The Utlimate Mandoline Strikes Again!

Today spawned another medical emergency. Not an emergency really, but it required a trip to a medical professional which seems to be a theme for me since I've come to India.

 

On Tuesday, while slicing vegetables using the Ultimate Mandoline, from Pampered Chef, I sliced more than my cucumber. PC describes the Ultimate Mandoline like this:  "Slice and grate perfectly when you have four interchangeable stainless blades to choose from. The food holder ensures your fingers stay away from the blade, right down to the very last slice. The crinkle cutting, v-shaped slicing or adjustable slicing blade pops up to slice food when you slide the food holder over the blade."

 

I was using the v-shaped blade, and I was NOT using the food holder. As I was slicing, and becoming mesmerized by how smoothly I was able to glide the cucumber over the blade and create perfectly uniform slices, it occurred to me that it was nearing time to pull my hand away. Before my brain could fully register such a novel thought, my finger met the blade, and....you get the idea.

 

Two days later it was still bleeding so I thought I'd better see a doctor. There, they cleaned it out and bandaged it up. They also wanted me to have a tetanus shot. Now remember, this is India. The clinic doesn't stock the tetanus booster or the syringe and a trip outside of the clinic over to the pharmacy to buy the tetanus shot plus the syringe was required. Once back, I got my injection and was on my way. The entire ordeal took just 10-15 minutes, no appointment required, and cost somewhere around $3 including medicine and administrative fees. Not too shabby.

 

And for those that want to see what amazing things the Ultimate Mandoline is capable of when once doesn't employ the food holder?

Birth and Beyond: Welcoming Your Bundle Of Joy

Now that you've spent nine months avoiding the eclipse and not crossing rivers at night, and you've welcomed your bouncing bundle of joy, what's next? Well, just as there are a lot of beliefs surrounding how to get pregnant and what to do (or not do) during your pregnancy, you can imagine there are many that come into play once your baby arrives. Here is a list to get you started from birth and beyond.

Post Delivery Confinement:  Originally introduced to keep the mother and child safe from infection and evil spirits, as well as allow time for the mother to recover from the delivery, the post delivery confinement period lasts for approximately 40 days. This also aids in protecting the child from nazar, or Evil Eye, which we'll learn more about later. Confinement may take place in the wife's parent's home or at her in-laws place. It's common for the parents of the wife to pay for the birth of the first born. Often, the woman will travel to her parent's home for the last few months of her pregnancy, and stay there through the confinement period only return home to her husbands place around the 2nd or 3rd month following birth.

Mama Massage: During confinement, new mothers are often given maalish, or a full body massage once a day. Believed to help with circulation and of course, relaxation.

Baby Massage: Baby massage, either given by the mother, grandmother, or dai is also very common. Normally, the child will have a bath once a day, followed by a massage with oil, a head to toe covering of baby powder, then application of the nazar battu, which is the intentional blemishes drawn on to ward off Evil Eye.  Unfortunately, even if a trained dai, or nursemaid, is employed for the massage, many times due to too rigorous of a massage, this practice leads to dislocation of the joints and a trip for the new-born to the hospital.

Food: As we learned in Food Myths and Mysteries, there are many beliefs surrounding food in India. For the new mom, here are a few guidelines:

• Gourds such as lauki and tori are believed to increase your supply of milk.
• Paan (betel leaves) after every meal is thought to help with digestion.
• Increased intake of ghee (clarified butter) is believed to help regain strength and aid muscle repair.
• Fruits, fizzy drinks and juices are believed to be cooling.
• Green and red chillies might be difficult to digest so you might be told to replace them with black pepper for some spice.
• Foods believed to produce gas for your baby through your milk will be discouraged. Some examples include onions and jackfruit.
•  Garlic may be consumed in large quantities as it's believed to aid in the contraction of the uterus.

Evil Eye: It is believed that new-borns are highly susceptible to nazar or 'Evil Eye.' To protect the new-born from Evil Eye, there are many practices that can be used:

• If your child has an evil eye cast upon him/her, wave some salt over her/his head and toss it into the fire or water.
• Another common widely followed way is to wave red whole chillies over the affected child and throwing them in the fire. People are usually heard of saying that if the smoke smells of chillies, then the child was not affected by an evil eye or buri nazar. But, if the smoke does not smell of chillies, it is said that the child was indeed troubled by the evil eye and it has been warded off.
• Babies are usually adorned with kajal (kohl) under their eyes or on their foreheads. There is a common belief that this actually mars their beauty and makes them look unappealing to those casting an Evil Eye.  It's also common to see them with drawn on eyebrows.
• A small pocket knife, an iron piece or religious charms are kept by the baby’s side to protect him/her.
• Bits of pottery from a burial ground, tooth of a crocodile or a tiger’s claw at one’s homes are popular charms said to ward off the Evil Eye.
• Small mirrors are also sewn or braided together and are said to reflect back bad energy.
• The child may also be adorned with an amulet such as a taviz. Taviz is generally in the form of a black string and can be tied around the neck, wrist, or ankle, and less commonly, the upper arm (between the shoulder and the elbow).
• Families will also sometimes dress their little boys up as little girls when taking them out, so as to curb the likelihood of someone feeling jealous over the birth of a boy and hence cast an Evil Eye on the child.

