Education or no education will power needed, Hassan shows the way

Tawqeer Hussain

In the golden old days no scientific treatment for diseases was available and people used to cure the various diseases with the help of plants and other animal parts found naturally on the earth. These include shrubs, herbs and the treatment was based on experiments and on other occasions hit and trial method was adopted.
People used to apply the natural things on the patients and they would come to know about their efficacy in treating the various ailments. They would also come to know about the power of curability and it was on these results that the people would prescribe these natural things and it was only after this that the natural things would be used as medicines for treating various ailments.
The curing agents would be known as called medicines. This type of curing evolved centuries ago has proved to be an efficient means of treating and it has been changed into a full-fledged system of curability called ‘Ayurvedic System’. With the onset of English medicines better known allopathic system, this system failed to impress majority of the people as it has slow speed of curability as compared to the allopathic system.
However, there are some people who are striving to preserve this traditional system of medicine. They are putting in their efforts in a bid to provide affordable means of treatment to the common massed.
One among them is Ghulam Hassan Bhat, a young man from Kreeri Shahabad in South Kashmir district of Anantnag. Despite having very less formal education, Hassan started a mission of preserving the natural herbs and traditional medicare in Kashmir. Inspired by the National Innovation Foundation (NIF) Ahmadabad, he took out the journey of collecting traditional herbs which were used by the remote people for curing their diseases.
“I saw people from NIF collecting these traditional herbs for the sake of its preservation, this idea stuck me and soon I started the process of collecting the herbs,” he said.
This young man undertook this painstaking and strenuous research some six months back and today he ready with his book entitled–Informational Book of Herbal and Traditional knowledge in Kashmir. The book has been written in Urdu language.
“During these six months I visited various places and met some elderly people who were fond of these herbs. I documented them and I can proudly say that I have compiled a book which contains at least 250 traditional medicare practices,” Hassan said.
Being economically poor, Hassan did all this research on his own without help from any quarter. He believes that his passion made him to do so.
Stressing on the proverb ‘when an old man dies a library burns’; Hassan says, “Until these traditional practices will not be locked in a book, sooner or later they will become extinct”.
He believes that his book is the treasure house of herbs present in Kashmir and contains herbal medicare for simple skin diseases to cancer ailments.
Comparing the healing power of herbal medicines and western medicines, Hassan in a unique way describes that western medicines have quick healing power, but it also has lot of side effects while the herbal medicare has divine touch and empathy for the patients which helps in their full recovery from the disease. He sums up the same in form of a phrase, ‘Dawa Bhi, Duwa Bhi aur Shafa Bhi (Medicines, supplication and recovery too).
Although this young man has completed his compilation of book and has contacted some of the publishers for publishing, but sadly so far no one has come forward in this respect. He wants government to help him in sponsoring his adventure and in publishing his book. He also wants his book to be prescribed as a text book on the Ayurvedic system in Kashmir. Right now, Hassan is looking for some one to translate it in English so as to broaden its appeal.
http://www.realitybitesmagazine.com/2010/apr/innovation.html