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[ PROFILE OF THE MONTH ] Sept 2007 _______Personality PROFILE of the Month »

DR. ANJALI KULKARNI

Your Homeopathic Doctor Is In Your Neighborhood

By Leah Espineda

Dr. Anjali Kulkarni is a homeopathic doctor with five and a half years university education in homeopathic medicine and surgery from the University of Pune in India. In GTA, her clinic is located at North York where she does homoeopathic consultations and treatment. As our feature profile this month, she shares her beginnings as a landed immigrant and how she established her profession in her new country.

“Many of them lack general awareness about their own profession and what their alternatives are. They are hard working and intelligent. They need focus”.

For several years, Dr. Anjali Kulkarni was practicing as a successful homeopathic doctor in India and has lectured graduating students in a homeopathic college before she came to Canada. In 2003, she landed in Toronto to join her husband who was here 7 years earlier. Despite her strong determination and a positive outlook towards life, she knew that moving to a new country and establishing herself in her profession would not be ‘a piece of cake’, as she described it. However, that route to success was made much easier by the unwavering support of her husband who was with her every step of the way.

As not everyone may be aware of what homeopathic medicine is, I asked Dr. Anjali to describe what ‘homeopathic medicine’ is and what she does as a doctor in this area of medicine. With the passion of someone who loves her profession, Dr. Anjali described ‘homeopathic medicine’ as an alternative natural therapeutic method of medical treatment, based on nature's Law of Cure, namely 'Like Cures Like'. The remedies are prepared from natural substances to precise standards and work by stimulating the body's own healing power and improving the body’s immunity. Homeopathy considers disease as a product of some internal physical and mental disturbance and treats a person as a combined product of body, mind and soul and not just by healing one aspect of the disease or a particular organ affected by the disease. It treats the ailment by increasing the immunity of the body, thereby eliminating the root cause of the disease. Patients do not have to undergo extensive testing and diagnostic procedures. Dr. Anjali emphasized, “It is a SAFE and SURE medicine. It treats most common ailments from cold to cancer, complex physical and mental disorders and diseases, depression, mood disorders and many others.” Dr. Anjali relates that when a patient comes in to her clinic she does consultation which may be for an hour initially. She focuses on preparing a complete case history of her patients, paints a broad picture about their “physical and mental modalities” and patterns of conditions with minute details. Symptomatic analysis would then lead her to determine the appropriate therapy and the duration.

Dr. Anjali’s description of her profession was very informative and kept me more interested, so I asked if she could share a story about a particular case to demonstrate how well the treatment works. Dr. Anjali obliged me with a story about one of her patients who considered her treatment like a ‘miracle’. Her patient, Mrs. Thompson (real name changed for privacy reasons) visited her with complaints of skin rashes, itching and severe skin allergy. This patient has not been able to sleep well for the last seven years because of her skin condition and had attempted other forms of treatment with no relief. Dr. Anjali started her course of treatment with the same confidence and zeal she provides to all her other patients. Exactly after 2 weeks (after the first course of therapy) Mrs. Thompson came back to her clinic and was literally in tears of joy. She thanked and congratulated Dr. Anjali. Mrs. Thompson’s exact words were, “You are a gifted Homeopath. You have done a miracle!! You have returned my sleep to me. After 7 years of terrible sleepless nights, now I am able to sleep like a baby again.” I was deeply awed by this story and this just proves that Dr. Anjali is successful not only as an immigrant but also as a homeopathic doctor.

“Homeopathy is my choice but the need of all.”

With Dr. Anjali’s evident love for her profession, I just had to ask what her biggest challenge is and what gives her the best joy in her profession. To this, she immediately replied, “My biggest challenge is to raise general awareness for Homeopathy among people and the best joy of my profession is to see the smiling faces of my patients.” I went on to ask if homeopathy was her choice or need. With distinct conviction, she said it’s “my choice” but the “need of all”. She added that recently they have been successful in getting Homeopathy regulated and that soon it may get covered under OHIP too.

To have reached this level of success and with many satisfied patients under her name, Dr. Anjali experienced her own share of struggles and disappointment as a new immigrant. She clearly recalls her biggest disappointment when after landing here she realized that homeopathy was not a regulated profession in Canada. There was a complete turn-around though when she rose out of this huge set-back triumphantly by getting her registration for her Homeopathic credentials. This, she considers as her ‘peak of joy’. She also said that India offers some of the best Homeopathic education in the world and it is recognized by the Homeopathic Medical Council of Canada. Through all these turn of events in her life, Dr. Anjali still remembers those moments like it was only yesterday when she was new to Canada. Like other immigrants, her journey began through networking, building relevant contacts, developing good public relation skills and flipping through pages of news paper ads and surfing through internet job sites looking for a suitable job. Soon she realized that getting a "good job that one likes" is not magic but is a "technique full of systematic efforts". To this day, she recognizes and acknowledges with thanks all the community centers, professional associations and her networked friends that have been of great help to her as she was establishing herself in her profession. She considers her time in Canada full of joy and fun but filled with sincere hard work. She is a firm believer in two things. First, that there is no substitute for hard work and second, that sincere hard work always bears fruit.

When asked what she liked most about Canada, Dr. Anjali conveyed her optimism when she said, “I will continue to live here and I will like this country more and more because of its vast cultural diversity. I came from India, which is also culturally, ethnically and linguistically diverse. Likewise, Canada is a "beautiful prism" of numerous cultures where each culture is mixed into another and yet it has kept its own identity. That's why I never had a culture shock. It's truly a ‘free country’!” Although she admits that she misses the fun and joy of India’s festivities and dislikes the bitter cold and dry winters in Canada.

Finally, I had to hear her words of advice to people from her native city in Mumbai, India who may want to immigrate to Canada and she had this to say, “First, and foremost, come prepared with open mind. Be ready for differences in food, weather, clothes, road system, social and professional etiquettes and many other things. Try to get as much information about your own profession before immigrating as many of them lack general awareness about their own profession and what their alternatives are. They are hard working and intelligent. They need focus. They should also be prepared to get a "survival job" initially even though it might be below their expectations. Finally, always have a positive attitude!”.

For more information on homeopathic treatment and Dr. Anjali Kulkarni’s unique and systematic curative therapy, below are her contact details and clinic hours:

For appointment, please call tel. no. 416 792 6993 or at 416 821 1976.
Clinic hours are Monday to Friday 11.00 am to 8.00pm and Saturday 11.00am to 2.00pm.

Profile of the Month is a regular feature of immigrants from different ethnic backgrounds who share their stories about their struggles and successes as they establish their lives in Canada. Through this feature, readers can relate with their own experiences, learn from their stories and hopefully, inspire those still struggling to make it in Canada. How about you? Do you have a story to tell or know someone who does? Why don’t you email me at leah.espineda@gtathismonth.com and let’s share your story.