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This is about my kidlife between 1945 and 1955 in our seaside Village, Muthukur, before the advent of vaccines, analgesics, antipyretics, antihystamines, antibiotics, antipathies and sympathies.
Fevers: There was this insidious thing called the clinical thermometer inserted under the tongue or armpit or inside unspeakables. The moment it showed even just one degree Fahrenheit above normal, I was happy that I don't have to go to school. But the catch is that I was also taken off any solid diet...no rice, no curry, no sambar, no nothing...pure and simple starvation. It is a case of trade-off between two evils, school and starvation. After two days, you press the bulb of the thermometer hard so that it registers fever before school time and try to take it in and off in one second before it registers any reading at all before lunchtime. It never works the way you want to.
Headaches: I never had any...totally unaware of any head at all.
Bowels: It is in one of two states: constipation and loose. For constipation, castor oil is administered. The very smell and taste of it cures the symptom. For the other problem, a derivative of opium is ingested in mild doses in infancy. The side-effect is more welcome than the main. As you grow up, bismuth replaces opium...who asked you to grow up?
Colds: These also come in two opposites: nose block and running nose. For nose block, you hunt outside your backyard jungle for the tender stem of that weed which, when picked oozes a milky fluid. Insert this inside the nose and you start sneezing immediately. For running nose a hanky is tied to your lapel (if you have one). And if it doesn't subside, water is boiled in a vessel on mom's chulha, the lid is quickly taken out and a drop eucalyptus oil (nilgiri extract) is dumped in the boiling water, and your head is pushed just above the fumes generated, and both you and the chulha are covered with a blanket. Till you scream that your face is burning wet with the steam treatment. If Nilgiri extract is not available, a pinch of turmeric (haldi) will do. Only your face takes on a pale yellow color like the Chinese.
Coughs: If it is a whooping cough that makes you whoop and whoop and whoop, you are asked to stay back from school which you miss badly because it takes a good fortnight to recover, by when you will be as thin as a reed with all ribs exposed. The only remedy is to make a garland of the unripe green fruit of a tree called kanuga and wear it around your neck like a necklace. If it is not a whooping cough, you ignore it.
Eyes: One fine morning you wake up and want to see the world around you, but you can't, because the eyelids get stuck with each other and refuse to open. And your father brings a cold water jug and a piece of cloth and moistens your eyelids. If it repeats over days, the only cure is to put some drops of breast milk in the eyes hoping for the best. Breast milk is always available either in-house or from neighbors this side or that and it is brought in a special device that is otherwise used to pour honey into the mouth of infants. Don't make the mistake of putting even a drop of honey in your eyes...you will scream like hell.
Ears: Shooting pain is common because you are given baths daily (quite unnecessarily) and you run to your playground before you dry your head. Droplets of water get into the ears and germinate there. Hot mustard oil is the only remedy. Heat and mustard kill all the germs and your lust for life as well. On the other hand you may suddenly develop temporary deafness because you never had time to clean the innards of your ears...wax accumulates. In this case, hot til oil will do the trick of melting the wax somewhat.
Throat: One fine morning you find that you are unable to speak...the vocal cords are jammed up. A solution of violet potassium permanganate crystals in water that turns purple is ingested and gargled furiously till the throat gives.
Injuries: These are as common as life itself. If you don't have bleeding injuries on your elbows or knees, it means you are not playing outdoor games...which is a shame. You try to hide them but your father watches out and drags you to his medicine chest. He will then take out that horrendous bottle of Tincture of Iodine and try to pour a few drops on the raw wound. It is a matter of his power versus your agility. He wins in the end and your cries will be heard two streets away...
For all other major crises like poxes, dogbites, snakebites, typhoid, cholera and worse...just PRAY!
...Posted by Ishani
===========================================================================
This is about my kidlife between 1945 and 1955 in our seaside Village, Muthukur, before the advent of vaccines, analgesics, antipyretics, antihystamines, antibiotics, antipathies and sympathies.
Fevers: There was this insidious thing called the clinical thermometer inserted under the tongue or armpit or inside unspeakables. The moment it showed even just one degree Fahrenheit above normal, I was happy that I don't have to go to school. But the catch is that I was also taken off any solid diet...no rice, no curry, no sambar, no nothing...pure and simple starvation. It is a case of trade-off between two evils, school and starvation. After two days, you press the bulb of the thermometer hard so that it registers fever before school time and try to take it in and off in one second before it registers any reading at all before lunchtime. It never works the way you want to.
Headaches: I never had any...totally unaware of any head at all.
Bowels: It is in one of two states: constipation and loose. For constipation, castor oil is administered. The very smell and taste of it cures the symptom. For the other problem, a derivative of opium is ingested in mild doses in infancy. The side-effect is more welcome than the main. As you grow up, bismuth replaces opium...who asked you to grow up?
Colds: These also come in two opposites: nose block and running nose. For nose block, you hunt outside your backyard jungle for the tender stem of that weed which, when picked oozes a milky fluid. Insert this inside the nose and you start sneezing immediately. For running nose a hanky is tied to your lapel (if you have one). And if it doesn't subside, water is boiled in a vessel on mom's chulha, the lid is quickly taken out and a drop eucalyptus oil (nilgiri extract) is dumped in the boiling water, and your head is pushed just above the fumes generated, and both you and the chulha are covered with a blanket. Till you scream that your face is burning wet with the steam treatment. If Nilgiri extract is not available, a pinch of turmeric (haldi) will do. Only your face takes on a pale yellow color like the Chinese.
Coughs: If it is a whooping cough that makes you whoop and whoop and whoop, you are asked to stay back from school which you miss badly because it takes a good fortnight to recover, by when you will be as thin as a reed with all ribs exposed. The only remedy is to make a garland of the unripe green fruit of a tree called kanuga and wear it around your neck like a necklace. If it is not a whooping cough, you ignore it.
Eyes: One fine morning you wake up and want to see the world around you, but you can't, because the eyelids get stuck with each other and refuse to open. And your father brings a cold water jug and a piece of cloth and moistens your eyelids. If it repeats over days, the only cure is to put some drops of breast milk in the eyes hoping for the best. Breast milk is always available either in-house or from neighbors this side or that and it is brought in a special device that is otherwise used to pour honey into the mouth of infants. Don't make the mistake of putting even a drop of honey in your eyes...you will scream like hell.
Ears: Shooting pain is common because you are given baths daily (quite unnecessarily) and you run to your playground before you dry your head. Droplets of water get into the ears and germinate there. Hot mustard oil is the only remedy. Heat and mustard kill all the germs and your lust for life as well. On the other hand you may suddenly develop temporary deafness because you never had time to clean the innards of your ears...wax accumulates. In this case, hot til oil will do the trick of melting the wax somewhat.
Throat: One fine morning you find that you are unable to speak...the vocal cords are jammed up. A solution of violet potassium permanganate crystals in water that turns purple is ingested and gargled furiously till the throat gives.
Injuries: These are as common as life itself. If you don't have bleeding injuries on your elbows or knees, it means you are not playing outdoor games...which is a shame. You try to hide them but your father watches out and drags you to his medicine chest. He will then take out that horrendous bottle of Tincture of Iodine and try to pour a few drops on the raw wound. It is a matter of his power versus your agility. He wins in the end and your cries will be heard two streets away...
For all other major crises like poxes, dogbites, snakebites, typhoid, cholera and worse...just PRAY!
...Posted by Ishani
===========================================================================
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