Day 51: December 7, 2006
When we were last in Chennai meeting with the former pharmaceutical CEO who
is now an “expert believer” (my term for a highly skilled layman) in
traditional Indian herbal healing, we were given a contact name of a very
senior member of the Ministry of Health and asked to meet with him. He was
called by his friend who was serving as our go-between (even though it was
a Sunday) and he agreed to meet with us at a particular time Delhi. We had
missed the appointment because of the traffic between Mussoorie and Delhi
(NEVER, NEVER, NEVER DRIVE THAT ROAD. WE WERE TOLD THAT THERE IS A 4 LANE
BYPASS BUT NOT ONE OF OUR MANY DRIVERS EVER LOCATED IT. Instead, we
planned on the travel time the 4 lane road requires and found ourselves
stuck on the National 74, a major road to Hell because it is paved with the
good intentions of the drivers to take us to and from Delhi on the wide,
safe, well maintained National 1 road while we actually wind up on the bullock-cart, tractor, pedestrian, bicycle, auto, truck, bus, horse-drawn
carriage, donkey cart and miscellaneous transport road creeping along at a
pace that would frustrate the pokiest of snails while they choked in the
red dust of India’s winter months for close to 11 hours. The time on the
apparently mythical National 1 between Mussoorie and Delhi (or vice versa)?
Four hours.
Anyway, by the time we got to Delhi, there was no way whatsoever that we
could see the Ministerial personage. We called, though, and he kindly
agreed to see us later in the week, so the meeting will take place tomorrow.
Day 52 December 8, 2006
This time we got to the office of the senior Health Ministry person on
time. He was in a meeting so we waited for him to finish that meeting and
meet with us.
While we were waiting for him to finish his meeting, and were drinking the
requisite cup of tea proffered by the requisite-cup-of-tea person, we saw
that there was a copy of the India’s Declaration on the rights of mothers
and babies and the huge importance of actually moving forward to protect
them, not just taking about it. We agree. The 3 million babies lost to
poor nutrition a year and their mothers are inexcusable. We know enough,
we have enough and we are determined enough that we, as a world community,
should be providing high potency nutritional support to every pregnant
mother and every child who is challenged by under-nutrition. India’s
excellent new Food Safety and Standards law makes that possible, just as
DSHEA, the 1994 US statute which treats nutrients as foods, does. So
making these nutrients available in a high potency form, consistent with
the Natural Solutions Foundation’s International Decade of Nutrition
(inaugurated September 5, 2006) is a goal which can be achieved by a
determined health community and a determined government. Why should the
lives of babies and their mothers be compromised by cheap, easily available
and abundantly safe vitamins, minerals and other basic nutrients? There is
no reason whatsoever. None.
The International Decade of Nutrition’s High Potency Nutrient Feeding
programs can be carried out in compromised communities through excellent
documentation before and after the nutrient feeding programs to show the
ups and downs of high potency nutrient feeding: increased health, decreased
illness and mortality, increased productivity and quality of life,
decreased costs of health and/or illness care. All of this, of course,
would be made impossible under Codex if, for example, a country tried to
export high potency nutrients which violated the restrictive and dangerous
Vitamin and Mineral Guideline (ratified July 4, 2005, at the Rome meeting
of the Codex Alimentarius Commission).
India has taken up the process of protecting herself and her people at Step
2 of the two step process we show in the Codex eBook (available on the
Natural Solutions Foundation website, www.HealthFreedomUSA.org). She now
can easily, through her regulatory structure of her new food law, perhaps,
carry out the first step and, we believe, become “WTO Sanction-Resistant”
on this issue. And what an issue it is. The cost of human under nutrition
can hardly be described here because it is so immense. Drugs, of course,
will never cure that, just as they do not cure the diseases that under
nutrition causes, nor, in the end, the death it causes, too. And no drug
ever cured suffering, although some suppress pain, both physical and
mental/emotional. The cost of such suppression is great economically,
medically and in human terms, too great, in fact, to bear in nearly every
case.
I was taught as a Psychiatry Resident that an operational definition of
neurosis is that when something does not work, the neurotic person keeps on
doing more of it. Hmmmm. What does this fixation on using drugs, which are
the single leading cause of death in the developed world, and which are
breaking the bank and leading to more and more illness and expense when
they are used instead of nutrition and common sense, look like, sound like,
smell like, cost like? Sure enough, it must be a duck!
Anyway, there we were waiting for the very senior Health Ministry person.
We told him why we were in India, told him how concerned we were with the
pending law there that would make acupuncture, acupressure,
electro-acupuncture, Pranic Healing, frequency medicine, etc., illegal to
teach or to practice in India. He listened very attentively and discussed
how we could maximize our impact on the Indian health and nutritional
situation. It was a great meeting and one that gave us a good deal of
valuable insight into both the opportunities and ways around some
roadblocks in India in order to achieve our goals of Optimal Health using
the arrows in our quiver and the new Indian Food Act.
Then, because he thought our information would be useful and that he could
provide useful information in return, he sent us off to meet the head of
AYUSH, India’s special division of the Department of Health which is
devoted to Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathic medicine.
As you probably know, while Ayurveda has its roots in the Hindu traditions,
Unani serves the Moslem community in much the same way and, like its better
known (at least in the West) counterpart, Unani is an herb and food based
system with great wisdom and highly educated and skilled practitioners
here. Siddha is focused on cure and health through yoga, meditation and
the connection between sprit, mind and body while Homeopathy, also well
known in the West (and under major attack in the EU because it is so
effective) is a very popular form of prevention and treatment here.
Interestingly, this very enthusiastic and educated gentleman, over the next
requisite cup of tea, defended the notion of restricting the practice of
non-allopathic medicine because the practitioners of AYUSH therapies all
went to school for a long time and they should not be economically or
professional undermined by people who do not have the same degrees,
credentials or union cards that they do.
It’s a familiar point, and one that is being exploited here by the
allopathic interests to narrow and control the field, divide and conquer.
Does that have a familiar ring? Doesn’t that sound a lot like the
process John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie engaged in prior to the
full-blown assault on every type of medicine that did not use drugs prior
to the put-up job called the Flexner Report in the early 20th Century
which said that only allopathic medicine should be allowed to exist.
Rapidly, all other forms of medicine were attacked and their practice
criminalized. You know, of course, that John D. Rockefeller owned the
total world output in petroleum at that time and, because he did not
believe that the internal combustion engine would every consume all of his
output, sought out another demand stream. He found it in Germany’s
pharmaceutical industry, focused at that time on drugs made from petroleum
(also called coal-tar derivatives) and set out to get rid of the
competition. How he did that includes the story of IG Farben and World War
II, but that is another story, about which there will be an article on the
website, www.HealthFreedomUSA.org, shortly.
Both the first and second encounters were good meetings because each was
highly informative, although we learned something different in each. We
can go back and talk to both gentlemen and probably will. We learned a lot
from them and introduced the Natural Solutions Foundation to them.
Later, we met with a former Bollywood actor turned healer who is doing some
interesting stuff integrating all the Indian and non-Indian religious
traditions with their corresponding healing traditions and then picking and
choosing from among their wisdoms to create a personalized frequency
response on a DVD for each person. Of course, that will be illegal here in
India if this new law passes.
