I graduated with a degree in Medicine and Surgery in 1987. I thought that I was taught what I needed to know. I was taught that every ill has a pill. I did well with most of the non surgical acute conditions but failed miserably against lifestyle diseases and other chronic conditions.

Even when training as a house surgeon, I conducted research into magnets as a stimulant for growth. That interest slowly migrated into a quest to know about other systems of healing and medicine. I started with an interest in Ayurveda and collected many books on Ayurveda printed in Malayalam, my mother tongue.

During my training time, a friend showed up from America, who had traveled through China, and witnessed an Acupuncture anesthesia in action. His eyewitness account definitely piqued my interest in pursuing alternative medical education. After a long search, finally I found my teacher who agreed to teach me Siddha Vaidya, the elusive ancient medical science of the Dravidian people. I began as a student learning massage as the first step, gradually grasping Siddha Vaidya in leaps and bounds.

I was the first doctor who was permanently stationed in The Huvadoo Atoll, a group of coral islands in The Maldives. My interactions with the medicine women of that island taught me valuable lessons and realizations that helped me advance my medical knowledge. Once I suffered from a bout of fever that lasted almost a week following which I had severe body pain. A lady who was 85 years old at that time, gave me a massage that kneaded all my muscles and my severe body pain that was not amenable to medicines disappeared in a flash.