I removed my heart blockage without surgery 20 years back and am still active

The heart is the most vital organ of any living being. This organ loses its powers with age and once the symptoms become visible, one seeks medical advice. The patient has to go in for medication as the medical team pores over the findings of various tests. Usually, the suggestion of the learned professionals is surgery. However, I did nothing of the sort when doctors advised that option. It happened in 2003 when I was in service. I still had one year left to retire and the doctors said – ‘don’t worry - you will not need to pay anything because the company will bear the expenses since you are still an employee.’ It did not convince me. Yes, my heart was weak. I was taken to the hospital from my office and preliminary investigation in Mumbai showed my LVEF to be far below limits. In those days, the cardiac scene was practically not there in Nashik and I had to go to Mumbai. I dreaded the very thought of lying unconscious on the operation table as surgeons tried to repair my damaged heart. I had never undergone any surgery until then and even now, there are no such scars on my body.

Well, when I returned back from Mumbai, a woman who worked in my section gave me a local Marathi magazine in which there was a medicine prescribed to improve the functions of the heart. It consisted of three ingredients. These were basil leaves, fresh lemon and ‘khadi’ shakkar. This is a form of sugar that comes in the form of lumps. I would pluck 10 to 12 basil leaves, clean them and make a paste with the ‘khadi’ shakkar using a marble-stone mortar and pestle. I would then put the paste in a cup, mix the juice of a fresh lemon and swallow the mixture on an empty stomach. Simultaneously, I would munch a pod of garlic along with my morning tea. I continued this ‘medication’ for nearly six months. When I next went for checkup in Mumbai, the LVEF value had gone up to a satisfactory level. I did not go for any surgery and am as fit as a fiddle even today. My age is 78.

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The MiG-factory in Nashik had been started in a village called Ojhar. There is an interesting story about the selection of the site. The Defense Minister in the 1965 era was from Maharashtra and, after the Chinese invasion in 1962, a decision had been taken in Delhi to set up the MiG factory in Maharashtra.
Accordingly, a team of senior officers of the Indian Air Force was traveling from Delhi to Mumbai by road to meet the Defense Minister.
Why they opted for a road journey instead of flying is not known but, they stopped at Ojhar for a break and got to talking with the locals. One of them happened to be the owner of huge chunks of land in Ojhar and its surrounding areas and he was willing to make a deal with the government.
That is how the factory came into being and took up manufacture of the MiG-21 fighter aircrafts with the involvement of Russians. If the team had taken a flight, the factory might have been set up somewhere else.
The Russians supplied the materials and the Indian technicians built the flying machines. There was a huge work force drawn from different corners of the country and, within no time, a mini town grew up in Ojhar to house the employees. Provisions were also kept for accommodation for the Russians.
Since Ojhar was situated nearly 15-Km from Nashik, there were buses on Sundays to take people to the city for marketing.
Well – while the Russians mixed freely with us, it was rumored that they were always suspicious and never trusted anyone. It was rumored that every second Russian spied on the other. Moreover, while they would talk in Russian among themselves, many of them could converse in English and, even, in Marathi but would keep that a secret!! Therefore, we had to be careful of what we talked about in their presence. (to be continued …)


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