"The Healing Touch From Tibet"
(By Aprajita Sarcar, January 25, 2011)

Dr Dorjee Rapten Neshar, Dr Tara Ngawang Lodoe, Tsering Dikyi and Tsering Dolma of Men-Tsee-Khang were given a reception at the Nagarjuna Ayurvedic Centre at Okkal, Kalady, Kerala on January 22, 2011. Ajayaraj Palasseri (Director), Dr V Madhavachandran (Manager, R&D), Dr K Krishnan Namboodiri (Chief Physician), Dr C Manoj Kumar (Chief Physician), Eldtho Mathew and Sethu Das of Friends of Tibet next to them. (Photos: Friends of Tibet)

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Kochi: A six-year-old girl asks her father what a Rangzen Band stands for. Her father picks up the material and reads about the band and explains that it was made for Tibetans who were jailed fighting for the Independence for their country. The discussion between them continues while her mother consults a Tibetan doctor. As I sat at the reception counter for the 5th Tibetan medical camp at Kochi in Kerala, I wondered if this discussion had occurred in any other programme that Friends of Tibet had organised till now. In a unique way of spreading awareness about the Tibetan cause, Friends of Tibet has organised camps which disseminate information about Tibet, through its medicines and its healers.

Asking about the nature of the programme is difficult. It is like any other medical clinic that people resort to, but the difference lies in the fact that they carry home, not just packets of pills with Tibetan writings on them, but also pamphlets that make them aware about the basic facts of the Tibet issue. Plus, they are being directly treated by the people in exile, the Tibetan doctors — Dr Dorjee Rapten Nasher and Dr Tara Ngawang Lodoe. They, along with two accompanying staffs were from the Men-Tsee-Khang or the Tibetan Medical and Astrological Institute of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. They were counselling the constant stream of patients, which began at 9am and with a lunch break, until 7pm. The patients varied from those suffering terminal illness, to simple 'dandruff issues', as one of the Friends of Tibet Volunteers said. The gathering mass of patients resorting to therapies alternative to Allopathic is evident in the reception of the camps in Kerala: close to 200 patents were enlisted at the end of the four-day medical camp. And a majority of appointments were by patients who were coming back for continued treatment.

Dr Dorjee Rapten Neshar of Men-Tsee-Khang presents a 'Blue Buddha' painting to Dr C Manoj Kumar, Chief Physician of Nagarjuna Ayurvedic Centre at Okkal, Kalady, Kerala on January 22, 2011. Dr V Madhavachandran (Manager, R&D) next to them.

The venue of the camp, this time was the Ashirbhavan in Kacheripaddi, near the Town Hall. The site attracted many members of the institution that ran the camps, including the security guard and administrative staffs. Medicines were dispensed free for some patients who could not afford them. At the end of the day, the medical practitioners themselves were the ones who demarcated the difference between the camps that have been organised till now, and the ones by Friends of Tibet. Dr Dorjee Rapten Nasher said that he had overseen many such camps, but the ones at Kochi dispersed the best information about Tibetan medicine and its history, to its patients. "Tibetan medicine will now forge a new link with the Indian masses, and hopefully, help them understand and empathise with Tibet. Camps like these are going to bring closer, the faraway land of Buddhism and Lamas to the dinner tables of Malayali families, and thus forge a new link for those common mass of Indians, who sought refuge in the healing powers of the exiled Tibet," he said.

Dr Dorjee Rapten Neshar, Chief Medical Officer of Men-Tsee-Khang Bangalore branch delivers a lecture on 'Pulse Diagnosis' at the Nagarjuna Ayurvedic Centre, Okkal, Kalady, Kerala on January 22, 2011. The talk was followed by a question and answer session and the screening of the documentary: 'Blue Buddha: The Lost Secrets of Tibetan Medicine' by Aerlyn Weissman.

Dr Dorjee Rapten Neshar explains the Tibetan Medical Thangka on 'The Root of Physiology and Pathology' to Dr V Madhavachandran (Manager, R&D), Dr K Krishnan Namboodiri (Chief Physician) and Dr C Manoj Kumar (Chief Physician) of Nagarjuna Ayurvedic Centre, Kalady, Kerala.

Aparajita Sarcar of Friends of Tibet (Delhi) with AK Tharanath and VJ Jose of Friends of Tibet (Kerala) during the 5th Tibetan Medical Camp at Ashirbhavan, Ernakulam on January 19, 2011. (See more photos)