This week for our weekly column of Hyderabond, The Pioneer interacts with a former aeronautical engineer at the Indian Air Force and now a healthcare expert, Yoga Acharya Narayanam Gopinath, to speak of his association with the city, what Hyderabad means to him, and more.
Tejal Sinha
Renowned yoga teacher B.K.S. Iyengar once very well said, “Yoga is the only key that unlocks the door to peace, tranquility, and joy.” True that! Regardless of your level of yoga expertise, if you’re practicing regularly, you can feel better from head to toe.
With a similar aim to cure multiple health issues, including diabetes, hypertension, obesity, and PCOS, right from colds to cancer, headaches to heart diseases, and diabetes to depression, Yoga Acharya Narayanam Gopinath, through his Maharshi Patanjali Yoga-Health and Diabetes Care Centre, believes and aims at curing all of them with the right food as medicine and yogic practices.
A former aeronautical engineer who had worked with the Indian Air Force shifted to Hyderabad with his family due to his job. Later after that, he retired; he joined the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) in 1992 and went on to work until 2018. But throughout his work, he had always had a passion for teaching yoga, ever since his
childhood, making him pursue his master’s in yoga. Today, he is not only a healthcare expert but also a diabetologist and an advanced medical nutritionist. In fact, during the pandemic, he, along with Dr. Vishnu Chaudhary, formed a team called the NICE Network of Influenza Care Experts, curing more than one lakh people with zero medicine, zero money, and zero morality.
With all his experience, he shared, “I can say that any disease can be cured by changing the lifestyle. These are all lifestyle-oriented diseases. Lifestyle is all about your behaviour. We educate the people. There is a greater need to educate people in terms of medications. People come and cure their issues in 1 to 3 months, depending on the issue. Once we start giving the nutritional plan, they get rid of this. Some medicines have side effects, but we try to provide side benefits. I strongly believe that a man is more of an emotional entity than a logical entity.”
“It’s not about a lifestyle disease; it’s about your commitment to your diet and lifestyle. Curing me is not a problem, but convincing them of this is a big problem. I have also helped people with Gangrene cases when they have to cut their legs. We only give the natural medicines; even during the pandemic, we had given natural kadhas,” shared the 66-year-old expert, who recalled working in various places of the city, including Balanagar, Kukatpally, and Sangareddy, to name a few.
Speaking of his love for the city, he said, “Since day one, I have loved Hyderabad. I love the climate here. People here have received me very well. Here, you have multilingual people. Since I had worked in the forces, I know like 3–4 languages, and people here treated me very well. They used to take my services to cure their health problems. People are very friendly.”
Having lived in various parts of the country like Srinagar, Uttar Pradesh, and Chandigarh, one thing that he really enjoys about the ‘City of Nizams’ is its lovely climate. He explained, “The climate here is so good that back then, even the rajas and maharajas had made the city their capital. Here, there are a lot of good job opportunities for anyone and everyone. The bond that I share with Hyderabad is amazing. I can settle here for the whole of my life.”
Ever since he was a kid, he’d always adored the popular places that Hyderabad has always been known for, including the Salarjung Museum, Tankbund, and Khairatabad Ganesha. But talking of what he particularly likes, he said, “I really love the fruits here. For instance, Hyderabad’s banana and Andhra’s banana are different (he giggles). In my diet plan, fruits are very important. When I think of Hyderabad, and since I’m a vegetarian, I can think of fruits and not Paradise Biryani, hahah!”
With people migrating from different cities for a better living, he feels that the population has been increasing day by day. However, looking at the other side of it, he feels the city has been a good place to live, with not only job opportunities but also a good education. He further goes on to appreciate the chief minister, K. Chandrasekhar Rao, and health minister, Harish Rao, for putting up efforts to improve the health infrastructure throughout the state. “Today, every district has a medical college. Being a yoga practitioner and healthcare expert, I feel prevention is always better than cure. Yoga is the only preventive and curing medicine for any of the
diseases. Like the central government, the state government has also taken several measures to promote and raise awareness of yoga. However, schools and colleges also need to come forward and provide at least 30 minutes of yoga for students so they are aware of its benefits and will have a habit of performing it regularly,” signed off the expert, who ended the conversation by saying, “Hyderabad to me is my Swargdham, and so is it for many other people who’d want to establish their work in the city. One can stay here and live a peaceful life.”
