He cuts me off and ushers me to sit in the dirt next to him. He grabs my wrist and seems to be checking my pulse. He pulls my eyes down and tuts. In his broken English he tells me I have ‘poor pulse, low blood’. This is nothing new as the doctor told me only a week prior that I had low blood pressure. Brent rolls his eyes in skepticism “anyone can tell you that”.
The doctor grabs is knees and says “ouch, sore knees, especially…” and points to my right knee. This is quite interesting as I have been having knee problems since we did the
“Hmmm no food. No eating today, empty stomach” the doctor insists. He is right I have not eaten today.
“Of course he knows you haven’t eaten, he saw you holding your guts” Brent retorts.
“Bad sleeping” Medicine man continues. This is true as I am a little unsettled by the little creatures that commonly known as cockroaches that come to visit us every night and our new room has no fly net.
“Of course he knows your not sleeping well. All tourists sleep bad in a new environment” Brent claims.
“Sore tummy” Medicine man finishes. Yup, I call it Delhi Belly. Brent rolls his eyes and huffs.
Medicine man mixes together a concoction of herbs. I recognize coconut, ginger and turmeric but the others are unfamiliar. He tells me to take half a teaspoon with honey twice a day and wraps the herbs in newspaper. He writes the cost on a small piece of paper and Brent chokes. It costs more than our entire accommodation. Brent offers him some money and tells him it’s all we have and the man accepts.
Brent is completely skeptical about the whole ordeal and he complains for several hours. I on the other hand have a little more faith. Why shouldn’t nature be able to cure our complaints?
I’ll keep you posted on the Delhi Belly.
Oh my god my girl I am in hysterics cos I can just picture dorn saying those things what an absolute hoot
ReplyDeleteHi Kirtsten,
ReplyDeleteIn Bali they use turmeric to cure almost anything!! Hope it works.
Cheers,
Vicki
Several days later and I am very slowly beginning to recover but of course Brent comes down with the infamous Delhi Belly and complains that it is much worse than mine! Evidently Brents stomach issues once again warrant a trip into the village to get antibiotics. I make the assumption that you probably don't need a script to get antibiotics and confidently ask the chemist for Norflox. She hands over a large dose and not being able to resist as our days here are quickly running out I pop one into my mouth and within hours I am better. To be honest, the honey I was using for my 'alternative medicine' got covered in ants so I needed something else until I could get my hands on some more honey. I still have faith in Ayurvedic medicine but my goodness Norflox is a life saver.
ReplyDeleteThat is amazing, how did he link a sore tummy tum to delhi belly? Did he study at the same university that you are studying at in Punjab Kristen? I hope he did, you'll be the best teacher evaaaaaaaa.
ReplyDelete