Sitting behind a heavy wooden desk in her quaint office chamber at the Kairali Centre in Mehrauli, Gita Ramesh looks like any other businesswoman at work, not really sporting her achievements on her collar.

Considering that she is one of the few authentic Ayurveda food and health authors who also heads the highly propagated Kairali group of Ayurveda treatment centres and spa, Ramesh is a woman of few words and simple modesty. But you read her books or spend some time at the sprawling but well managed Kairali centre at Palakkad and you will understand the details she and her family have gone into to give India — and the world — one of its very few authentic Ayurveda treatment units.

Though it was in the concrete jungle of New Delhi that she and her husband KV Ramesh opened the first Kairali unit 25 years ago, it is the Palakkad facility that has caught global recognition and powers their “alternate” business now. Alternate because, it is the passion of Ayurveda and the lineage of a long line of Ayurveda physicians in the family that have been carried forward by the Rameshs whose primary business is construction.

The 80 something doctor  T Chandrashekharan who checks your pulse at Kairali is a symbol of this well-nourished lineage. He holds your pulse to tell you candidly that your problem is nothing but eating way too much than your body requires. “Why does the population eat so much,” he asks angrily, obviously not having found a permanent antidote to the rising eating epidemic plaguing the world. It’s quite another matter that he is an expert in treating the more serious disease like Multiple Sclorosis which has found no cure in Allopathy till date.  As we talk, there are around seven MS patients seeking treatment at Kairali.

At Palakkad, as Gita explains, the effort is to nurture the ancient medicinal science and bring it back to its full glory, power the local population with jobs, rear Ayurveda doctors and provide a clean and picturesque environment to not just rejuvenate but also be treated for chronic ailments. The no-nonsense massages at the treatment centre give you a taste of Gita’s penchant for the authentic. The wafting aroma of medicinal oils and the well trained masseurs may come across as harsh to your body initially but a sleep later you thank them for their therapeutic expertise.

Nestling in the middle of a virtual forest with a stream gurgling across the facility in all its youthfulness, the Kairali resort has an aura that might be difficult to replicate elsewhere even though Gita is gung ho about her group’s expansion plans which are being taken care of by her sons Abhishek and Abhilash. The most recent addition to this chain is a facility at Rishikesh which overlooks the mighty Ganga.

“Ayurveda is finding acceptance worldwide but there is still a long way to go. I’ve just come back from a global workshop and I can tell you the movement has begun to give alternate medicinal strains like Ayurveda their due,” says Abhilash.

The Kairali brand of Ayurveda medicines are just about finding a market in Europe and have made it to grocery store shelves as a food supplement in US where the FDA is too strict to allow alternate drugs to enter the market.

But the lifestyle strain of Ayurveda has, meanwhile, been given a direction by Gita and her husband whose main clients in Kairali are foreigners from  Europe and America. “Kairali has gained a global position by word of mouth and most of our clients return every year to enjoy the simple living and rejuvenation programmes offered at Palakkad,” Gita who did her BMS degree in Ayurveda in 1989 tells you.

Indeed, Palakkad is truly a unique tradition to be enjoyed in the lap of simple luxury, organic vegetarianism and overwhelming Nature. While Gita’s father-in-law was the man who worked hard and succeeded in transiting the ancient medicinal science from liquid medication to tablets in the 1960s, Gita has further modernised the operations by not only providing a deep insight into healthy Ayurveda foods but also giving the Group an extra edge by bringing into its committed treatment line a dash of lifestyle, a dash of distress and a dash of detox.

In the arms of affordable five-star luxury, and undiluted commitment to the tenets of Ayurveda, it is no surprise that Palakkad’s foreign guests come here willing to do away with non-veg diets and a promise to return themselves – and spread the word around about the centre’s efficacies.