Day 53 December 9, 2006
We decided to fly to Dehra Dun (30 minutes), the nearest town to Mussoorie
since we had to go back to further our discussions with the frequency
scientist there about deepening our work from interest to healing
technology. That’s the good news. The bad news is that there were no
tickets on either flight (there are two a day).
So we decided to take the train (3 hours or a 6 hour overnight sleeper).
We could book on line. That’s the good news. You can only do so if you
have an ICI card, which appears to be available only to residents and
citizens of India. We don’t have one. That’s the bad news. The travel
agencies and post offices that could have booked the tickets for us were
closed by the time we realized that the Indian Government’s Press Release
last January trumpeting the on-line availability of booking did not apply
to us. That was the even worse news.
The really bad news was that the only way to get back to Mussoorie was to
drive. Worse news? We drove. And the worst news of all is that, despite
vigorous verbal assurances that he knew the National 1 road and that he and
his car were licensed to drive on it, he did not and he was not.
Fifteen minutes shy of 11 hours later, we arrived at our destination in
Mussoorie.
Sigh.
Oh, by the way, the guest house we were booked into in the Himalayas was
unheated and there was no warm water there.
Even bigger sigh.
Day 54 December 10, 2006
Today was the birthday celebration of the frequency scientist/healer in
Mussoorie whom we had come to talk to and work with. Early in the day we
were taken to see the beauty spot of the region, a magnificent view of the
Snow Peaks of the Himalayas. We paid our 20 Rupees each to climb a
staircase (2 flights) to an observation deck with heavy duty binoculars
through which we could see the magnificence of the top of the world. We
could also see the highly aberrant HAARP array and the heavy Chemtrails in
the sky.
Climbing down the stairs we came back to the level at which the local lady
had collected our 20 Rs each and I took a photo. If I knew how to mount it
to show it to you, I would. It is a picture of the top of the world, the
snow peaks of the highest and remotest mountain range on earth in the far
distance and, in the foreground, a snack pack rack bearing an advertisement
for Frito Lay chips and packages and packages of them (made, I believe,
with GMO corn right here in the US) on the rack. It is quite a photo.
Later, we went on a drive to see another of the view spots of the universe:
this one a resort now in its down season. I won’t even begin to tell you
how terrified I was during the drive along the crests of mountains with
unguarded roads plunging into near vertical cliffs which went down
thousands of feet ON EITHER SIDE. Oh, by the way, the road was 1 lane and
the curves, which were mostly much more than 90 degrees and all blind, were
shared with fuel trucks, tour busses, SUVs, motor bikes, etc. The peaks
were glorious. My calf and knee muscles were in spasm from the reactive
terror flinch. I could barely peel my hands off the handle on the roof of
the car over the window in the back seat where we were sitting.
And then we had to get home for the Birthday Party. In the dark. Don’t
ask!
When we got back, and warmed up at the wood burning stove, we noted that
there was a tent on a patio on a lower level. It turned out to be for the
party. I have to tell you, this was the first time I ever attended a
birthday party outdoors in the Himalayas in December while it was raining,
hailing and, to some extent, snowing. But the warmth of the blazing love
of the people that the scientist/healer was treating and had treated was
blazing hot so the weather was meaningless. It was a palpable expression
of love and devotion like few that I have seen in my life.
Among the people there were some with genetic inborn errors of metabolism
who said that their genetic examinations were now normal. This healing
capacity is worth the drive if it can be substantiated.
Guest House Report: no towels, no hot water, no heat, and the breakfast
omelets was made with such an abundance of green chilies that I had to send
it back with tears streaming down my face from the first bite.
Day 55 December 11, 2006
After a walk in the town to buy one of the amazingly warm shawls which
serve as winter coats for men and women here (and which are as light as
cotton or, sometimes, silk although they are wool), we took a taxi back to
the house of the scientist. The conversation is highly significant but the
wood-burning stove reminds me that indoor pollution is one of the leading
causes of death in the developing world.
We deepened our talks about how to proceed with our research. Then down
the horrifying and dangerous road to Dehra Dun. And, to make things
complete, it snowed up on the mountain road so that getting back UP that
road was another level of terror that I, personally, had never experienced
before. Neither had the General and he has been in combat!
Think about it for a moment: we are talking about energy that can repair
genetic diseases. And I have seen the patients and the process here.
Energy that can repair a hole in a baby’s heart.
Energy that can reverse ALS. No drugs. Energy that can be delivered
through technology. No heat, terrifying drive vs. energy. No contest.
We’ll go to Mussoorie. Again.
Day 56 December 12, 2006
Mussoorie to Delhi (by road B complete with assurances that the driver
knew, was licensed to take, was in a car that was licensed to drive on, and
would choose the National Highway 1 to Delhi so that we could make the
flight to Chennai. HA!
We finally got to the Delhi airport and found that all our stress over
missing the flight was unnecessary: we did not depart until at least 4
hours after the scheduled time because of a Delhi winter delight: fog. So
we missed our dinner meeting in Chennai. Of course, we did get there,
which was a great up from hanging out in the Delhi domestic airport with no
planes flying, no seats, hardly any food, etc. You get the idea.
The hotel in Chennai has both hot water and air conditioning. Of course,
they had cancelled our reservation because we were late so we wound up
sharing a cottage: Lacey in the living room on a roll away bed and the
General and I in the bed room. Hey, we all had hot water and we were
happy. And clean. And cool. And dry. And off the damn road!
Day 57 December 13, 2006
We had series of meetings here about how to bring natural medicine to
India. They were exciting and highly productive with a really powerful
structure proposed which we will look into. You can understand that we
can=t talk about it yet. There is too much to explore, investigate and
formalize. But if you could design what you would like, it would look
quite a lot like this.
Lacey left after the meetings and my computer froze. Happily, one of the
people in the group here in Chennai is an IT guy so, despite my
forebodings, he was able to fix it up after about 6 hours of intensive work.
Then we went to the airport to take a flight back to New York. Nope. The
travel agent, our Indian IT friend and we had all misread the ticket. We
mistook the flight number for the time of departure. We got to the airport
to have the armed guard at the door to the departure terminal tell us that
we had missed the plane B it was gone, gone, gone.
Back to the hotel (since we were now in the middle of the night, checking
back in for a few hours of sleep.
Sigh.
Day 58 December 14, 2006
We had to check out by noon so we spent the day next to an outlet in the
wall in the very nice veggie restaurant, had lunch, dinner and did email
and this blog. This is really an internet café. Now we are eating dinner
(excellent home made tomato soup as I write this), I will go back on line,
send it to the blog site and say, see you in the US.
We have had stunning success and should be deeply encouraged to continue
our work. Don’t forget to go to our new store at
www.HealthFreedomUSA.org/store to buy organic nutrients and other needs
while supporting us. And, speaking of support, we need your tax deductible
donations. You can do that on our site, too. Just go to
www.HealthFreedomUSA.org and click on Donate, sign the Citizen’s Petition
while you are there and sign up for the secure email newsletter.
See you. We’re having a final meal here in India before we leave for home
early on December 5, 2006.
Day 59 December 15, 2006
Fly home, arrive home. I’ll let you know what happens.
