And that's exactly what happened to former national hockey player Namrata Shah, whose radiant complexion, sparkling eyes and fit body is courtesy Urine Therapy! Yes, the Morarji Desai formula has worked so well with her that she has no qualms discussing it.

Why Urine Therapy? Says Namrata, a mother of two, ``I used to have very bad teeth and bleeding gums; occasionally, my eyes would also burn. After I got married in 1984, my father-in-law urged me to gargle with urine every morning and brush my teeth only after half an hour, promising a cure. I hesitated, so he told me to wash my eyes with urine in an eye glass everyday and see the difference.''

Namrata picked up some courage and did it. A month later, much to her surprise, she found that the burning sensation in the eyes had vanished. ``That's how,'' she explains, ``my reluctance towards this therapy disappeared. As advised by my father-in-law (who is no more), I began gargling my mouth with my urine and soon found that my gums had stopped bleeding. Ever since, I practise it as a routine. I think it works wonders.''

Is that the only secret of her good health? ``Not totally, as I also exercise a lot and am very particular about my diet.'' For Namrata, big meals are a no-no. Her morning begins with a glass of milk and fruits. Sprouts and jaggery are a must. For lunch, it is two chapatis, rice, dal and vegetables. The dinner at 7.30 pm is light and includes sandwiches and milk. If she has to go out partying at night, then, she says, ``I eat at home and then nibble at the party.''

When her children were very small, she'd use the therapy for their cold and cough but now, she says, ``They are at that age when they sneer and get embarrassed at the very idea of using their urine for any ailment, so I don't force the issue. Let them find out for themselves the goodness of this therapy when they grow up.'' Namrata has read a lot on this therapy and wants to visit the hospital in Ahmedabad which, she says, specialises in it.n Heritage committee, still in hibernation?

YOU may shout yourself hoarse from the rooftop, make a big issue about it in the newspaper, or get frustrated if you like, but the Pune Heritage Committee will remain unmoved, unfazed and unaffected! Its unending patience is unbelievable. Having been established way back in 1991 to prepare a list of heritage structures in Pune, it is still struggling to submit the same to the Pune Municipal Corporation. Although we will soon be entering the new millennium, the compilation is still being made, even after nearly nine years.

Why? The chairman of the committee, former municipal commissioner P.S. Palande, has a stock reply. ``The list is virtually complete,'' he said again last week. ``Last month, we could not hold a meeting but we are scheduled to meet next fortnight. Hopefully, the list will be submitted in the first week of July.''

The Indian Heritage Society and the Bombay Environmental Action Group (BEAG) prepared a list in 1991 and submitted it to the then Pune Municipal Commissioner Ajay Dua. He promptly formed a committee for comprehensive identification on March 16, 1991, with veteran historians Babasaheb Purandare and G.N. Dandekar, M.S.Mate - expert on Maratha architecture, G.K. Kanhere - head of the town planning department of College of Engineering, Pune (COEP), conservation architect Narendra Dengle, archaeologist Statira Wadia, P.T. Hardikar - former town planning director of the state and BEAG honorary secretary Shyam Chainani.

In a little over three years, the committee managed to identify just over 150 buildings. By then, conservation of both man-made and natural heritage had caught the imagination of the Central Government. In 1995, the Union Ministry of Environment framed a draft set of rules which was circulated to all the state governments, with a recommendation that these be adopted by civic bodies of all major towns and cities in the country.

On July 10, 1995, the State Government issued directives to the municipal corporations of Pune, Nagpur, Kolhapur and Nashik, asking them to form heritage conservation committees.

The result was a new committee in Pune, formed under the chairmanship of Palande, structural engineer Y.S. Sane, Subhash Bonde - professor of structural engineering at COEP, Kanhere, Dengle, environmentalist Sujit Patwardhan and Purandare, with the officer-in-charge of the Archaeological Survey of India office in Pune as a member and city engineer Madhav Harihar as member secretary.

In two years, the committee compiled a list of 355-odd buildings in the Grade I, Grade II and Grade III categories, including government and semi-government buildings, religious shrines, private buildings and wadas.Palande says that in the last two years, these structures have been further scrutinised, with a few of them having been demolished and others, on the verge of collapse, being deleted from the heritage list. So, the final tally will be around 350 buildings, he says, ``with 10 per cent going here or there.''

But that is the point. While the government and semi-government buildings will remain in tact, it is the wadas and private institutions that are susceptible to collapse, virtual death and misconduct by the owners, thanks to the complacency of the committee.

Apparently, absenteeism of committee members at meetings, postponement of meetings and a general indifferent and lackadaisical approach by these members, all experts and lovers of heritage, has caused a grave incursion on the map of Pune's heritage conservation.Look at Mumbai, and now Mahabaleshwar. In Mumbai, the draft heritage list was published on February 20, 1991, and the government notified more than 633 individual buildings and 21 mapped precincts. The heritage list of the Mahabaleshwar-Panchgani region is scheduled to be forwarded to the government by mid-June. But what about Pune? Let's hope that by the first week of July, things actually happen!

A pat for the patties!
What's spicy, tempting and can be got cheap? Wada pav, of course, that has become an integral part of Puneites' life. Last week, I came across an interesting innovation of the wada pav - the Pav Patties. Brothers Girdhari and Gul Shahani, who have been running a small Sindhi fast food joint near Pudumjee Compound, in the vicinity of Nishat Theatre, since the last 30 years, dish out this tempting delicacy, everyday, from 5 to 9 p.m. Stuffed in the pav is a layer of green chutney, topped by cooked kabuli chana in gravy, over which rests a generous patties made of potato. All this goodness in a simple pav makes for a rather wholesome meal. Simply yum!