Grandmother's Cures.
India is quite famous for it's rigid adherance to tradition. The trend is changing nowadays and the influx of western cultures are eroding our rich culture. Don't mistake me here,I am pro rational thinking and reforms. All I say that we don't lose our culture in the process.
Anyways, all grandmothers in our land have a magical cure for all maladies.Their pomegranate juice mixture-an age old cure for pimples is now gaining popularity.
But it's just not cures, they are very proficient at detecting maladies too. I very vividly remeber that my grandmom asked me for just one symptom and promtly declared that I had jaundice. It took the doctor two examinations and a blod test to confirm the same.
But there is one ailment which she doesn't have an actual cure. It's that of boredom. I, very often get the feeling of being bored and am listless. The problem is not mine alone. It's quite synonymous with my entire generation. We do not have the zest for life. We allow life to trickle by us, not realizing that it is acually a torrent flowing by.
Its amazing how my grandmom, at the young age of 80, never experiences this. Even now, she enjoys cooking. This despite, that she has a steel rod in her thigh (she fractured her leg 18 years ago) and I can see it quite painful for her to walk. Also speaking of boredom and monotonocity, she has been cooking from the age of 14. Thats 66 years. No boredom. Not a sign of it. Quite amazing.
Her enthusiasm in life is quite remarkable. Even now, she voluteers to make food artciles for her children. There is this thing that we make down in South India. It's something that you could make in the summer and you can fry and eat it all year long. The preparation is quite cumbersome. I love it but my mom refuses to make it. My grandmom makes it not only for herself, which is so much. it suffices for atleast 6 people. Then she makes it for her daughters, her grand daughters and even other relatives! This goes for pickles too, another pain in the backside. So often I get in the morning and I am listless, feel like just idling my time away in bed. She, on the other hand, storms out of bed and goes about her day as if it's her last.
What is it that makes us so different from our earlier generations? Why the indifferent attitude? Possibly the plethora of gizmos at our beck and call to address our every need. Whatever it is, they are ruining our mental makeup. There are many things cultures have that we should imbibe and not let modernization make us throw away. One thing is this.
Paati (in Tamil-my mothertongue- for grandmother), help!!!!
Anyways, all grandmothers in our land have a magical cure for all maladies.Their pomegranate juice mixture-an age old cure for pimples is now gaining popularity.
But it's just not cures, they are very proficient at detecting maladies too. I very vividly remeber that my grandmom asked me for just one symptom and promtly declared that I had jaundice. It took the doctor two examinations and a blod test to confirm the same.
But there is one ailment which she doesn't have an actual cure. It's that of boredom. I, very often get the feeling of being bored and am listless. The problem is not mine alone. It's quite synonymous with my entire generation. We do not have the zest for life. We allow life to trickle by us, not realizing that it is acually a torrent flowing by.
Its amazing how my grandmom, at the young age of 80, never experiences this. Even now, she enjoys cooking. This despite, that she has a steel rod in her thigh (she fractured her leg 18 years ago) and I can see it quite painful for her to walk. Also speaking of boredom and monotonocity, she has been cooking from the age of 14. Thats 66 years. No boredom. Not a sign of it. Quite amazing.
Her enthusiasm in life is quite remarkable. Even now, she voluteers to make food artciles for her children. There is this thing that we make down in South India. It's something that you could make in the summer and you can fry and eat it all year long. The preparation is quite cumbersome. I love it but my mom refuses to make it. My grandmom makes it not only for herself, which is so much. it suffices for atleast 6 people. Then she makes it for her daughters, her grand daughters and even other relatives! This goes for pickles too, another pain in the backside. So often I get in the morning and I am listless, feel like just idling my time away in bed. She, on the other hand, storms out of bed and goes about her day as if it's her last.
What is it that makes us so different from our earlier generations? Why the indifferent attitude? Possibly the plethora of gizmos at our beck and call to address our every need. Whatever it is, they are ruining our mental makeup. There are many things cultures have that we should imbibe and not let modernization make us throw away. One thing is this.
Paati (in Tamil-my mothertongue- for grandmother), help!!!!
posted by Sunil Natraj at 5/20/2005 07:08:00 AM
2 Comments:
Culture is very important, and what makes each country city or state great. It is dying a most horrible death though. As for the question of boredom. We have been bombarded with images of exciting lives and when we see ours were a little let down I think. She has so much energy and that is good. She loves her life and thats why she's up and goin all the time. Its good you admire these traits as they are good ones to have. An Old Wives cure is what we call them here but there more insane. Like dropping a big rock on your foot for a toothache.
I think that the convenience and speed of the electronic age is ruining us. Everything is so fast, so convenient that we expect everything else to be the same way. We don't have the time to take a hoe and turn the earth by hand, so we get a tiller. We don't have time to use a small tiller, so we get a tractor and disc the earth from the comfort of an air conditioned cab.
It has taken much out of our culture... the patience, the work ethic, it has left us lazy and restless. But, unless we launch a revolution to destroy ALL electronics, we are powerless. All we can do is watch... and blog.
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