Working 24x7, Merchant's clinics at around half a dozen places in Mumbai and Thane attract droves of patients who are weary of all other types of treatment.

Among the visitors were the late Ustad Bismillah Khan, the legendary shehnai exponent who was conferred Bharat Ratna. Khan reportedly found great relief from arthritis after Merchant's herbal treatment.

The late music director Naushad (Ali), several Bollywood actors including Asha Parekh and Manoj Bajpai, corporate bigwigs and commoners approach Merchant as 'the last resort, after everything else has failed'.

Former Lok Sabha speaker Manohar Joshi, who had heard a lot about Merchant, had invited him as a special guest in parliament in 2003.

Merchant specializes in curing hypertension, diabetes, skin ailments, asthma, tuberculosis, spondylitis, arthritis and many others.

He claims he can cure different types of cancer, for which he offers free treatment. He has also also treated over 3,000 patients for thyroid and migraine.

'I believe that just as nature creates diseases, it also provides a cure. We must understand and apply this cure in a natural manner,' he explained.

A majority of his patients come as cynics, after having failed to get a cure anywhere. But Merchant treats them as a 'challenge' at very nominal costs. Many return after a few days or weeks of treatment with relieved smiles and some even fall at his feet.

Now, the gen-next is waiting in the wings, to take the baton from Merchant.

'My daughter Kavita has been helping me since the past few years and has picked up very well. She has also qualified in naturopathy. We are also jointly writing a book on nature, leaf, herbal cures for the future generations,' Merchant noted.

He is saddened by the rampant developmental projects which are coming on 'the blood of greenery' and which is responsible for a variety of problems plaguing the city, the country and the planet. 'Let us hope that a few decades from now, there is enough greenery on our planet to sustain human life,' he said sadly.

(Quaid Najmi can be contacted at q.najmi@ians.in. Dr. Raj Merchant can be contacted at 91-98215-64168.)