Day 44: July 25, 2006
Today the Director Medical of Sir Ganga Ram Hosptial, Dr. Nalini Kaul, Bert and I made the journey to the foothills of the Himalayas to a town called Misoori (pronouneced “miz ZOO ri” which looks like the pictures I have seen of Tibet: steep, craggy mountains with exquisit and improbably buildings perched on their absolute edges, mists in the peaks, astonishingly dangerous roads on the edge of eternity. But we went there to meet a healer of extraordinary power who is also a scientist of exceptional talents. He has created frequency devices which do the things that we all hope they will do, starting with cancer. Bert and I wanted to meet him!
About 8 harrowing hours after starting out, we reached his astonishing house where we had lunch (very good food) and conversation (outstanding!) and then watched him treat patients with asthma, diabetes and other serious diseases and conditions with a simple touch of his fingers. The energy in the room, by the way, was palpable. The patients were significantly better after treatment by this brilliant, simple and saintly man.
I asked him if he would treat an olechronon busal cyst (fluid filled bump) on Bert’s left elbow and he agreed. As soon as the 2 minute treatment was over, the cyst was about 1/3 its previous size and hardness. He said it would take one or two more treatments to resolve the issue.
We drove down into town and in the pouring monsoon rains, found a restaruant where we had excellent vegetarian food and we agreed that this scientist would work with us to develop frequency devices to treat a variety of things. To do that, of course, we will have to find a way to set up a frequency laboratory. I don’t know quite how, but we will. His techniques, and others we know about, belong to the world. They are another type of natural health option which we should all have the possibility to use for health and healing if we wish.
Day 45: July 26, 2006
Breakfast with our new friend, two quick treatments for Bert and back to Delhi in the rains, down roads that scared us all witless, into towns and back into the country, past temples and mosques everywhere. When we got back, of course, my task was email since there was no connectivity in the hotel and we were far to busy to spend time that way in the house of the remarkable man we were visiting.
By the time we reached Delhi, however, Bert’s previously asymptomatic cyst was now hot, hard, painful and much, much larger than it had every been before. Clearly the treatment did something, but we did not have any idea what at that point.
Day 46: July 27, 2006
Our IT guy, Venkat, flew in from Channai (in the state of Tamil Nadu) so we could talk about the issues involved in servicing the complex Natural Solutions Foundation organization which is rapidly growing here in India and its IT needs.
For dinner, we met again with pulmonologist D. G. Jain, MD and asked him if he would honor us by serving as the Chairman of the Natural Solutions Foundation for Delhi. To our immense pleasure and gratitude he agreed and we discussed just what that means.
India is a ripe ground for productive public and professional support for health and health freedom. She has a large footprint on the world’s stage and is a ripening economy which is now in the process of making decisions which will change her future and the world scene. Our allies here are well organized, motivated and highly educated. We are very, very glad we came!
Day 47: July 28, 2007
While waiting to see one of our people in the morning we were asked if we would meet with the Sir Ganga Ram Hosptial Dietician staff. We did, of course, and met 3 well-informed, motivated and passionate ladies who understand the relationship between food and health. Their hosptial uses only fresh foods and cooks every meal at the time it will be served. We made a variety of suggestions (like, “Get rid of the styrofoam cups and bowls, use brown rice, use organic foods, incorporate more unrefined, organic coconut oil, use more selenium-rich vegetables”, etc.) and we discussed how to implement them. Clearly, that connection will expand and we were simply delighted.
When we were meeting with Dr. Kaul about how we will proceed with research in several areas. I asked her to take a look at Bert’s cyst (which was worse than it was on Wednesday by a good deal). She and I knew that it could not wait until we got home in a few days and while she was pondering whom to refer us to (in one of India’s finest hospitals, by the way) the door opened and in walked the head of the Plastic Surgery Department. “That’s your man!” said Dr. Kaul and Bert very shortly was having blood drawn, urine specimen received an MRI of his elbow and a CT scan, too.
We met with the radiologist and reviewed the scans with him: there was not only a huge and not very postive something or other, it was impinging on the bone and had to come out — tomorrow.
Day 49: July 29, 2006
Bert and I went to the hospital early and sat around for a long time (that is trans cultural!) and then he was taken into the Operating Theater for the procuedure (under local anaesthetic, I am happy to say!). Due to their hospital policy, I could not come so I did what loved ones do: I sat and sat and sat and sat. Finally, he came out of the OT he went to Out Patient Recovery and I joined him. He was well, alert and really pretty cut up on the left arm. Apparently, what came out was partly necrotic (dead) and alll nasty. It was huge (8 centimeters by 4 cm of nastiness). But the really interesting thing is that there was nothing much there when the energy healer finished his treatments. So our hypothesis of the moment is that the energy stimulated the tissue and damaged it, too, but not enough to get rid of the problem. Bert’s body quite reasonably produced an inflammation to try to deal with the sudden change in the area and the net result was a problem which needed urgent care!
I am really sorry that Bert had to go through this, but it is really interesting and instructive about how energy can work when interacting with the physical body. There is a hint in there for further understanding.
At about 3:00PM I had to make a choice: Bert was well but still in the recovery room and I could stay with him or I could leave him (since he was fine) and let the hospital finish its routine with him while I went to the first of two important obligations that evening. We decided that I would leave him to get a cab 5 minutes to the Hotel Swadi Deluxe where we are staying.
My first meeting was at the India Habitat Center’ American Diner (serving American fast food!) with a former journalist who, for the past 15 years has been fighting hunger in India by opposing GM foods and other devastating policies. He was knowlegeable, passionate and purposeful. His organization has produced outstanding results here in India in public and politician awareness on the issues and we agreed that our mutual issues ( because they are identical) are completely winnable. The materials his organization has produced are outstanding and in the coming weeks and months, our organizations will be supporting and strengthening each other.
I explained the “Codex 2 Step” to him and he, an expert in the WTO and trade sanctions, was absolutly delighted since it makes perfect sense to take this tack. He received a copy of the Codex eBook which applies this template to the devastatingly restrictive and pro-illness “Vitamin and Mineral Guideline” ratified by Codex on July 4, 2005.
Next we headed off to a meeting hall in the Habitat Center to speak at the invitation of D. G. Kaarthikayen, former head of India’s Central Bureau of Intellegence (their equivalent of our FBI) about whom I have previously written and with the help of his son, Kailas. The crowd was a gathering of the intellegencia and power elite of Delhi, I had been told but I was not prepared for the astonishing array of people I met who occupy high and influential positions. All of them had come to hear a Pranic (energy) healer from the Philipines who had arrive just that day. They got me, too, rather unexpectedly!
The response was very heartening: although they did not come to hear about health and health freedom, they responded very vigorously and positively, coming to the front of the room in a throng to get our card, brochure, give us their cards, etc. and make contact for further development. It was a great finale for this trip and opened up more opportunities for positive movement.
Health and health freedom are global. Their support around the world globalizes their access and strength for us all. This trip, like our previous ones, have made it clear that allies gain form one another and give to one another.
Whether it’s South Africa, Tanzania, Mali, Afghanistan, India, Peru or the US, we feed each other and we need each other. And we all understand that clean, unadulterated food is the foundation of health! Natural health options are our birthright and our personal right. No one will take them from us. And nutrients will help to end world hunger and increase world health. The Natural Solutions Foundation is making that options clear to health allies around the world.
Thanks for being part of that mission.
Day 50: July 30, 2006.
Packing to go home and tending Bert’s wound occupied nearly the whole day.
