Without Fear or Favour: The Principle That Guides Ayurooms

Earlier today, I drove down a road much travelled in my youth: Southwest Marine Drive.

I went to meet a good friend Saleem, an older brother, the owner of Doughgirls in Wesbrook Village at UBC.

The drive itself brought back memories, but the first thing that struck me was the cafe.

Saleem began by taking me through the kitchen. I was awestruck by the concept: artists handcrafting food. Most items freshly prepared in-house, with an emphasis on local and seasonal ingredients.

Most of the menu is vegetarian, although there are some meat and seafood options.

I loved it.

I loved the food, but I also loved the idea behind it: a neighbourhood restaurant built around freshness, seasonality, care and food that feels as though it has actually been made by human hands.

The kitchen tour came first. The meal followed.

I had an excellent artichoke-and-grilled cheese sandwich and carrot-coconut soup.

The soup reminded me of Kerala, India as everything contains coconut there.

The sandwich reminded me of home. Artichokes. It’s something we don’t get easily in India.

There was something about Doughgirls that resonated deeply with Ayurveda.

Ayurveda asks us to pay attention to how food is prepared, where it comes from, when it is eaten and whether it is suited to the season, the place, and the individual.

Doughgirls is not an Ayurveda restaurant, but its commitment to freshly prepared, local and seasonal food belongs to the same broad moral universe.

It values food as nourishment rather than merely inventory.

It values the kitchen as a place of creative culinary excellence rather than an assembly line for fast food.

And it values freshness as something more than a marketing word.

Saleem and I then spent time exchanging ideas and information from our respective spheres of work: artificial intelligence, business, the restaurant industry and Ayurooms.

It was the kind of conversation that takes place between old friends who have followed different professional paths but remain genuinely curious about what the other is building.

Saleem and I both attended St. George’s School, the all-boys private school in Vancouver. We were there in different years, but we passed through the same institution and experienced, to some extent, the same pressures and challenges.

The drive to meet him had already brought those years back to me.

One of my happiest memories was playing hockey at UBC.

I loved hockey—wherever I could play, whenever I could play and as many times a week as possible.

Hockey was the one thing that academics could not get in the way of.

Saleem played too.

And somewhere between the drive, the food, the kitchen and the exchange of ideas, I found myself thinking about the motto under which both Saleem and I had been educated:

Sine Timore Aut Favore

Without fear or favour

It was a phrase we encountered as schoolboys. I am not sure that I fully understood it then. At the time, I did not think of it much, but it stuck with me over the years.

Today, I understand the latin slogan as the obligation and ethos of Ayurooms: to speak and act truthfully. To always act in the best interest of my clients.

To always act without being governed by fear.

To always act without resorting to favouritism.

Sine Timore Aut Favore is an ideal to strive towards, not a trait that humans can totally and completely perfect.

Without Fear. Without Favour.

It is no longer merely a phrase from my school days.

It is a governing principle of Ayurooms.

It functions as an implicit oath of allegiance between Ayurooms and the patients who refer to us.

It is a special bond between Ayurooms and our clients.

Sine Timore Aut Favore is the answer.

It is my answer to a frequent question that Ayurooms is often asked:

Why should I book with Ayurooms?

Why should I not book directly with the resort?

Why should I book through a travel agent?

The answer is:

Sine Timore Aut Favore

We will tell you without fear which is the best Ayurveda resort for you.

We will tell you without favouring any resort just because they pay us a commission.

We don’t favour the commission. We favour truth: providing each client with information that is accurate, tested, verified, and discerned based on experience on the ground in Kerala and wider India.

Your best interest is our interest.

We do not fear losing any booking if we remain committed to truth.

We tell you truthfully about which resort is right for you,

We tell you which is resort appropriate for your need and your budget.

We held you select the resort that is right given your time availability, your travel dates, your goals, your mindset, and and your temperament.

That’s our promise to you:

Sine Timore Aut Favore

We look forward to serving you, without fear or favour.

Warmest regards,

Aly Alidina
Ayurooms CEO

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