Ayurveda, you hear the word often enough now…..your friends who swear by it's miraculous effect on their health (after they have exhausted all other treatment modalities of course !); you also come across the word "Ayurveda" almost all the time on labels of bottled cosmetics, shampoos and elixirs; Model turned Movie Star Christy Turlington sells with a sweet insistence her Ayurvedic beauty and rejuvenation line of skin and body care and Times magazine wonders If it is India's home spun Ayurveda and it's tradition of insistence on total well being - mind - body -spirit that is responsible for the rapid turn over of Beauty Queens?

And we Indians, can we forget our very own Shahnaz Hussain whose simple Ayurvedic recipes in crass green plastic jars ----heralded a revolution in Indian women reclaiming her right to be groomed and exploded the "Beauty Parlor Culture" on middle class India. And last but not the least …our grannies, mothers and aunts constantly reminding us to not drink cold water after coming in from hot summer Sun; to not eat mango's without soaking them in water and insisted upon rubbing hot ghee and Heeng on our bellies when we were faking stomach aches to avoid going to School. Which of us does not remember the warm blessing of a ginger and black pepper Chai bought to us during a cold and cough, the soothing relief of Rose and Khus sherbats in summer and the "khichri" or "pongal" when we had fevers?

So Ayurveda lives on…… in each one of us, in our families, in our choices and in our collective memory.