The doctors had given up on my knee….from a meniscal tear to a ganglionic cyst sandwiched between my left femur and tibia, affecting the ranging of the knee to development of chondromalacia patellae grade IV coupled with obesity…I had sort of reached a dead end. Surgery, which until now was my only hope, slipped away from my hands like grains of sand from a clenched fist. I was shattered. Completely broken !! Ready to give anything to get back to my normal walking self but here I was not in a state to take even twenty steps at a stretch. Climbing a flight of three four storeys seemed like a far fetched dream. There was no end to my agony. I was constantly questioning to I don’t even know who, “why me”; “why at this age”; “from here, where”? But there were no answers. Then one fine day, 6th May to be precise, Gazal, my daughter, came to me and literally reprimanded me; “Mom, you are the strongest person I know. How can you let yourself go so weak. Let today be the last day of these tears. Shed as many as you want. From tomorrow onwards, you are just going to work upon your knee and bring it back to it’s normal, healthy, smiling self.” I guess, I needed that shaking up. Someone to put sense in my head. To make me understand that HOPE meant, Have Only Positive Expectations!! And there has been no looking back, since then. It’s been exactly two months since my conversation with Gazal, and everyday am moving slowly but steadily towards a healthy tomorrow. The road is not smooth. There are speed-breakers, few bumps and pitfalls too but there’s no stopping now. Healthy living is about living wholly, in harmony with nature and our own core self. It is about integrating our mind, body and soul. Ayurveda, the ancient Indian system of healing and living, is the only one of its kind in the world that addresses the physical, emotional and spiritual aspects of our well being. With a therapeutic approach that gets to the core of our personality, behaviour and lifestyle, Ayurveda is more than a mere system for curing ailments; it in fact charts out a complete lifestyle for disease-free living. So when my doctor friend suggested me Niramayam, I thought of going back to our ancient roots to heal my body. Niramayam, as the name suggests, means free of disease. A brain child of the yoga visionary, Baba Ramdev, Niramayam, situated at a distance of 25Km or so from, Haridwar railway station, offers Happiness through Health. The modus operandi is as offbeat as the location of this healing ashram. One has to navigate through narrow roads, narrower mule tracks and paths strewn with stones brought by some rivulets that turn into mighty river during rains and double up as cart tracks in summers. The stony approach road however is no barrier to those seeking health the natural way. Here, you are treated through non-invasive, drugless therapies that combine Indian nature cure with yoga, meditation, diet therapy, physiotherapy and acupuncture. A stay here entails the patient to undertake a controlled and prescribed diet, depending on the person's ailments and physical condition. This is supported with yoga sessions, laughter therapy, purging treatments (meant for cleaning the bowels), panchkarma, shat-karma, mud baths and massages. Getting into the routine of waking up at 3:45 am and eating limited portions was not as difficult as it sounds. Even fasting on lemon water for a day along with silence-fast posed no difficulty what-so-ever. The vibe of the ashram charges everyone with a kind of renewed energy. Right from Kundan at reception to Ramnath ji at treatment centre to Rita didi heading a fleet of well trained therapists like Monika, Rohini at the naturopath centre and Rajni and Mamta at panchkarma centre to Mayank and Amit running tirelessly across all the tables to attend to the guests, to Dr Neeraj, the head of the center, make the place pulsate with so much positivity. I may have not come back with a cured knee but I definitely came back with a cured mind carving a healthy and fit body to live in. Time spent at this unique paradise allowed me to experience, understand and value the authentic healing practices of ancient India, and adopt as much is possible as my way of life.