He had his drain removed in the hospital today and we bought a new suitcase to hold all the books, pamphets, papers, etc. which we acquired along the way on this remarkable trip.
But there was time for a wonderful phone call in between these tasks. Dr. C. V. Krishnaswami, widely regarded as one of India’s leading lights in diabetology, has agreed to head the Natural Solutions Foundation — India in the state of Tamil Nadu. Dr. CVK, as he is widely known, is a natural health advocate with a huge reputation and an even larger heart. He has published widely on the fact that women with gestational diabetis, for example, do not need to be placed on insulin but instead, given 250 mg of Vitamin B6 per day. Their babies and they do beautifully and both are spared the dangers of exogenous (outside) insulin administration.
Dr. Preema Krishnaswami, the equally celebrated obstetrician (and Dr. CVK’s wife) has delivered hundreds of healthy babies to celebreties and poor people alike. She has tended equally healthy babies and moms on this regimen for gestational diabetes and together Dr. CVK and Dr. Preema have published their results. But that is not all: in addition to very busy practices they run a free diabetes service for 500 Type 1 diabetic children: not only do they pay for their insulin (which their families could not afford), but they provide their school uniforms, pay for their school fees (not free in India), provide them with counseling, make sure that they find employement when they leave school, provide food for them and, in fact, make it possible for these children to have happy, productive childhoods and go on to happy, productive adult lives.
Dr. CVK and Dr. Preema are, I can tell you from personal experience, two of the most incredible people I have ever met. And now they have graced us by joining the battle with the Natural Solutions Foundation.
In fact, the exceptionally powerful meeting of people in their city of Chennai which we spoke at was arranged by them. So was our meeting with the wife of one of India’s leading film stars who is now interested in bringing her circle of influence to bear for our cause. These are people of heart, skill and influence and we are deeply honored by their participation in the health and health freedom cause.
Day 51: July 31, 2006
Our flight leaves Delhi at 4:15 AM. No news now, just transit.
Yours in health and freedom,
Rima E. Laibow, MD
Medical Director
Then we headed off to
What a day! You already know that the Natural Solutions Foundation is purusing an international strategy since Codex is an international problem and a legal strategy since Codex uses law-like proceedures to force its pro-illness views on the nations of the world. Well, there are nations still able to refuse to be controlled by external forces like Codex. India may well be one of them.g
I promised you that today’s events would knock your socks off so get ready: today Bert and I met with the President of India, Mr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam and briefed him on Codex! In a
meeting with Bert and me Mr. Kalam, who is known and revered by everyone we spoke with as “The People’s President”, listened carefully and took in everything we said. He promised to study our information carefully (contained in the Codex eBook) and it is clear that we have a listening ear and a potential ally in Mr. Kalam. This leader is known far and wide as a strong advocate of natural health methods and, indeed, it was by congratulating us on our focus on natural health and urging us to include the mind, not just the body, in our healing (which we do), that Mr. Kalam began our supposedly 20 minute meeting. After the 30 minute mark had passed, we were still in the room talking although the staff was in a furor. Mr. Kalam was unperturbed by their sense of urgency and we were able to continue talking.
It was, in short, an amazing opeing which we are profoundly grateful to Prof. Dr. B. M. Hegde, Director, Natural Solutions Foundation — India, that this highly significant meeting came about.
Thank you, Prof. Dr. Hegde, for your support and help. And thank you, Mr. Kalam, for your listening, learning mind.
Yours in health and freedom,
Rima E. Laibow, MD
Medical Director
I am much to tired to write more but I promise that you will have the details tomorrow along with the story of an outing to see the maker of astonishing new technology about which I will tell you.
The President of India, a country with more than 1.2 Billion people was listening very, very carefully. He is known as an incorruptable man of the highest integrety who speaks for what he believes, not for what is convenient.
Day 40: July 21, 2006
This morning we were picked up by Dr. Vira from the Sir Ganaga Ram Hospital (about 5 minutes by car from our hotel, the Hotel Swadi Deluxe) where we met with the some of the senior staff, and other doctors as well, from that institution. A fully allopathic hospital with all the latest equipment and skills necessary to run a modern Western hospital, none the less, the doctors here understand (or at least some of them do) that the Ayurveda precept of food as medicine and medicine as food is the basis for health (or its violation, the basis for disease). So the twin dangers of adulterating the food supply and taking away nutrients and other natural health options, was very, very concerning to them.
The doctors listened intently and asked probing questions at the end of the presentation. The most senior doctor present appeared to be slumped in his chair and sleeping through most of my lecture. At the end of my talk, he waited for all the questions to finish and then said that he would make some comments and end the meeting. Bert and I looked at each other: a negative word from this revered and very senior doctor, and there would be nothing more that would happen here at this influential center. Imagine, then, our delight and surprise when he stated that he had heard much that he did not know but that what he heard made sense and seemed right. He went on to say that his hospital had to be mindful of the fact that drugs are poisons and that there is much that must be done without them. Further, he went on to detail a family member’s search for anything — anything — that would help his autistic child and, along with other doctors in the room, asked where they could learn how to use natural methods like the ones I had talked about and where they or relatives with conditions “incurable” to allopathic medicine could get meaningful help.
I had the pleasure of referring those seeking training to the excellent educational programs of the American Academy of Environmental Medicine and discussed individual referrals with them since I am not able to take on new patients because of our heavy travel schedule. Codex: oh, yes! These doctors, although they had never heard of it, got it, and got it big time. Although Dr. Faul, the “Director Medical” of the hospital noted before my lecture that “We have lost faith in food”, still, here in India, the tradition of medicine/food/medicine is alive, if not well, and these doctors knew what that meant. Also, many of them come from villages where health was assured by this technique, along with herbs if needed. They have seen and experienced first hand what the loss of “faith in food” (CLEAN food) has meant to their health and that of their families so they are uniquely enabled to lock onto this concept and see the threat.
Following the lecture, we talked with the very senior doctor and learned that he is suffering from a serious and, for allopathic medicine, untreatable disorder which saps him of his strength more each day. I was able to make some suggestions which made sense to him and he immediately dictated a letter to Prof. Dr. B. M. Hegde, the Director of Natural Solutions Foundation — India, and a world-renowned physician to boot, to ask for assistance in securing the treatments I recommended.
Then we went on to vast briefly with Dr. Faul before we left for our next meeting. Imagine our pleasure when she invited us to speak at her January meeting on the importance of the Ayurveda integration of consciousness, mind and body in healing. Deepak Chopra will be there, too. Of course we accepted.
Along the way, we got to talking about what she calls “Cosmic Healing” and listened attentively when she said that a man she knows has created technology which does the same thing effectively. We asked if we could visit him and she said we could go (6 hours away by car each way) on Tuesday and come back Wednesday. We leaped at the opportunity, you can well imagine, since we are very interested in such technologies. We will let you know what we see!
Then back to the hotel for an afternoon meeting (which did not occur) with an exceptional pulmonologist who is very sympathetic to our work.
We waited until we had to leave for an encounter with an Indian agent for social change who is the brother of a highly respected Indian Scientist in the US who has been very helpful to us at the Indian International Center Annex. This senior gentleman arranged for us to meet at this venerable club with the Director of the Delhi Center of an Ayurveda Hospital and Treatment Center. We explained the Codex threat to both of them and, as we have always found, they listened attentively and asked profound questions.
