It is delightful to see proponents of Ayurveda dipping into the traditionally popular performing arts and employing them to spread the cause of good living, ensuring the effective transference of the inherent messages. Malayala Manorama, the leading daily from Kerala reports on the efforts of Dr Susan P John, Senior Medical Officer the Government Ayurvedic Dispensary at Vazhamuttom in Pathanamthitta district, Kerala, who has composed a Ottamthullal piece that discusses solely the modern man’s ( read the average Malayalali’s ) indiscriminate consumerist attitude that has permeated through his lifestyle and living habits, extracting a heavy toll on the body and thereby longevity.
Ottamthullal, one of the most popular performing arts of Kerala, usually consists of a sole dancer who sings and dances, the piece usually being a satire that mercilessly flays the prevalent ills of the society, the lines composed in plain people speak so that the meaning is not lost on anybody.
Dr. Susan’s Ottamthullal piece, in typical traditional style, gently reminds the people that most of the cures for all the ills and maladies that make them run to the nearest drugstore and blissfully pump their own bodies with drugs that do more harm than good, is right in their kitchen and their kitchen garden. Spreading the goodness of Ayurveda through Ottamthullal, she insists that the body has its own power to heal itself, and exhorts them to go back to the goodness of simple living and Ayurveda for peaceful, meaningful living.
The Ottamthullal would be performed at concluding session of the Workshop conducted by the Swadeshi Science Movement at St Gregorios College, a Kottarakara by Thamarakudi Karunakaran Master.
The Article that appeared in Manorama Online.
