Sifting through books, press releases, and freelance submissions to select the content for this magazine over the years has given me a broad overview of the goings-on in the readership we serve.
Ten years ago, a book arrived on my desk that is about to change my life. As I leafed through Dr. Vasant Lad’s Ayurveda: The Science of Self Healing, my curiosity about this ancient health science of India was piqued. I regret to say that until then I did not even know the vata-pitta-kapha of ayurveda. But I read the slim paperback with interest, intrigued by this holistic approach to health. That summer I got an opportunity to take a one-month course with the author. Since then I have applied the principles of ayurveda to my own health, modifying my diet, exercise, and lifestyle with encouraging results.Last January, I enrolled myself in a diploma course in ayurveda at the Mount Madonna Institute in Watsonville, Calif. From the distinguished visiting faculty there, when I hear passages from the
Charaka Samhita and other ancient treatises, I am struck by the profound insights of the rishis of yesteryears that are just as relevant today, thousands of years after they were documented. Expressed in Sanskrit verse, they are music to my ears.
It sounds like a call through the millennia, as if through their poetry Charaka, Susruta, and Vagbhatta, the earliest ayurveda masters, are themselves urging me to study this precious science, and then practice and propagate it.
I have decided to take my commitment to ayurveda one step further and study it full time. Next month I will move on from India Currents to pursue a B.A.M.S. course at the Gujarat Ayurved University in Jamnagar, India.What makes this transition easier for me is my confidence in the person who will take over my responsibilities. Ragini Tharoor Srinivasan is not new to India Currents. She has been the youth columnist for the last six years since she was in high school.
In her column Ragini has often pondered upon her own experiences, and discussed weighty issues like sweatshops, child labor, and animal testing. In college at Duke University, Ragini’s coursework in cultural studies, literary theory, feminist and Marxist criticism, and urban planning provided her new fodder for provocative essays. While reading her pieces, I have often marveled at Ragini’s ability to relate abstract academic concepts to real-life questions.
It’s clear from Ragini’s writings that she does not hesitate to challenge conventional thinking. As I bid adios to you and this magazine that has taught me so much, I am happy to welcome Ragini to her new role as managing editor.