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Kumarakom will treat PM's mind and body - and left knee too

George Iype in Kumarakom

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's winter of discontent in Delhi gives way to a week-long rejuvenating holiday in Kumarakom, the picturesque resort on the edge of the Vembanad lake in Kerala's magical backwaters.

Away from the pulls and pressures of alliance partners, trenchant criticism from the Opposition and pre-Budget blues, the prime minister and his family will spend the last week of the year in peace and tranquillity.

In Kumarakom, Vajpayee will undergo Ayurvedic massage, relaxation therapy and take meditative rides on kettuvallams (houseboats). The Taj Garden Retreat, among the group's most beautiful resorts has been turned resplendent to house the prime minister for the next six days.

But it is not only for the exciting ride on kettuvallams and to watch Kerala's traditional art forms that Vajpayee is in Kumarakom: it is also for treating his osteoarthritis-stricken left knee, which threw up a question mark over his health for most part of the year.

Though Vajpayee underwent a knee-replacement surgery earlier this year, doctors have advised a special Ayurvedic treatment for it. So a team of physicians are all geared to treat the prime minister at the Taj Garden's full-fledged Ayurvedic centre.

To begin with, on Wednesday, the doctors will commence the first round of uzhichal, pizhichal, dhaara, kizhi, avagaham and different types of head-to-toe massages, steam therapy and oil bath on the prime minister.

It is perhaps for the first time that an Indian prime minister is undergoing a full-fledged Ayurvedic rejuvenation therapy. That is why the three-member team of traditional doctors -- K G Ravindran, K C Narayanan and C Vinod from the Coimbatore Arya Vaidya Pharmacy and Research Institute -- are visibly excited about it.

"We are happy to have the privilege of treating the prime minister. We will decide on the kind of Ayurvedic therapy only after meticulously studying his health reports," Ravindran told rediff.com .

The physician said Vajpayee's left knee will be thoroughly examined before any kind of medicine is applied on it. The physicians said in all probability, the prime minister's left knee will be treated with a combination of dhaara consisting of narayana thailam, dhanwantharam and sahajarathy.

It is not Vajpayee's left knee alone that will undergo the oil massage. His right knee also suffers from mild osteoarthritic pain. Before the left knee replacement, the load on the right knee was heavy, and it used to severely hurt the prime minister and affect his movement. But doctors have said that after the surgery, the load factor on the right knee has been normal and therefore there is no need for immediate surgery on it.

However, Ravindran said the Ayurvedic dhaara will be administered on the right knee also. While the prime minister will be given an Ayurvedic oil bath daily, he will also be fed a number of traditional medicines, including cheriya rasnathy kashayam and yogaraja gulgulu gulika .

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