Story Of Sandook
The story of Sandook starts in a quiet idyllic corner of Nasik, where I lived with my parents and my loving grandmother Sheelavati Laxman Gadkari.
Life with my grandmother was a roller coaster of experiences which have shaped me and my family. Her gentle lullaby while cuddling us, Her sunday ritual of making homemade ubtan and abhyanga oil for all the children and bathing them, not to forget her dedication and work ethic towards building an ayurveda company. All these fond experiences have made us who we are.
Her tryst with ayurveda began in the year 1949 when she was compelled to become independent from the age of 14 on the passing of her father. She started working as a clerk in a small ayurveda company. Her curiosity and passion towards ayurveda led her to founding her own ayurveda products company in 1972 in one small 200 sq ft room. She was particular about documenting all her research work in ayurveda. She found various potent mixtures of herbs useful for health and beauty purposes. She stored all of these formulations in a large wooden trunk or Sandook. I used to play around with the Sandook during my childhood asking her “ Aaji, what's inside this Sandook which you safeguard so much ? with a gentle chuckle she used to say “Bala, it’s a treasure “ Obviously I didn’t understand it then.
As I grew up I imbibed many things unconsciously. Discipline, hard work and ethics were a bedrock on which she nurtured our family. All our family worked in unison in delivering the exacting standards of ayurveda that grandma demanded. Her ethical selfless behaviour earned her the nickname of Aushadhi Aaji (Medicinal Grandma) who freely dispensed ayurvedic advice for health and beauty issues for countless followers.
When I joined her small fledgling “startup” she took a promise from me to abide by her exacting standards of ethics and ayurveda.
Sandook is thus my attempt to bring to the modern consumers the miracle of ayurveda with a tinge of my grandma's love. When you sample the timeless formulations that brought us together, I hope you are reminded of your grandma's warmth and love.
