially erected bathing ghat where devotees were to take a dip in the holy waters of the River Godavari. The line was nearly 2-Km long and the umbrella could not keep away the rains – as a result, all of us got drenched and, with the water accumulated on the roads, it was a terrible experience.
When I woke up next morning, I knew that I was in trouble. The nose block had become severe and, that is when I got this beautiful advice from the wife of one of my close friends. She suggested that I begin garlic medication. Take a couple of cloves of garlic, she said, and chew them raw. Let the juice gradually seep into the body system. The pungentness would be unbearable in the beginning but, once you make it a habit and get used to it, it would be worth the trouble.
Garlic helps to maintain the consistency of blood and also to control cholesterol apart from arresting joint pains, and rheumatism apart from cough and cold.
I followed her advice and got immense relief and have continued with my two cloves of garlic every morning. It falls in the category of Ayurvedic medicine. I take it with a couple of salted biscuits and wash it down with tea. I have been doing so for the past 24-years and am loving it. (to be continued …)
(Image wikimediacommons.org)

Interaction with Russian interpreters

There were Russian specialists in practically all the departments and, whilst there was one specifically meant to advise the General Manager, there were others in the design department, in the workshops, even in the planning departments. The gentleman in the planning department would come every morning with his worksheet to check and record how much work had been completed till then and submit the report to his higher ups.
Along with the Russian specialists were their interpreters – some of them were Russians and some of them were Indians. Moreover, before the actual work began on manufacturing the MiG fighter aircraft, groups of employees who had a diploma in engineering had been given training in Russian language. Most of them were attached to the design department and the planning department where documents would be coming regularly from Russia about updates. These would require to be translated on priority and passed on to the user departments for implementation.
Obviously, there was a fad to learn the language.
Here I must make a mention of one Russian interpreter. She was from one of the earliest batches of Russians who had come to Nashik and, as luck would have it, she fell in love with an Indian boy. It became a scandal of sorts. Then there was another interpreter – she was a Punjabi and had many admirers.
To cater to the Russians, there was a shop in the township dedicated to products that Russians loved – and, there was a Russian Mess where the cooks were trained to cook meals for Russians, the way they love them in their own country. In the initial stages, Russians were not permitted to have their families with them and they relied on the Russian Mess for their meals. Later, the restriction was removed but the mess remained because many of the Russians were bachelors while many of them preferred to live without their families.
For marketing, there would be buses on Sundays and the Russians would go to Deolali. They would roam the streets peering into the shops, do their marketing and return back in the evening. (to be continued …)

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Links to some more interesting stories –


Nashik Kumbhmela 2015 – a once in 12-years pilgrimage

Trip to Nashik should take in Shirdi and the Ajanta and Ellora caves


My Boss wanted me to become a detective

My job interview over a cup of coffee

Train travel to and from Kanpur to Kolkata

I gamble away my month’s earnings before Diwali

I finally join the MiG factory in HAL Nashik

Trip to Kolkata for Durga Pujas by Mumbai-Howrah mail via Nagpur

I had joined HAL Nashik in April and decided to visit Kolkata during October for the Durga Puja celebrations. Yes, I was getting a bit homesick and felt that a trip to Kolkata would act as a booster and be just what the doctors would have ordered.
The year was 1967 and railway reservations could be had 10 days in advance – the quota from Nashik Road was six, if I remember correctly. I had to be in queue at the railway station in time. I was staying in Deolali and getting a bus early in the morning was difficult because people of Deolali were late risers – hence, I went to the station the previous night and stayed at the station till the reservation counter opened at 8am.
I was fortunate enough to get one of the six berths and, on the scheduled day, I boarded the Mumbai-Howrah Mail via Nagpur at around 11.30pm. The compartment was reserved and meant for 75 passengers only. When I woke up in the morning and, whenever the train stopped at the scheduled stops, the people waiting on the platform would not dare to board the reserved compartments. It was taboo.
The train had a dining car attached to it and the waiters kept coming at regular intervals with their wares - tea, crispy snacks, breakfast (bread-butter-omelet) followed by lunch, more tea, more snacks and finally dinner. Since most of the waiters in this train were Bengalis, they took special care of me and other Bengalis like me who were traveling to Kolkata for the Pujas. I ordered for a plate of chicken curry and chapatis – and, thanks to my waiter, there was the leg of a chicken.
By the time I woke up next morning, the train was arriving in Kharagpur and one look out of the window revealed that I was in Bengal – the people milling around on the platform talking in Bengali, the posters of Bengali movies, the advertisements on the walls in Bengali.
And, then, the local vendors got up with their unique Bengali products like vegetable chops, shingara, sweets, jhal-muri and, of course, green coconuts.
As the train left Kharagpur and proceeded on its journey towards Kolkata, a distance of around two hours, the dining car waiter came over to collect the money towards the meals. After he finished collecting from the passengers, he came over to me and confided that he, like most young Bengalis, was a poet in his spare time. He also said that he stayed in north Kolkata, in Shyambazar and gave me his address. He wanted to meet me and exchange thoughts as man to man and not as a passenger and a waiter.
Well – as the train rolled into Howrah station, my eyes began to search for my brothers who had promised to be at the station to receive me and I began to dream of how I would spend the holidays. (to be continued…)

