Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
Interview with Dr. Sanjiv Chopra
Dr. Sanjiv Chopra, Professor at Harvard Medical School and author of many books, including Brotherhood with Deepak Chopra, was the Keynote Speaker at the annual fundraiser of Home of Hope, a Bay Area nonprofit that has been working to uplift the futures of children in India for over 25 years. Dr. Chopra shared health and happiness nuggets in an exclusive interview with India Currents’ writer Bulbul Mankani Dasanjh.
Bulbul Mankani Dasanjh (BMD): You are passionate about coffee. Your brother Deepak drinks six cups a day!
Sanjiv Chopra (SC): Coffee is good for the liver. If you drink coffee, your liver enzymes are low. If you drink two cups, hospitalization and mortality from chronic liver disease drop by 50%. This is based on peer-reviewed science journals. So I wrote a book, Coffee: The Magic Elixir.
BMD: What is the best way to have coffee?
SC: With a friend (laughs), I drink it black, but you can add sugar and cream if you are not diabetic. No artificial sweeteners, though. They are worse than real sugar. To prevent diabetes, drink six cups of black coffee a day, but if you have Type 2, two cups of coffee.
The best drink is water, and next is coffee. In Europe, a study on half a million people who drank coffee showed lower mortality. Coffee drinkers have the lowest level of C-reactive protein, a marker for inflammation. Increased caffeine intake is linked to longer telomeres, a sign of positive immunity.
BMD: You like this quote by Mark Twain – ‘The two most important days in your life are: the day you are born, and the day you find out why.’ When did you find yours?
SC: When I was 12. Deepak was two years ahead of me, and my father, a brilliant cardiologist, was away working in another city while we studied in Delhi, staying with an uncle. After a game of cricket, I started reading a book and fell asleep. When I woke up, I was terrified! I couldn’t see. I closed my eyes and opened them – total blackness. I was blind. I called Deepak and said I can’t see.
My uncle took me to the military hospital where the doctors examined me, and I could hear them talking – “maybe it’s hysteria,” – but here I am, a happy kid, a good athlete, a good student… so they called my dad, who quickly checked what was happening in the last few months. Any injuries? Yes, I got some stitches for an injury. Antibiotics? Yes. Tetanus? Yes. And then he wanted to know what kind of shot – ATS or ATT? ATS said the doctor, and my father knew I was having a rare idiosyncratic reaction to the serum.
It occurs in one in a quarter million people. “He has severe bilateral optic neuritis. Both optic nerves are ready to burst,” he said. Father gave them the intravenous medicine needed, and 14 hours later, my vision returned. This is 1961. I knew my Dharma was to be a healer like him. I have told this story to ophthalmologists at Harvard, UCLA, Johns Hopkins, Stanford… it astonishes everybody.
BMD: Brotherhood is a book about Deepak Chopra and you, and the dreams you shared. Tell us more.
SC: Steve Jobs once said, ‘The most powerful people in the world are storytellers. Deepak and I are both fortunate to have acquired storytelling genes from our fathers and grandfathers. My dad’s older brother was an amazing storyteller. In that book, we wrote alternate chapters, so we told our stories in our original voice.
I will share a memory of our time in Jabalpur – I had been given a BB gun and was practicing shooting a Cherry Blossom tin on a 5 ft pole. So Deepak came along in front of the pole and asked me to shoot. Of course, I refused, but he insisted – “I am Ram and you are Laxman. You have to obey me! Come on, shoot. I am your older brother, William Tell!” So I shot and missed.
Deepak would not let me tell the truth to anyone about the bleeding, and he asked Mother to put a Band-Aid on it. The next day, it swelled a little, and the next day some more. Finally, my grandmother told my dad, “You are supposed to be the best doctor in all of India, but you have missed diagnosing your own son!” Deepak was taken to the hospital – we sat anxiously for a telephone call, and it came announcing they had removed a pellet. So that Kirk Douglas-like dimple on his chin is thanks to me – I am responsible for it.
BMD: One of your quotes is – ‘Gratitude is the single most important ingredient for living the good life.’ Share more…
SC: There are four ingredients to happiness. On this topic, I am giving a talk at the UN General Assembly next week. The first thing is to surround yourself with good friends – they are your chosen family. “A friend is a gift you give yourself” – that is, Robert Lois Stevenson I am quoting. There is an 85-year-old Harvard study on adult happiness, which shows friends as the strongest predictor of health, happiness, and longevity. Then comes forgiveness – any resentment harbored against anybody is like drinking poison and hoping it will kill your enemies. Humility is the next one – look at Albert Schweitzer – after getting his Nobel prize, he says, “Now I have to go earn it.” Gratitude is the final one in Happiness Quotient (HQ), and additionally, service, which I learnt from my mother.
My father was an Army doctor, and on weekends, he was allowed a private practice in Jabalpur. My mother would watch the line of patients, and she would ask the secretary – ask them where they had come from – to some she would give fresh food, to others packed meals, she would tell my father not to take money from the poor ones… all quietly from the home. Her service was so simple…. When we got on the train to leave Jabalpur, there were thousands of people who came to say goodbye, calling my parents their savior. Such intellect. Such a big heart.
BMD: What brings you to Home of Hope?
SC: I met Nilima four years ago and was bowled over by what she does. It is easy to write a cheque, but to give this service all your time, all your talent; you are truly a philanthropist.
BMD: Lastly, any suggestions for improving memory?
SC: Coffee, musical exercise, and learning something new.