Along the way, the Ayurveda doctor said that we could come the next day for a Panchakarma (hot oil) Ayurveda massage. I was thrilled because in the car on the way over I had said to Bert, “You know, tomorrow is Saturday and I would love to find an Ayurveda center and have a hot oil massage.” Honest!
Back to a restaurant for dinner and back to our hotel for a 10 PM appointment with the doctor who could not come earlier. We were together until 1:30AM while we talked Codex, energy medicine, nutritional medicine and public information techniques. By the end, we had a new ally and a new friend.
Day 41: July 22, 2006
I woke up today with a high blood pressure episode, the first I have ever had, at least as far as I know. My feet and ankles were swollen with “pitting edema” up my legs and, when I took it, my blood pressure was 165/135. I called the Ayurveda doctor and told him that I needed not only to have the Panchakarma treatment, but I needed a consultation with a doctor as well. He told me how to set it up and I did, indeed, have a consultation with a doctor at the facility. He prescribed herbal tablets and a special type of Panchakarma treatment. Following a very unique (to me) hot oil massage administered by two pleasant, but silent, trained Ayurveda masseuses my BP was 122/82 — totally within normal limits. Would it have come down by itself? Perhaps. But I will tell you that I believe that Ayurveda medicine belongs in our armamentarium for health care, not illness care. I was very appreciative of the opportunity.
Oh, by the way, Bert had a very sore point on his knee which has been getting steadily more painful ever since we began spending hours and hours in cramped cars where he cannot stretch his leg out and planes which are the same. He, too, had both a consultation and a Panchakarma treatment. His knee is vastly improved: there is no pain unless he presses really hard on the spot. My therapeutic intervention: “Don’t press the spot!”
We came home, showered and showered and showered (very oily oil!) and went out to dinner, then home and bed for Bert, computer for me.
Day42: July 23, 2006
We were invited today to lunch with a friend of the amazingly well-connected Dr. B. M. Hegde who is the former head of India’s equivalent of the FBI and currently a top advisor to the government on legal and human rights!
He and his grown son entertained us at their lovely, gracious home (guarded by a man with a rifle) and we talked about Codex, of course, but we also talked about the unity of goodness in all religions and sincere paths to God. We saw photos of this man with gurus, divines like the Dali Lama and other world spiritual leaders. He is a complexly simple (or simply complex) man of insight and great penetration of intellect who immediately saw the impact of Codex and invited us to present at a meeting on July 29th where the program is already set, of course, but where he will make about 20 minutes available to allow us to introduce the Codex issue to the audience. He, too, wants us to speak at a much larger meeting when we come back in January. We said we would.
The home cooked South Indian food was delicious, eaten with the right hand and not at all spicy. But the subtle blending of taste was fantastic.
We said goodbye to this gentleman and his son, nodded goodbye to the man with the rifle and drove off. As we went, we saw a beautiful complex labeled “Indian Handicrafts Exposition” which looked exceptionally nice. We asked the taxi driver to stop thinking we would spend an hour there. Four hours later we left having seen handicrafts and treasures old and new of a quality rarely seen outside of a museum. We could not afford anything, but we did make a new friend: the Senior Manager with whom we had an almost identical discussion about the same things we talked about over lunch. He, like India’s former “Top Cop” looks at life from a deeply holistic and spiritual perspective. His religion guides him to devotion in every act and an understanding of the unity through which good comes into the world without demanding that any one religion be followed while being deeply devout in his own religion. These two men provided us with pretty profound discussions on the depth of man’s good in the face of the world’s evil. And they are, by the way, members of different religions. Is this a shared personal reality or a typically Indian view? We do not know enough Indians to say, but all of the people we have talked to here have said pretty much the same thing on the topic and, unlike the US, they bring the topic up early and often, but with gentle interest, not fanaticism.
Then a quick dinner, many phone conferences and preparation for tomorrow’s extraordinary event. Stay tuned!
Yours in health and freedom,
Rima E. Laibow, MD
Day 31: July 12, 2006
Today was a pretty astonishing day. We started off the day with a lecture at the SDR Law College in Mangalore. We did not know it at the time, but the college, along with many other schools at all levels, including high level professional colleges and hospitals, is run by a truly remarkable man named Hegade, the founder of a temple which people give money to and he gives it back to the society in the form of hospitals, colleges, schools, etc. That meant nothing to us at the time but would shortly. All we knew was that we were being invited to deliver a lecture to the students and many of the faculty at a law college and so, naturally, we accepted with pleasure. The amazing Dr. B.M. Hegde has friends and admirers everywhere and so we were invited to deliver this address to the law college.
This was a particularly good venue since the Codex problem is economic but the Codex solution is legal.
We were welcomed by the number 3 student in the class, a stunningly beautiful Moslem women dressed in the long dark robes of her culture and a headscarf totally covering her hair. She presented Dr. Hegda, Bert and me with a bouquet of flowers and a sweet smile. The students were standing when we entered and only took their seats when we took ours. Men sat on the right as we faced them, women on the left but in the front row sat both men and women sat in chairs on both sides of the room. I am sure there was a reason for that but we don’t know what it is. The women wore either Moslem robes (a few), saris (many) or shalwars (most). These short sleeved, loose fitting dresses have a scarf which is always worn at the neck, though in different ways, and a pair of loose fitting trousers. The colors, patterns, beading, diversity and beauty of these garments was absolutely riveting for someone like be who loves textiles. But the attention given to us was even more riveting. (The guys were dressed in tee shirts or dress shirts and pants, just in the US.)
Dr. Hegde introduced us and then Bert talked, as he often does, about the Principles of War in their application to the global war for health and health freedom. I began my talk by noting that they, the future lawyers of India, had surely died and gone to lawyer heaven because Codex provided them the opportunity to protect people and get paid for it! I told them that the various constituencies devoted to various issues raised by Codex would be increasingly involved in following the Codex 2 step so that their businesses would be protected from Codex by creating a better standard and then by seeing to it that it was enacted as law.
After the lecture, we received the thanks of another student and we had coffee in the office of the Principle, or Dean, of the Law School. When I presented him with the Codex materials contained in the Codex eBook he was fascinated. When I presented him with the Codex White Paper on What Codex Actually Requires from Member Nations he was activated. He called the International Law Professor in and asked him to review the documents I presented to him. Our international strategy made excellent sense to him and he agreed that he and his school would carry it forward in India. That’s when we learned something fascinating about India: a constitutional amendment was passed in 2002, I believe, which protects the natural medicines of India. This will have a significant role in the future of Codex here in India.
Next we were taken to a herbarium run by an Ayruvedic company called “Alva”. They have created a teaching and meditation area where every Ayurvedic plant is cultivated and used only for teaching purposes. The medicinal plants are grown elsewhere: these plants are for inspiration and education. The residents of the Old Age home on the premises are asked to walk the paths of the herbarium each day and they do. So do the visitors like us who can admire and learn. We did both.
We met the pharmacist, saw the store rooms and saw the traditional processing rooms where the herbs are ground or cut, stewed, brewed, steeped, decanted, roasted, boiled, broiled, buried, etc., all according to the ancient scriptures. It was a truly impressive visit. Nothing was air conditioned. When I was basically dissolving in the jungle humidity, our hosts brought us “tender coconut” with the top sliced off and a straw inserted. The coconut water, high in electrolytes, perfectly sterile and sweetly refreshing, was a life saver.
