The lush green tropical state of Keralam hugs the southwestern edge of India, like a child trying to hold the mother away from any harm. How many came for its spices, its coconut groves and the simple love that permeates the land, the same warmth and gentle acceptance that India has always shown to all those who came to her. For millennia Hindu kings let other faiths come and helped them build their places of worship, never once thinking that many and varied people could not live together, for is not, this infinite variety, the real glory of our Creator?
The Ayurveda Center at the Taj confirms that this belief is still alive and well. The staff as well as the people seeking treatment was testimony to this diversity. The Taj group is owned by persons of Parsi origins, now in India for so long that they have become truly the people of the land. Originally, as many may know, displaced from their ancestral home in Persia (Iran), they landed in what is the state of Gujarat now. The King welcomed them and requested that they sweeten the existing culture of the land as sugar sweetens milk. I think among the multitudes that came to the shores of the पुण्यभूमि (Punnyabhumi) of India this group has truly sweetened the milk. This Ayurveda setup is authentic and maintains the traditions meticulously, while providing long and short-term treatments for people from near and far.