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Thursday March 28, 2024

Cave therapy comes to metropolis

Travelling by bus during the last few days, courtesy the “sincere” efforts of my car mechanic, I came across hundreds of pearls of wisdom that were put on sale with magical confidence. The vendors turned out to be some of the most eloquent people who could have been adjudged the

By Mian Saifur Rehman
January 08, 2015
Travelling by bus during the last few days, courtesy the “sincere” efforts of my car mechanic, I came across hundreds of pearls of wisdom that were put on sale with magical confidence. The vendors turned out to be some of the most eloquent people who could have been adjudged the best leaders, orators or maybe intellectuals had they been in politics or in a ‘think tank’. I rather rate them as marvellous people as they can sell, just for a few rupees (the figure never crosses Rs100) even the most efficacious talisman that is capable of healing all the ailments that a human has ever been afflicted with or might be afflicted with in the future.
My scepticism has, however, been compelling me to doubt every effort on the part of these roving vendors to win over more and more customers though the passengers exempt from the malaise of scepticism usually enjoy every bit of this journey into human anatomy with affordable/low-priced cures of even the deadliest diseases.
But now, of late, I’ve come to know about a therapy that works wonders in the practical sense and cures many diseases, especially the diseases of the chest and skin. Even the famous Film Director, Syed Noor, has strongly recommended for rejuvenation and for the enhancement of glamour after paying a visit to the galleria mall in the city where retired Brigadier Abdul Ghafoor has set up a salt cave which is said to be a panacea of many—if not all—ills.
It was indeed quite surprising for me to know all this from the winning horse’s mouth. For sure, Syed Noor is a permanently winning horse in the contemporary showbiz race. And he also knows a lot about lot many things. And for me, it was surprising because so far, I had known only cave allegory attributed to one of the wisest men on this planet—Plato—as it explains my own inadequacies of vision. Other things or philosophies apart, Plato’s cave allegory vividly tells us about the humans’ short-sightedness. But as for cave therapy, it gave me the feel of being a primitive man unless I myself paid a visit to the spot. There was salt all around that was a mix of sea and good-for-human-health salt and the aura was quite soothing and gave the touch of being far from the maddening—and maddened—crowd. Now this alone suffices to heal or create a sense of healing. Rest is all subject to giving it a try.
The retired army functionary and his son, however, claim that it is for the first time in the history of Subcontinent that such an effective alternate therapeutic system with wonderful results for human body and mind, has been put in place, starting from the provincial metropolis. Some others say one such facility already exists ie a hospital in Khewra salt mines that too cure many asthmatic patients.
As for the selection of the provincial metropolis of Punjab, this seems to be a good decision ie starting it from a city which also houses another indefatigable spirit, I mean Mian Shahbaz Sharif, who too appears endeavouring untiringly to find a talisman for many of our ills.
But what on earth is this thing called salt cave? Doesn’t it look odd? Yes, on the face of it, it seems to be odd but, in fact, it is the only opening in the country where you can breathe purest air in an unpolluted environment albeit for a few moments on the day of your visit to the cave of peace (to quote Ghafoor). He says it is a cave of peace because it has been established only with the idea of human elevation. “It elevates your spirits side by side with curing a number of ailments, including the allergies.” And, unfortunately, we abound in these diseases. So, should we find ourselves a place in the cave and come out trouble-free? Yes, of course, at least I would like to taste the salt of this cave through my breathing paraphernalia as I also want to breathe healthy, live healthy! It is even otherwise urgently required because we are being denied the breathing space or the reason to live by the protégés of Ramses.
mianrehman1@gmail.com