This 101-year-old heals through 'Varma Kalai'

India is turning 'Atma Nirbhar' with a vengeance. As coronavirus locks down free movement of people and material across India, as restrictions of lockdown are still in force at varying levels, a centenarian healer in Vazhapadi of Salem district in Tamil Nadu is resorting to time-tested Indian healing techniques to keep his patients comfortable.

Varma Kalai, known across south India (in Telugu it is known as Marma Vidya Kala) is supposed to have originated from Lord Shiva who taught it to his younger son, Karthikeya ( popular as Lord Muruga in Tamil Nadu). In this treatment, the body's pressure points are manipulated to heal the patients of their ailments.

As a Tamil daily report, the physician Muthusamy who learnt the craft from his grandfather has been practising it for 80 years. Operating out of a small village, 3 kms off the Chennai-Salem highway, he educates people with simple tips to treat blood pressure and diabetes using the Siddha medicine.

Born in 1920, Muthusamy rues that youngsters don't seem keen to treat themselves with our own traditional forms of health care. He cautions that these techniques of self-preservation are to be carefully nurtured and passed down to the forthcoming generations, a responsibility of today's generation, he affirms.