Sunila wrote: > >Boil water with a handful of coriander and cummin (jeera) seeds. >Strain and cool down. > >No time to write the book, but if anybody is really interested in >doing so, Good Luck. >
Paddy wrote: > >I am curious if anyone has similar or other experiences and if there >is any ascribable reason for their relief. Santosh usually offers >valuable insight on such matters :-) > I was thoroughly amused by Paddy's reminiscences of a breach boy stomping on somebody's aching back. It certainly beats mine of a 6 year-old being chased around the house by a tyrannical (in a loving sort of way) grandmother with a can of "hingachem aajuth" in her thick firm hands. That is one instance of childhood trauma that I must admit I love to reminisce with great fondness. I would like to extend Paddy's and Sunila's wonderful lists of home remedies with the following nostrums from my late grandmother's IRCP (Independent Republic of Chimbel Pharmacopeia). Besides the monthly pure Shankarchhaap hingachem aajuth (Shankar brand asafoetida warm water enema), there was the weekly (every Sunday morning) kiraitiachem kodu vokhoth (medicated bitter water drained from boiled kiraitem leaves). These were supposed to flush the alimentary canal clean at both its unruly ends. But there were times when even these well-guarded ends did not justify the meals. For such occasions my grandma had the aalem-limbacho ros (ground ginger in lime juice with added salt). I now use this concoction as an appetizer, because if you ever need an excuse to eat something, believe me a taste of this juice in your mouth provides you one. For headaches, there was the soonth kaadop (paste of dried ginger smeared on the forehead). As it turns out, I have formed a Pavlovian association between the smell of soonth and my grandmother's face. She would have this stuff plastered on her forehead almost every evening, a small wonder after having spent the day haggling over the catch of the day with itinerant fisherwomen. There were of course the ubiquitous hot compresses and laying of cold hands, along with the mini-exorcisms (disht kaadop - some dried red chillies and salt drawn around the head and body, and then thrown away). And then there was the ganjanacho kasai (lemon grass tea). This one I liked. But it was reserved for the common cold with cough. I will end this post by mentioning one whose appeal to common intuition I have never been able to figure out. I think it was used when I was really sick and bedridden. It involved tying a few cloves of garlic in a knot around my belly. This, coupled with the no-bath- when-sick policy imposed on me, meant I stank of garlic for quite a while afterwards. I always had the nagging suspicion that this was meant to ground me for a few days. My grandparents couldn't bear to see me play. Thinking about these ancestral home remedies as a grown man with some education and with some ability to reason, I would have to conclude that these wonderful treatments are more of nostalgic than therapeutic value, unless of course you are of the type for whom nostalgia is panacea. It would be such a pleasure to read a compilation of Goan folk remedies. Cheers, Santosh =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-W-E-B---S-I-T-E-=-=-= To Subscribe/Unsubscribe from GoaNet | http://www.goacom.com/goanet =================================================================== For (un)subscribing or for help, Contact: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Dont want so many e=mails? Join GoaNet-Digest instead ! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Help support non-commercial projects in Goa by advertizing!! * * * * Your ad here !!
