Gopi Warrier
Encyclopedia
Gopi Warrier is best known as an expert in Indian
Ayurvedic medicine
. He is also a playwright and poet, with many artistic and business ventures to his name.
. Warrier studied English Literature in India; he then took an MBA at the London Business School
, studying also at the French Business School (Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales) near Paris, and at the New York University Graduate School.
. Audrey Gillan, writing in the Guardian
, reports Warrier as "concerned that Ayurveda
's image could become spoiled" at the same time as the "first charitable Ayurvedic hospital outside of India and Sri Lanka" was being founded. According to Gillan, Warrier "believes that many are guilty of intellectual pilfering of Ayurvedic principles."
According to the BBC, despite celebrities such as Cherie Blair
, Naomi Campbell
and Madonna
"reported to be among those undergoing treatment", Warrier did not see this as the hospital's purpose. "The hospital's founder, Gopi Warrier, whose family runs several Ayurvedic hospitals in the Indian state of Kerala, says the new hospital is not for rich celebrities but for ordinary people." Warrier went on to dismiss any interest in having celebrities at his hospital, replying "The West has a tendency to dilute and distort and commercialise everything, including sacred knowledge", said Warrier, according to the BBC report. According to Laura Barton, writing in The Guardian
, Warrier "looks appalled by the sudden Ayurveda hysteria. He would rather it were not treated as the latest item on the cosmetic counter to be listed in the stockists pages of Vogue
and Cosmo, alongside anti-cellulite creams and bio-thermal wraps."
Similarly, two years later, Jo Revill, writing in The Observer
, reports Warrier as criticising the West's approach: "Ayurveda is being plundered. Its beliefs and practices are being hijacked and the public are being conned." Warrier continued, Revill reported, "Our remedies are being pilfered - there's no other word for it - in order for spas and clinics to jump on a New Age
bandwagon and con people out of their money"
.
). According to Richard Johnson, writing in The Independent
, "This new London restaurant is unique. You don't order your food, the waiter orders for you. You arrive, your constitution is assessed, and you're fed the appropriate food.". Barbara Pantin, writing in The Daily Telegraph
, reports Warrier as explaining "Food is extremely important in Ayurveda. Even one meal can make a difference." However, in the following year, the restaurant was forced to switch cuisines in order to survive: "in 2005, it's out with the healthy grub [food] and in with a big bar".
Warrier has staged several plays in London
and Mumbai
: God Sports, The Tenth Incarnation, Genesis of Karma-Three Faces of Evil, Siddhivinayak Saves Mumbai from Terror Attack.
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
Ayurvedic medicine
Ayurveda
Ayurveda or ayurvedic medicine is a system of traditional medicine native to India and a form of alternative medicine. In Sanskrit, words , meaning "longevity", and , meaning "knowledge" or "science". The earliest literature on Indian medical practice appeared during the Vedic period in India,...
. He is also a playwright and poet, with many artistic and business ventures to his name.
Life and career
Gopi Warrier is the son of G.P. Warrier, chairman of Indian National Railways and Principal Secretary to the Government of India. His grandfather was M.R. Krishna Warrier, a poet in KeralaKerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
. Warrier studied English Literature in India; he then took an MBA at the London Business School
London Business School
London Business School is an international business school and a constituent college of the federal University of London, located in central London, beside Regent's Park...
, studying also at the French Business School (Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales) near Paris, and at the New York University Graduate School.
The West's first Ayurvedic hospital
In 2000, Warrier founded The Ayurvedic Charitable Hospital, with 30 beds, in London. The hospital was initially located on the third floor of the old Royal Masonic Hospital in ChiswickChiswick
Chiswick is a large suburb of west London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It is located on a meander of the River Thames, west of Charing Cross and is one of 35 major centres identified in the London Plan. It was historically an ancient parish in the county of Middlesex, with...
. Audrey Gillan, writing in the Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, reports Warrier as "concerned that Ayurveda
Ayurveda
Ayurveda or ayurvedic medicine is a system of traditional medicine native to India and a form of alternative medicine. In Sanskrit, words , meaning "longevity", and , meaning "knowledge" or "science". The earliest literature on Indian medical practice appeared during the Vedic period in India,...
's image could become spoiled" at the same time as the "first charitable Ayurvedic hospital outside of India and Sri Lanka" was being founded. According to Gillan, Warrier "believes that many are guilty of intellectual pilfering of Ayurvedic principles."
According to the BBC, despite celebrities such as Cherie Blair
Cherie Blair
Cherie Blair , known professionally as Cherie Booth QC, is a British barrister working in the legal system of England and Wales. She is married to the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Tony Blair; the couple have three sons and one daughter...