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From Deolali to Ojhar to manufacture MiG fighter aircrafts

The work in Nashik was far different from the type of work I had been engaged in Kanpur. That factory manufactured the HS-748 transport aircraft at the rate of one every year. But, Nashik was geared up to manufacture fighter aircraft at the rate of 30 per year. Moreover, the HS-748 was of British design and origin and the MiG was of Russian origin. Therefore, in Kanpur it was easy to interact with the specialist Engineers because English was the link language – in Nashik, we had to rely on interpreters. Some of them were Russians and some were Indians.
Anyway, the trip to the factory was a long affair.
I stayed in Deolali and the factory was in Ojhar – a distance of around 25-Km. Therefore, transport was provided by HAL and its fleet of buses would arrive at the scheduled stops to pick up the employees. Shift started at 7am and the buses would be there by 6am – the journey took around 40 to 45 minutes.
Most of the passengers in the bus would go to sleep, some would occupy the last seats and play games of cards and, as for me, I would read. I had discovered a fantastic outlet of books – it was a bookshop and the owner would allow me to take out one book every day. That was my pastime – I would pick up a mystery books and read half of it on my way to the factory and the second half on the return journey.
It was a good arrangement – I paid him a monthly fee for services rendered.
As for meals – I would take my lunch in the canteen and, for dinner, I would go to a joint managed by South Indians. It was Vijaya Lunch Home, the hotel for most of us who stayed in McKenzie Bungalow. The charges were reasonable – for Rs 30 per month, we had one mutton dish, one omelet, chapattis plus rice. There was no restriction on the quantity of rice and chapattis. (to be continued …)

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Deolali, the destination of the Mumbai crowd during summer

Deolali was a calm and quiet neighborhood when I landed up there. It was the beauty of the place with the clip clop of hooves on the tar road breaking the monotony of the quiet evenings or nights that impressed me. It was the sound of the tonga – or horse drawn carriages. These were an accepted form of transport and were available at the railway station alongside the taxis – those with money took the taxi, those who did not have that kind of money would opt for the tonga.
Anyway, as summer set in, the Mumbai crowd would arrive and put up in the various sanatoriums – these belonged to different communities like the Bohra Muslims or the Guajarati families. And – since HAL was still getting its family quarters built in Ojhar at the location of the factory, it had taken many of these sanatoriums on rent.
To go back to the Mumbai crowd – the women and girls would showoff the latest trend in dresses. It is of interest to note that the famed Bollywood actor Dilip Kumar was from Deolali! The Lewitt Market and surrounding areas would be where the Mumbai crowd would gather haggling over the price of flowers or fruits.
Or – they would head for Hill Temple … a hillock from where one could get a clear view of the surroundings.
For entertainment there were two cinema halls – one was in the military area called Cathay, the other in the civilian area and known as Adelphi. While most of the movies in Cathay were English, the Hindi movies would be screened in Adelphi.
And – for food, snacks and refreshments, the pick of the town was Bharat Cold Drinks. Its faloodas were beauties as were its ice creams. Just for information – the cost of a bottle of Coca Cola in the 1967 era was just 25 paise while a glass of fresh lime juice could be had for only 10 paise!! (to be continued …)

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I go to Deolali for the first time

After landing in Nashik at around 3am, I walked down the road from the railway station with my eyes peeled for a hotel. It was the end of April and after walking some distance, I saw a two storied building with the name of a hotel. I climbed up the stairs and got a room – it was reasonably good one, at least for the night.
Next morning I walked down to the Old Distillery building – that is where HAL Nasik had its offices. It was an imposing building of the British era made of stones and resembling the interior of castles of yore – I expected a knight in shining armor to suddenly step out from behind a pillar to block my way.
I met the people of the personnel department and then the staff of the nearby medial department to clear the formalities. And then, after lunch, I was directed to my section.
It was nothing but one corner of a room where some dummy airframe structures were kept and the employees worked on them – some drilled holes, others countersunk the holes while others riveted the joints. They were all learning and, among them was their teacher. A very serious looking gentleman who had come from HAL Bangalore.
I was introduced to him and he asked me where I was staying. I told him and he directed me to another person who stayed in a nearby place called Deolali – it seems the place he stayed was rented by HAL from a shipping firm based in Mumbai. Well – he took me to his place, I saw it and loved it – the terms were super. The building was three storied and its total rent was Rs 422 which would be divided among the boarders. At that point of time there were around 24 boarders and I became the 25th.
Most of them were Malayalees and there was also a man of all seasons – he stayed in the outhouse with his family and did odd jobs for the residents.
I took a bus, returned to the hotel, paid off my dues and came back to McKenzie Bungalow in Deolali – why a three storied building was called bungalow was a mystery. (to be continued …)

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