Remembering Roots: A Conversation With Dr Mukesh Batra

You have written several books so far. What makes ‘The Nation’s Homeopath’ distinct? 
This book was published last year on my 70th birthday and I was very keen that it should be published as a biography as well as a business book. I believe that it’s your past that determines your present and future. So, you must learn from the values with which you were brought up and the experiences during your childhood.

Please tell us a bit about some of the most important moments that you have tried to capture in the book.
I’ve tried to capture everything that I could. I tried to write this book keeping in mind the ‘insta’ generation today. I tried to make sure that each chapter is not more than three to four pages. Every chapter is written as an incident from which one could learn and they are an important part of my life, be it my business life or my personal life. 

The way I’ve written my book is almost like a screenplay. When you are reading this book, you can imagine what Agra was like when I lived there. You can imagine what World War II was like when my nana left Burma and came back. It is very vivid and visual, almost like watching a film. 

This book chronicles seven decades of your experience. Could you tell us how homoeopathy’s perception changed during your career? 
It has changed a lot. When I started practising in 1974, which is almost 50 years ago, people didn’t believe in homoeopathy. You had to be passionate about it. You had to talk about it as missionaries do and convince them of the goodness of homoeopathy. Today, it is the fastest-growing medicine in the world. It is also the second largest system of medicine in the world according to the WHO. Today, people are moving towards integrated medicine. Complementary medicine, as it is also called, is now a part of mainstream medicine in many countries. 

The future of medicine is going to be very different. It is going to be driven by IT and artificial intelligence. Alternate medicine is geared toward that because many of these are social problems and not just medical problems. People are looking forward to safer medicine since modern medicine has many side effects. They are looking for medicine which is holistic, cost-effective and easily available.