, Naomi Campbell
Naomi Campbell
Naomi Campbell is a British model. Scouted at the age of 15, she established herself among the top three most recognisable and in-demand models of the late 1980s and early 1990s, and she was one of six models of her generation declared "supermodels" by the fashion world...
and Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
"reported to be among those undergoing treatment", Warrier did not see this as the hospital's purpose. "The hospital's founder, Gopi Warrier, whose family runs several Ayurvedic hospitals in the Indian state of Kerala, says the new hospital is not for rich celebrities but for ordinary people." Warrier went on to dismiss any interest in having celebrities at his hospital, replying "The West has a tendency to dilute and distort and commercialise everything, including sacred knowledge", said Warrier, according to the BBC report. According to Laura Barton, writing in The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, Warrier "looks appalled by the sudden Ayurveda hysteria. He would rather it were not treated as the latest item on the cosmetic counter to be listed in the stockists pages of Vogue
Vogue (magazine)
Vogue is a fashion and lifestyle magazine that is published monthly in 18 national and one regional edition by Condé Nast.-History:In 1892 Arthur Turnure founded Vogue as a weekly publication in the United States. When he died in 1909, Condé Montrose Nast picked up the magazine and slowly began...
and Cosmo, alongside anti-cellulite creams and bio-thermal wraps."
Similarly, two years later, Jo Revill, writing in The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
, reports Warrier as criticising the West's approach: "Ayurveda is being plundered. Its beliefs and practices are being hijacked and the public are being conned." Warrier continued, Revill reported, "Our remedies are being pilfered - there's no other word for it - in order for spas and clinics to jump on a New Age
New Age
The New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational...
bandwagon and con people out of their money"
Ayurvedic university
In 2004, Warrier, David McAlpine and Lady Sarah Morritt (trustees of the Ayurvedic Charitable Hospital) founded Mayur, the "Ayurvedic University of Europe", in London; it offers a B.Sc. degree in AyurvedaAyurveda
Ayurveda or ayurvedic medicine is a system of traditional medicine native to India and a form of alternative medicine. In Sanskrit, words , meaning "longevity", and , meaning "knowledge" or "science". The earliest literature on Indian medical practice appeared during the Vedic period in India,...
.
London's first ayurvedic restaurant
Warrier opened London's first Ayurvedic restaurant (named Mantra) in 2004 on Crutched Friars (a street in the City of LondonCity of London
The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
). According to Richard Johnson, writing in The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
, "This new London restaurant is unique. You don't order your food, the waiter orders for you. You arrive, your constitution is assessed, and you're fed the appropriate food.". Barbara Pantin, writing in The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
, reports Warrier as explaining "Food is extremely important in Ayurveda. Even one meal can make a difference." However, in the following year, the restaurant was forced to switch cuisines in order to survive: "in 2005, it's out with the healthy grub [food] and in with a big bar".
Plays and poems
Warrier is the author of two books of poems, Varaha, and Lament of JC. One of the Varaha poems, The Last And Final Call For Flight Meenakshi RR1, was performed on stage and filmed.Warrier has staged several plays in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and Mumbai
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
: God Sports, The Tenth Incarnation, Genesis of Karma-Three Faces of Evil, Siddhivinayak Saves Mumbai from Terror Attack.
Ayurvedic medicine
- Gopi Warrier. Ayurveda: The Right Way to Live - The Ancient Indian Medical System, Focusing on the Prevention of Disease Through Diet, Lifestyle and Herbalism. Carlton Books, 2002. ISBN 978-1842226049
- Karen Sullivan, Harish L. Verma, Gopi Warrier. Secrets of Ayurveda. Dorling KindersleyDorling KindersleyDorling Kindersley is an international publishing company specializing in illustrated reference books for adults and children in 51 languages. It is currently part of the Penguin Group....
, 2001. ISBN 978-0751335637
- Gopi Warrier and Deepika Gunawant. The Complete Illustrated Guide to Ayurveda: the Ancient Indian Healing Tradition. Barnes & Noble, 1997. ISBN 978-0760707029
Poetry
- Gopi Warrier and Amanda Brett. Lament of JC: Poems by Gopi Warrier. Delhi London Poetry Foundation, 1999. ISBN 978-0953567904
- Gopi Warrier. Vahara: The Secret of Evolution - New and Selected Poems. Mayur University, 2009. ISBN 978-0953567980
- Gopi Warrier. Karma is a Slow Virus. McAlpine & Hutton-Williams, London, 1988. ISBN 978-0951430101
- Gopi Warrier. In a Country near Zimbabwe: Indian socialites, Interviewing a brahmin. McAlpine Hutton-Williams, London, 1980. ISBN
External links
- Cara Ward | Gopi Warrier The Karma of Love, 2011.
- YouTube video The Last And Final Call For Flight Meenakshi RR1 (2 parts), 2009.
- YouTube video The Tenth Incarnation (6 parts), 2009.