Regular readers of these posts might be aware that over the last number of years I have been making annual trips to India in order to pursue continuing studies of homeopathy. This year was no exception. I usually travel sometime between November and January. These are the Indian winter months, which, compared to the beastly heat of the summer and the continual rains of the monsoon (they only recognize 3 seasons there), are generally considered to be the best time to alight onto the subcontinent. It is definitely the tourist season. And as such, it is the time of year when the opportunities to attend a conference or some other type of homeopathic venue are most abundant.
Back From Mumbai - Recent Trends In Homeopathy
17 years it took for me to get back there. And, from the moment of arrival, engulfed by the fetid smells and damp heat of the city, I started to ask myself, “Why did I wait so long?” It felt like I had come home. It is said that a visitor either loves or hates India, that there is little room for an indifferent attitude. Life unfolds unadulterated in front of you; extremes of order and chaos, wealth and poverty, the sublime and the base, the attractive and the repugnant, of joy and suffering exist in a proximity to each other that is at odds with our experience. Certainly, it is not everyone’s cup of tea.
I found myself immediately enthralled, invigorated and also quite comfortable. The streets of Mumbai (formerly known as “Bombay”) - like those of most Indian cities - are teeming with life. They were a source ceaseless source of curiosity and stimulation.
Homeopathic Hospital at Palghar
After a hiatus of two years, I returned to India this past month. The occasion of this trip was to attend the Homeopathic International Clinical Training Course in Mumbai, something I have had the privilege to do three times in the last four years. Taught by Dr. Rajan Sankaran, one of the world’s preeminent homeopaths, the conference is a unique opportunity to deepen one’s knowledge and enhance clinical skills while witnessing an enormously creative and brilliant practitioner working with patients.
Radiation
The Great Kanto Earthquake hit Tokyo and surrounding areas at noontime on September 1st, 1923. It lasted for somewhere between 4 to 10 minutes with a strength of 7.9 on the Richter scale. Upwards of 100,000 people were killed, the Imperial Palace burned and even the massive 93 ton, 40 feet tall ‘Great Buddha’ statue, which had sat placidly for nearly 700 years some 60 miles from the epicenter, slid forward several feet. The most lethal consequence of the quake were the fires that spread from domestic hearths, in use for food preparation at that time of day, to quickly engulf the wooden structures that housed them. Fanned by high winds, they developed into a huge firestorm that engulfed much of the city.
The Great Tohoku Earthquake and Tusnami of March 11, 2011has yet to prove as lethal with some 13,000 confirmed dead and over 14,000 as yet unaccounted for. Because of the tsunami and absence of open fires, fire was not such an issue this time around. But, the interesting parallel with Kanto Earthquake is that, in the end, the most deadly aspect of the disaster might very well end up being the destruction of another energy source – the nuclear reactors that provide the electricity that has replaced fire.