Then off to the Ayurvedic hospital where we saw the ancient practices being used. From room to room we went (all un air conditioned) where all of the techniques were in active use. Diagnostic procedures like ultra sound were, too. The hospital was quiet, dignified and calm. There were no medicinal odors and although there were a great many people about, there was a serene sense that was very different from a Western Hospital.
We were asked to visit a new Ayurvedic and Homeopathic Medical School where we were introduced to the Chairman but did not spend much time talking to him. Our guide was an Ayurvedic pediatrician who generously took a great deal of time with us. The Chairman asked us to come back in January which we will certainly do.
The Medical School is still under construction so we could only climb to the 5th floor because the other floors are being added on top of each floor below. I am sure if the building had been constructed to 20 floors the Chairman would have been in a meeting on the top floor and we would have had to climb every one of them. As it was, we only had the one outside the building to the entry hall and then 5 other flights of stairs. No air conditioning. Incredible heat. Total humidity.
Believe me, if we are in India then, January could not come too soon with its cooler temperatures as far as I am concerned!
Day 32: July 13, 2006
We started off the day with a quick breakfast at the Mangalore Club. It was raining, really, really raining.
Our driver said that he would be happy to take us shopping. I suggested that perhaps we could visit a temple and he happily obliged. First he took us to a private Catholic college where we drove right on past the “Do not enter” sign. I asked him about it but he just smiled, nodded his head from side to side in the South Indian gesture that means, variously, “yes”, “no”, “don’t worry about it” or whatever else is convenient at the moment.
The purpose for our visit became apparent: Joe, our driver, wanted very much for us to see a magnificent European-style cathedral with amazing murals on the walls and ceilings. Since he had crosses in the front of the car, I assume that he is a Christian. He said that his church is not this one and smiled a lot when I tried to make more conversation about it. That happened a lot, though, no matter what the topic, so I have no idea if we were communicating or not.
Next he took us to a large Hindu Temple Complex and guided us into the temple itself. We had already taken off our shoes at the entrance to the complex, guarded by two enormous elephant statues which were painted and gilded. Inside a magnificent and enormous bull welcomed us.
Hindu rituals are dramatic and beautiful. We were able to see very clearly what happened at each shrine within the central temple. Even the inside of the temple enclosure, however, was partly outdoors so the rain was a heavy factor. No cameras inside, but no umbrellas, either.
The big surprise inside the temple was the music: a traditional drummer was beating the right hand drum head of a horizontal drum with a stick and the left hand head with his hand (which is very traditional). But the musician accompanying him was playing a saxophone and he was wailing! After making the circuit of the temple, I stood and listened for a while. He and the drummer dug the fact that an obviously non local person was listening and plunged into an amazing improvisation while smiling as broadly as humanly possible the whole time. It was amazing.
Then, in the pouring monsoon rain, we were walking from place to place in the temple when a man in (soaked) dress shirt and trousers came up and asked where we were from. We told him and he said that he would show us around. He took us into buildings like the wedding hall and up to the top of the highest building in the complex to show us Mangalore and the temple compound. We found out that he manages the maintenance which is required for this huge compound with crews of volunteers and that he felt that since we had come from so far away, he should show us hospitality.
He took us around and then asked if we would like to have some lunch. We thought the temple must have a restaurant so we said yes. He took us into the dining hall where people are fed after they make their devotions. They sit on floor mats and volunteers come by with pots and ladles and dish out food onto their plates which they then eat with their right hand (never the left). Some rice with sauce and a dollop of veggies served on banana leaves (auspicious in traditional thought and antiseptic according to modern science) comprises the meal. We ate the same (sitting at a table, though) and when we left we were given sweets in little bags that marked the Shri Gokarnanatha Kshetra temple.
Its story of the temple is simple and beautiful: it was founded by a man who was troubled that the lowest cast members had no place to worship since they could not enter temples. He built a temple for all people without regard to cast and now anyone can come and worship — and they do. It is a wonderful place, even in the rain.
Day 33: July 14
Dr. Hegde made arrangements for us to go to Dharmastalla, 50 km away (less than 1 hour’s drive on a highway) but we had to be up and out of the hotel really early for a 12:30 appointment. The reason? We had to travel the Mangalore-Bangalore road which is, as far as either Bert or I am aware, simply the worst road in the universe. I was terrified. Bert was terrified. The driver was unexpressive so I have no idea what he was feeling. Rules of the road mean absolutely nothing and the road is rutted and filled with craters like none you have ever seen if you have not been there. Nothing like it exists anywhere we have ever been. It took a couple of terrifying hours to get to a turn off where the road became (mercifully) unremarkable.
Then we drove a bit and came to a staggeringly huge temple set on a huge piece of land with numerous shrines. Wandering around the grounds were three elephants. One of them, the bull, came up to us and gently touched each of us on the top of our heads with the tip of his trunk (which is considered to be a blessing since Lord Ganesha, the elephant headed deity, is considered to be the remover of all obstacles and strongly associated with healing).
Dharmastalla has a dining hall that seats 11,000 people at a time after they have finished their devotions! The kitchens are beyond huge and spotlessly clean with modern equipment to ensure sanitation. We were fed lunch (which was delicious) and taken to see a hospital run by the temple which uses only Naturopathic techniques, some of which are not found in the US and some of which are. It was a fascinating experience because of the patients: they were glowing with appreciation and a sense of being in control of their lives and health. We met patients who were doctors and business people, nurses and others who were patients there and they were uniformly glowing with joy at their treatments! Fees are determined by accommodation level. Treatments are all included in your accommodations. The most expensive room is about $25/day and includes a small bungalow where your treatments are conducted in private. Otherwise, your treatments are carried out in the special areas of the hospital for each type of treatment..
The doctors were deeply dedicated and deeply knowledgeable and were a pleasure to talk to about their art and science. It is a hospital without drugs but with spectacular results.
Then we left for the college of naturopathy run by the temple, too. (By the way, the Medical and Law Colleges we lectured at in Mangalore are among the many, many facilities run by this temple which has created an empire of good!)
We were given a tour of the Naturopathic Medical College and then Bert and I lectured to the senior class (who had been waiting patiently in their seats for over two hours because our tour was behind schedule (and kept getting “behinder” as more people wanted to talk to us and show us things and talk to us).
The same attentive, receptive faces greeted us followed by excellent questions. Something is very, very different in these schools compared to our own!
Day 34: July 15, 2006
Today was a travel day: Mangalore to Chennai. Once we got to the airport in Chennai, we were met by an IT specialist whom we have become fast friends, P. Venkatesan. Venkat, as he is known, devoted his time while we were there to taking exquisite care of our every need and is a delightful person as well. He took us to the Raga Dental College and Hospital immediately upon our arrival where we addressed the faculty and students on the Codex issues which impacts every one of them as people who eat and professionals dealing with health.
Dentists in India are licensed, as they are in the US, to write drug prescriptions or recommend natural options for dental and whole person health so the issues were more apropos for them than one might first think. They have a clear understanding of the relationship between nutrition and dentition and were eager to learn about Codex.
We asked Dr. S. Ramachandran, MDS the Principal [Dean] of the school about mercury fillings and received a really interesting reply. In India, only low class, cheap and poor quality dentists use mercury fillings. Good dentists with good reputations would never use such a toxic substance! Isn’t that fascinating?
