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Journalism of Courage
The room on the first floor of the building on Laxmi Road has an unpretentious look. A small table at one side makes for the reception and people sit either on the benches and chairs or even on the floor. Unlike places that grandly proclaim to cure ailments, Hari Waman Limaye of the Maharaj Limaye Smruti Trust lets his work speak for him.
Like home-maker,Mamta Santurkar whose son Tejas was born with a mental disability. When at two and a half, he still could not walk, his handicap was doubled. Says Mamta,“I was worried how my son would cope. He could not sit, stand or walk without support. On the advise of our doctor I did take him for some physiotherapy, but to no avail.”
Mamta has been visiting this massage centre for two and a half years and she has already begun to feel the difference. Says she,“My son can now stand and walk on his own. At least that takes care of one problem, or else huge would be totally dependent all his life.”
For two-year-old Bhakti Yadav, the problem was not that serious. She had congenital talipo equino varus (a condition in which both feet point inwards) that would have meant that she would not have a proper gait. But with regular maalish, she has recovered quite a bit. Says her mother, Shilpa,“She is almost cured now. A few more months and she will be fine.”
Children, adults and elderly, all queue up at this centre for relief from various ailments. Says Limaye,“We treat people for most problems like polio, spondylosis, sciatica, arthritis and so on. Most of the time we are successful. It is only about five percent of the people who will not get any relief.”
What is it that Limaye does to relieve these people? Quite simply, it is the old fashioned maalish. Using various herbal oils, his assistants massage the part according to the ailment. But what is it that makes this massage different from others? Says Limaye, “We have certain pressure points that need the right amount of pressure. It should not be too much and not too little. Regular maalish and some ayurvedic and homeopathic medicines help the patients overcome their problems.”/// And best of all, this service is totally free. Massage to the Limayes is like a genetic gift passed down from three generations. Says Limaye “In our family everyone knows how to massage. My children, wife, all of us. My grandfather first mastered the art and passed it on to my father. Till recently my father used to help people with maalish and then, I did it only for a few hours a day.”
Limaye is a practising lawyer and used to help out his father with the maalish for an hour or two daily. It was only when his father died in 1952 and the profession was left to the brothers that Limaye became more active. “My brother took over from my father and after his death, I took over. Now I am here everyday from 4 pm till the centre closes at 6 p.m. I now practise less of law and more of maalish.”
Initially, Limaye would carry on his own. “Then a friend of mine suggested that we form a trust. I did that in 1987.” The trust now looks after the financial aspect of this centre. The yearly expenses for the oils and medications costs around Rs. 17,000. “Ever since we set up a trust we have more and more people coming in for help, which we do. It gives me great satisfaction to see someone get well. After all who wants to have a problem that never goes away?”
In a world where technology is changing several aspects of health care, how does the doctor community take to the benefits of maalish? “Doctors do not like to believe that things can work in ways that they do not know of. I had a patient who had an accident and was admitted in an orthopedic hospital. When he was released, he was told that he would never walk again. “He asked me if there was anything I could do and I said I’d try. I used to go to his house and massage his legs everyday. When his surgeon came to see him, this man walked up to him, but the doctor despite saying he’d never walk, did not even ask him how is it that he was actually walking. Today this man goes for a two-kilometre walk daily. That was when I felt that doctors do have a hostility for massage.”
After Limaye, the Trust’s good work will be carried on by his children, a son who has a catering business at the moment and his daughter, who helps out even now. While he is happy with his successes, what hurts is when he cannot help someone. “I have had mothers come all the way from Hyderababd and Hubli, but there was nothing I could do for their children. That hurts. I believe that we all must do whatever little we can to make this world a better place.” Which it must be, at least for the 10,000 patients that the Trust has treated so far, free of cost.
