Happy Birthday, Whoever

If it’s your birthday today, I hereby wish you many happy returns of the day!

It’s quite amazing, how some people can perfectly remember everyone’s birthday without using any reminder service, or gadget, or even noting them down. They just care a lot about other people, even more than they do about themselves, and belong to an ayurvedic constitution called “Kapha”. Which brings us to today’s topic of discussion: Ayurvedic Doshas.

In the ancient Indian system of medicine, called Ayurveda (ayus is life and veda is science), the entire universe is made up of five elements: Earth, Water, Wind, Fire and Void. (I didn’t forget the fifth element, if that’s what you’re wondering. It’s really called void.) The understanding of people (psychology) would be based on Doshas, or constitutions, each of which is made up of some combination of these five elements. In the system, there are three main Doshas and all human beings have all these doshas in their own unique combinations. Let’s explore these doshas in an attempt to understand ourselves slightly better.

Vaata: This dosha is made up of earth and wind. If you have dry skin (earth), a naturally slim build (the statistically general case) and are very restless by nature (wind), you have a lot of vaata in you. People belonging to vaata are generally very creative and simulating conversationalists. They’re totally spontaneous, a lot of fun to be around. One week they’ll be talking about this great new project they just started “You know what, I’m going to write G.R.E and study engineering abroad!”, and the next week they’ll be talking about another new project they just started “You know what, I’m going to go write CAT and study management!” “What happened to G.R.E??” “That was a totally stupid idea.” And the same thing’s going to happen next week. Making plans and sticking with them is totally against their windy, volatile nature. Too much vaata leads to restlessness and lack of sleep. These people do great work in creative fields.

Pitha: This dosha is made up of wind and fire. Pitha people generally have a medium build, neat and tidy hair, and a general heat about them, the kind of heat that comes from being extremely ambitious (fire). These people, by nature, have high digestive power in all aspects of life, starting of course, with the rate at which they metabolize food and the speed at which they can learn. They are very goal oriented and seem to turn every little thing into a competition. They’re highly organized and disciplined, and probably have immaculately maintained rooms and cubicles. Their ability to stick with plans and decisions make them fantastic leaders. In any project, the Vaatas are good starters and the pithas are good finishers. Most of the great leaders today, be it in business or politics, belong mainly to this constitution. Too much of pitha can lead to health problems related to (of course) digestion.

Kaapha: This dosha is made up of earth and water. These people are generally overweight and have moist, glowing skin and hair. They’ve a lot of glow in their nature that comes, of course, from water. These people have high emotional quotient and make friends easily. They’ll remember your birthday perfectly, they’ll want to wish you at 12 A.M, and they’ll easily forgive you for not remembering their birthdays. So much genuine love and selflessness, the only thing they expect from you (probably) is to spend time with them. In corporate world, you’ll find them sticking with a company for many years even if they don’t like the work, just because they love the people there. Almost all moms are Kaapha personalities.

Someone might have made up that whole thing just to say “I’m very sorry, girlfriend. But it’s not my fault that I don’t remember your birthday. It’s nature’s problem, I’m simply a victim.” But seriously, there’s nothing to believe in here, it’s simply an old system for understanding people.

Remember, everyone has all three doshas in their nature, but in different proportions. These proportions can change by age, upbringing and a whole lot of other variables. For example, most kids are vaatas, most middle aged people are pithas, most old people are kaaphas.

Think about what makes you you, in terms of these constitutions. Then think about goals and ambitions (if any) and what kind of a person you’d need to be to have them; it’s very simple to make the necessary changes and bring balance. As an example, if you have trouble sticking to a plan (vaata imbalance), the solution is as simple as making tiny little plans, fulfilling them and working your way up to bigger plans. Simply act against your nature till it becomes habit.

Perfectly balanced constitutions do not convert you into a certain stereotype, rather they enable you to be the best you can be, to let your uniqueness shine through in your work and your life.