Then we were taken to visit Dr. C. V. Krishnaswami, MD, one of the world’s leading diabetologists and his lovely wife, Dr. Preema Krishaswami, an OB-GYN specialist. Together they have been doing exceptional work using natural medicines and run a free diabetes clinic for 500 children where they look after their lives, not just their diabetes. The food, school, clothing, insulin care, emotional lives and every other aspect of these young people’s lives comes under the watchful and caring eyes and hands (and financial support) of these two remarkable persons. Their treatment is free for life.
We talked natural medicine, of course, but we also talked about the underlying value system which guides it, a philosophy of wholeness and interdependency. We also talked about NeuroBioFeedback and Frequency Medicine and other topics very, very dear to our hearts while we learned about the innovations Dr. CVK, as he is known, has instituted here in India. For example, although the official dogma in India is that every single pregnant woman who develops elevated blood sugar MUST be put on insulin during her pregnancy to prevent macrosomia (a baby who is born too big) and other major health problems for mother and baby, Dr. CVK has discovered that if pregnant women with elevated blood sugar are instead given Vitamin B6, they have normal, healthy babies and do not develop problems associated with diabetes. Dr. Preema has delivered the babies and documented their health and that of the mothers. He laments, predictably, that in spite of superb evidence, the medical community goes on putting mothers with gestational diabetes (as the elevated blood sugar is still called) on insulin with predictably problematic results. Under Codex, of course, such use of the natural, non-toxic, safe and inexpensive vitamin would be forbidden in a country which harmonized to its Vitamin and Mineral Guideline, as the US wants to do.
Day 35: July 16 2006
We began the day by going with Venkat to a remarkable Hindu temple in Chennai. We had to go early in the morning because the sun beats down on the paving stones and they become so hot that you cannot walk on them after 8:30 AM or so since the custom is to take off your shoes at the entrance to the temple compound. The tower of the temple can be seen for a long distance and is composed of colorful carvings of the gods and goddesses in their various encounters and adverntures. The temple was originally built where a Portugese-built church is now but was moved when the Portuguese demanded the temple’s site for their church . So the temple was moved piece by piece – and it is made of stone — to its present site. It is a large compound with many shrines to the various Hindu deities.
Outside the temple entrance not only is there a covered stall with lots of shoe racks where you remove your shoes, but stalls with ropes of flowers and devotional materials like the closed lotus bud. When I admired it, Venkat bought one for me (as well as a rope of jasmine flowers for my hair which smelled like heaven all day long). The vendor rubbed the closed petals with a few drops of water, blew on them, rubbed them some more and in his hand suddenly was a magnificent, fully opened pink lotus flower which he handed to me with a smile. I carried the lotus blossom for the rest of the day and wore the jasmine garland. It was a lovely experience.
The temple was an exceptional experience which I will never forget and if I ever figure out how to mount my digital photos on the website you will be able to share this experience with us visually. Right now I have not yet figured out how to do that!
We were told that because there was not much time, tonight we would lecture, but to only a few people, although they would be very, very influential. In fact, this small gathering of people is called the Engineer’s Club and consists of highly influential people including a former very senior Defense Analyst, trade specialists, influential physicians, writers, etc., but the numbers would be small because the lead time available to organize the meeting was short.
When time came to go to the meeting hall (which was NOT air conditioned), the room, which held approximately 50 people was filled to overflowing with people standing on the sides of the room and stuffed into every available corner. We told them about the war facing health and health freedom. They listened and promised their involvement and help. It was a wonderful meeting, I can assure you! There was a trade expert (who has promised to be our “Codex bulldog” in India) who stood up and said that the provisions of the Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreement (SPSA) make it clear that our Codex 2 Step Strategy is absolutely correct and said that each of us should be working to protect India’s food supply from Genetically Modified foods, pesticides, etc. using this strategy. Of course, having him say that to this audience of his highly placed friends and colleagues was thrilling. We can say it all we want (and do), but having our international strategy vetted in this way by a trade specialist was priceless.
It also makes it clear (yet again) that the negative press we have been getting which insists that our international strategy is wrong is without basis.
After this fantastic lecture we went back to our hotel room where Dr. Preema came to help me wrap a sari which I wore to the Chennai Club, founded by the British during their control of India. The service, food and conversation were delightful. Both of these doctors are true healers, not just technicians. Dr. CVK has agreed to head the efforts of the Natural Solutions Foundation in the Indian State of Tamil Nadu. We are indeed honored and grateful.
Day 36: July 17, 2006
We said goodbye to our new Chennai friends and took a plane for Mumbai (which used to be called Bombay). Whatever name you give it, it is a bustling, crowded, teeming city filled with auto rickshaws which scuttle like beetles on any side of the street they please, darting in and out of traffic, motorbikes doing highly improbable things with fantastic loads of cargo on them and cars, more cars and more cars again. Every one honks all the time, it seems. Eventually we got from this most crowded city to the world’s oldest Yoga Institute. Founded in 1918 by Shri Yogendraji, the Yoga Institute, Santacruz, Mumbai, is “the oldest organized Yoga Centre in the World”. We entered a 1 square acre of serenity, shade, trees, vines, shrubs and other plants set on curing pathways amid simple, clean buildings housing a lecture hall, offices, dormitory rooms and a bookshop. But the surprise is that it is right in the middle of Bombay! The walls cut off the sight (but not the sound) of surrounding Mumbai but those sounds and traffic intensity (as well as the time intensity that Mumbai is famous for) disappear as if by magic. Outside the gate is tumult. Inside is serenity. And that serenity is embodied by the director (and the heart) of the Institute, Smt. Hansaji J. Yogendra, wife of the founder’s son and President of the Institute, Dr. Jayadeva Yogendra. One thousand students a month come to this remarkable place to learn and to integrate what they have learned so that they can live a healthy life focusing on simple, clean food and conscious awareness of living a balanced life.
We were offered a simple room with a private bath and shower and a celing fan over its bunk beds or, if we preferred, an air conditioned room in the nearby home of a student of the center, India’s first woman jet plane pilot. We preferred! I cannot describe the combination of heat and humidity. It was certainly like nothing I had ever experienced before, not even in Mangalore!
That evening we were invited to address the students. They sat on mats on the floor, men to the right of us and women to the left of us. There were about 165 people in the audience. During our 90 minute talk there was not one of them that was not fixed and focused on us. No fidgeting, no murmuring. Their quality of attention was absolutely astounding. We talked about their ability to heal themselves, the importance of taking control of their lives, using the traditional Indian diet for a nutritional base, NOT the fast death, fast food of the high status US and we talked about Codex in depth. They got it. Bigtime.
During our time there, we were able to meet with their doctors who practice natural medicine (including a psychiatrist who was eager to learn more). So we talked a good deal of shop talk, for obvious reasons. But we also talked about how to develop India’s awareness of the Codex threat and what people and politicians can do about it.
Day 37: July 18, 2006
Although we are being hosted by the Yoga Institute, we slept in Captain Sudamini’s air conditioned flat. Not only did we enjoy her company greatly, but we also got to have coffee in the morning (forbidden at the Yoga Institute) and met her mother, recuperating from a knee replacement surgery 1 month before.
Then back to the Yoga Institute for a 7:30 lecture to a new group of students who come there before rushing off to work. Mumbai is a city that rushes so the quiet tranquility of this oasis of calm is remarkable.
