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| Indira Balachandran, Arya Vaidyasala, Kottakkal, Malappuram |
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Opportunities come to some even when they make no maneuvers for it. While working as a lecturer in Botany at St.Mary’s College, Thrissur, the ambition of Indira was to be a teacher. But after her marriage to Dr.Balachandran, head of modern medicine at Kottakkal Arya Vaidyasala, she went through a phase of domestic duties of rearing 2 children. And yet at the end of this period, she was entrusted with the duty of bringing up the medicinal plant garden of the Arya Vaidyasala.
When she took charge as research officer of the garden in 1982, the 8-acre collection wasn’t as rich or diverse as it is now. There was only a motley collection of ungrouped plants. Slowly, with knowledge gathered painstakingly from the ancient texts of Sanskrit and Ayurveda, she was able to arrange the plants according to their scientific names as well as add to the collection. Today the 1000 plus collection at the Vaidyasala has become a noted medicinal plant garden in India that is attracting research scholars and layman alike.
In the midst of this care and study, she was able to obtain a doctorate from Calicut University for her work on the medicinal plants of Kerala. Based on her works, she was invited to a series of lectures by the Ayurveda faculty of the Netherlands University during 1996 and was a visiting professor at Toyoma University, Japan for 6 months during 1999.
A National Merit Scholar during her post graduation studies, she won the gold medal for the best paper in the 1st Asian Symposium of Pharmaceutical Education at Singapore in 1985.
Despite her busy work she is finding time for social service too. She was a consultant for ‘Sodhini’, an NGO headed by Rina Nissim of Switzerland. The aim of the organization is to popularize cheaper modes of treatment using natural resources. Visiting 8 states of India and observing first hand the pitiable condition of the marginalized women was an unforgettable experience, she says.
Courtesy: Prasad, Malayalam, November 23, 2001
Contributed by: Administrator
