Wonderful posting, Doc. I laughed and laughed. Thanks, Sunila
>From: "santoshhelekar" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subject: Re: [Goanet] Ancestral Home Remedies >Date: Tue, 23 Apr 2002 07:37:05 -0000 > >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 > _________________________________________________________________ Chat with friends online, try MSN Messenger: http://messenger.msn.com =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-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 !!