Following that, we had a day of meetings with people who come to the Yoga Institute for personal reasons but stay connected with it. They include politicians, media people, businessmen, scientists, physicians, etc., and they all wanted to have deep conversations about Codex, health and health freedom. We spent the day sowing seeds and will only know which ones germinate and what they look like as time unfolds.
But in the HOT, HOT afternoon sun the Captain asked me if I wanted to go to the market with her. Since I am always up for a new cultural experience (ALWAYS), I said yes and happily hopped into her car with her. It turned out that we were to have dinner at her house that evening with her brother, another captain (of an ore cargo ship, though) and her mom so she was off in search of vegetables for dinner (the family is vegetarian). She told me that the custom is that just about everyone purchases their veggies fresh on the day they intend to use them. So off we hastened to a series of street stalls lined with people selling the most astonishing variety of the freshest-looking vegetables I have ever seen this side of a farm. There were so many shoppers and so many stalls that it was impossible to decide where to look, let alone where to shop, at least for me.
The Captain, as she is known by everyone, knew right where to go: where she has a relationship with the vendor. And she picked the freshest, most succulent produce from the huge piles, chatting with the vendor all the while. She told me that, come evening, it would get crowded (!) and said that the market was empty now. I asked where you could put any more people and she laughed and said that by evening, when most people shopped, the stalls would have stalls in front of them. Then she put me and the kitchen worker who had accompanied us from the Yoga Center into an auto rickshaw since she had to drive in another direction to take care of errands.
I must have been that scared at some time in my life but I cannot remember it! We did, however, arrive back at the Institute without mishap, although I have no idea how.
We met with 8 journalists between returning to the Institute and dinner! None of them had ever heard of Codex but each of them promised that their papers and publications would do significant articles on it.
Then off to a home cooked, traditional Indian meal and conversation with two Captains and their mother.
Day 38: July 19, 2006
Today we arrived at the Yoga Institute at 7:00 AM to pack up our things and get our pictures taken for the article which will be written by the journalist from one of the major Indian newspapers whom we met yesterday. The photographer was not there to meet us and we eventually had to ask the person at the Yoga Institute who does their photography to take that responsibility which she of course did. Waiting for us when we arrived, however, was a sage who simply goes by the title of “Dada” (which means “Father” pr “Elder Brother” in various Indian languages). He has a PhD in Pharmacological Science and ran a company which made antibiotics and other pharmaceuticals for years. Now he realizes that these compounds have very limited use and has given up his business. Instead, he says, “I tell. I do not teach because in order to teach the student must be willing to learn. Instead, I tell and whatever happens with the information is not my concern”. Dada is an elderly gentleman with clear eyes and firm skin, spring in his step and keen wit whose “telling” centers around the simplicity of a happy life: simple food, simple relations, simple property. Not unfamiliar teachings, but still very profound ones. I asked him why he had come to the Yoga Institute today and he said, “To meet you.” We were floored and deeply honored.
He began to “tell”, as he usually does, and I interjected information about why we had come. His telling turned to learning and he absorbed what we have to say. He, too, will carry the message to his devotes and listeners. We are very, very pleased about that.
When we took our leave of the wonderful people at the Yoga Institute, we left with genuine warmth and a sense of leaving loved ones.
For any of you traveling to Mumbai, please do yourselves a favor and spend some time (more than a day if you can) at this historic and amazing place. Find them at www.Yogainstitute.org, write to them at yogainstitute@rediffmail.com .
Next, off to the Mumbai Domestic Airport and a flight to Delhi. We were picked up by a non-English speaking taxi driver so we could not ask him who the men were who, dressed in orange shirts, shorts and robes, were walking along the side of the road in a narrow, roped off lane, carrying poles decorated with triangular superstructures which were, in turn, decorated with tinsel, colorful fringes and ornaments, tassels and two symbolic buckets at either end. These men were obviously carrying them a very long distance: their feet were, in some cases, bandaged and the bandages were tinted orange. Remember, the heat was India monsoon heat: unremittingly, burning hot, staggeringly humid and intermittently pouring down monsoon rains. Still they walked. Periodically we came to tents and enclosures where more of these superstructures sat and tanker trucks of water were obviously provided for these men. One of these areas also had a huge tent where, as we drove past, we could see dancing and other activities taking place inside.
When we got the Swati Deluxe Hotel (booked for us by the good people here) we asked the clerk about the men and learned that they were devotees of the Lord Shiva and this was one of their festivals. They carry these structures more than 100 miles in two days, walking every step of the way. You have to see this kind of devotion to believe it! We spent the rest of the day making the necessary phone calls to set up the appointments for the meetings we expect to have here with decision makers.
The hotel restaurant (100% “veg” as they say) is a mall-style fast food court called “Shudh” in the next building: down the steps past the guard, turn left, walk about 10 steps and go up identical steps past an identical guard. Inside, there is American rock music blaring and about 6 fast food places:
One for drinks (called “Slurp”), one for North Indian food, one for South Indian food, one for Chinese food, one for “Snacky Bites” (e.g., pizza, vegetarian burgers and pasta). We ate dinner from there (thanks to room service we were spared the noise) and ventured there for the breakfast buffet. It sure is fast food, but at least the Indian part is delicious!
Day 39: July 20, 2006
We were successful in setting up an appointment with the Indian Codex Delegate. During the last Codex meeting in Geneva, you may remember that the Indian Delegate was the one voice of health reason very often. I had introduced myself to her and presented her with our materials which she did not have time to read as we raced down the hall together in the Conference Center. However, when I asked if we could call on her in Delhi, she graciously invited us to do just that. So we did.
What we learned was fascinating: India has, in essence, initiated the Codex Two Step, the process by which a country creates a better standard or guideline than the one that Codex presents and then enacts a law to make that standard or guideline the law of that land. Then the country is free from WTO sanctions. Now some in the health freedom movement still say this is not accurate (and they say so in a pretty nasty, defamatory way, by the way). But they will come around since they are, as India knows, wrong. Dead wrong.
We discussed how the Natural Solutions Foundation can help India by building the international health coalition. She invited us to continue to be in communication with her and expressed gratitude for our visit. We, on the other hand, were not only grateful for her time, but thrilled to have the confirmation from a major player on the world scene of our strategy. India has already enacted many of the pro-health strategies which Codex, and specifically the US, opposes year after weary year. “Since we were talking about it at Codex”, said the Indian Codex Delegate, “We thought we had better do something about it so we enacted these laws here. We already have required labeling for GM foods, QUID labeling” and other health-friendly laws which Codex is still talking about.
India, by the way, only uses research done here in India to base its public health policy upon: I presume that is because of the depth of corruption to which US and other Western countries have allowed their research to sink. Think about that.
Good for India (and good for Indians, too.)
I told her that we were deeply honored by having Prof. Dr. B. M. Hegde head the Natural Solutions Foundation – India and that we would be brining pro health freedom issues before the Indian people. She welcomed that, too, and told us that she would be pleased if we would tell her about issues that we had information on or that they might have missed.
You can bet we will continue to be in close touch with the Indian Codex team!
For dinner we went to a hotel with a traditional Punjabi “Dhaba”, a roadside truck food stand, inside the hotel itself (so it was air conditioned) and had a fantastic traditional dinner.