He is a practising physician for 364 days in a year. But on the full-moon night of Poovar's Poranmashi (the last full moon prior to Diwali), Dr Anoop Kumar Srivastava, sheds his doctor's robe to distribute a traditional medicine for chronic asthma patients.
Thousands of patients from far and near descend on his house, bringing along kheer (a milk delicacy) in earthen bowls to consume the medicine at midnight.
This practice has continued at Dr Srivastava's house in Lucknow for the past 75 years, right from the time of his grandfather, Pyare Lal Srivastava, a locally famous homeopath.
The kheer is made using old chawal (rice) cooked in cow's milk in an earthen vessel heated by burning cow-dung and without any sugar. No metal, not even a steel spoon, can be used during the cooking. The medicine is added to the kheer and consumed on the spot. The patient is advised not to sleep or drink water for two hours after taking the medicine. "It is purely a traditional medicine and contains neither steroid nor anything harmful," says the doctor.
He, however, admits that he doesn't believe that there is anything special about that particular night chosen for distributing the medicine. "As a doctor I think this night is same as any other," he says and adds, "Or, perhaps, it is one way of fixing a day for the medicine as otherwise people would queue here every day."
The fact that he has seen people benefiting from the medicine is what spurs him to continue the practice, he says.
"It is a matter of faith as some people believe that amrit (elixir) falls from the sky on this night. More importantly, I am following the tradition of my father, Dr R.P. Srivastava, who had followed the tradition set by my grandfather."
Asked whether the medicine could be taken on any other day, he says he has not tried this until now.
The medicine is distributed free of cost on the full-moon night. "Earlier we distributed the kheer as well, but that practice has been discontinued," he says. Whether one has faith in the practice or not, the endless queues of people waiting with kheer in earthen vessels on the lawns of Dr Srivastava's house is to be seen to be believed.
Thousands of patients from far and near descend on his house, bringing along kheer (a milk delicacy) in earthen bowls to consume the medicine at midnight.
This practice has continued at Dr Srivastava's house in Lucknow for the past 75 years, right from the time of his grandfather, Pyare Lal Srivastava, a locally famous homeopath.
The kheer is made using old chawal (rice) cooked in cow's milk in an earthen vessel heated by burning cow-dung and without any sugar. No metal, not even a steel spoon, can be used during the cooking. The medicine is added to the kheer and consumed on the spot. The patient is advised not to sleep or drink water for two hours after taking the medicine. "It is purely a traditional medicine and contains neither steroid nor anything harmful," says the doctor.
He, however, admits that he doesn't believe that there is anything special about that particular night chosen for distributing the medicine. "As a doctor I think this night is same as any other," he says and adds, "Or, perhaps, it is one way of fixing a day for the medicine as otherwise people would queue here every day."
The fact that he has seen people benefiting from the medicine is what spurs him to continue the practice, he says.
"It is a matter of faith as some people believe that amrit (elixir) falls from the sky on this night. More importantly, I am following the tradition of my father, Dr R.P. Srivastava, who had followed the tradition set by my grandfather."
Asked whether the medicine could be taken on any other day, he says he has not tried this until now.
The medicine is distributed free of cost on the full-moon night. "Earlier we distributed the kheer as well, but that practice has been discontinued," he says. Whether one has faith in the practice or not, the endless queues of people waiting with kheer in earthen vessels on the lawns of Dr Srivastava's house is to be seen to be believed.
No comments:
Post a Comment