Jewellery: Seeing babies wearing jewellery is quite common. Apart from the taviz, seeing small children with anklets, bangles, and earrings is a normal site. Many Hindus will have an ear piercing ceremony for their child, regardless of gender, on their first birthday. These can be as offerings to the Gods, or to keep away evil spirits, or to welcome the good spirits that will watch over the child, offering health, happiness and prosperity.

Birth Defects: Using the term "defect" might be a bit harsh here, but I'm talking about small abnormalities that could be easily corrected with surgery. Many of these things are believed to be auspicious. Those include, skin tags, extra fingers or toes, or, God forbid, tails. It seems these things are good luck and will ensure your health and prosperity.
I remember watching an episode of Ripley's Believe It Or Not several years ago and there was as story of an Indian child that was born with a tail, who, rather than having it corrected, was worshipped for it.

I'll admit it, I'm not a fan of many of the customs and feel that a lot of them stem from outdated superstitions. I also worry that some of them might cause harm to the child, such as the fear of post-natal check-ups due to worry over the Evil Eye, massages resulting in dislocation of the joints, blindness caused by a bacteria infested kohl pencil, or the risk of the child getting a taviz which is tied around their wrist, ankle, or neck caught on something and choking.

 

What do you think about these customs? Any you'd like to add or learn more about? Feel free to leave a note in the comments.

Multi-Specialty? Are you sure?

I packed a lot of things when I moved to India; dishes, clothing, makeup, my fabulous Party Lite collection. One thing I surely forgot to pack, was my immune system. I've said it many times, but I have been sick more often since coming to India less than 2 years ago, then I think I have been sick in my 34 years on this planet. Part of me thinks it might be coincidence, but a big part of me blames the Indian diet, to which I subscribe and the complete lack of any nutritional content in 99% of what we eat.

With that, I'll take you through yesterday's events. While at office on Monday I started getting severe abdominal pain. It hurt to sit. It hurt to stand. As the night went on, it only seemed to be getting worse. By the time I got home, around 7 am, I was pretty miserable. I hit up my good friend over at MarocMama, described the symptoms and we diagnosed it as a bladder infection. She recommended I try cranberry juice for a day or so to see if it gave me any relief, so as soon as the grocery store opened, I went and bought three big boxes (yes boxes) of cranberry juice. As soon as I got home, I cracked one open, and start chugging, as well as reading the nutritional content on the side of one of the other boxes. On the side of my Real Fruit Power branded juice, the ingredients are listed as follows: Water, Sugar, Cranberry Juice Concentrate (2%), Acidity Regulator and Antioxidant. Okay, so 2% is probably not gonna do the trick. Time to visit the doctor.

Here, pretty much any doctor visit is handled like Urgent Care in the US. You walk into the local hospital and some or the other doctor will check you out. If they can't solve your problem, they'll tell you when someone will be there that can. The General Practitioner was scheduled to arrive around 10:30 and we were the fourth in line. The GP that was there was one I had seen before. I was happy to see her, as she's one of the more personable doctors I've met here. That was until she saw me and said "I feel you're getting fat. Last time I saw you, you were like ::she holds up her pinky finger:: But I feel you're getting fat." Now, you should know, this woman has never put me on a scale in my multiple visits to her. Getting weighed isn't a common practice each and every time you go to the doctor, and for the record, no, I haven't gained weight. Moving on....

I describe my symptoms, she agrees with the theory that it's a UTI, asks me to have a urine sample taken, and writes me a prescription for five different things (no joke - 5). She also recommends I have a beer, which just made me giggle. She said it's an easy form of dialysis. Go figure. She also adds, as she looks at my husband, that we shouldn't have "relations" until everything's cleared up. That just makes me giggle more.

We then learn that although we're at a multi-specialty hospital, we still need to go to an independent lab for the urine sample. As in, we can't have it done at the hospital. So I figure on our way out, we'll stop at the hospital pharmacy, and get the 'scripts, and then head over to the lab. Not so fast. Can't get the 'scripts at the hospital pharmacy. You have to go to a local pharmacy.

As we're leaving, we see outside the hospital window, that the dog catchers are out terrorizing the neighborhood. They're worse than all the stray dogs combined. As we're watching, one of the the dogs runs into the hospital and down a corridor, where an orderly promptly closes the hallway door to protect the dog, while complete hungama (that means chaos) erupts in the waiting room. It would seem the hospital is also a safe haven for the dogs. I'm down with that. After a few minutes, the dog catchers (whom I've never seen actually catch a dog) leave and the orderly lets the dog out, and we also head out.

We stop at the first pharmacy we see, on our busy main road. They have four of the five prescriptions so we take them, and split up, me going to the lab, and my husband going to another pharmacy to get the last of the 'scripts. Upon arriving at the lab and handing over the note from the doctor, I'm handed an itty bitty cup and told to provide a sample. I kind of stood there looking around, waiting for him to direct me to the washroom. When he didn't and I asked him, I was told the lab doesn't have a washroom. I have to go home, fill the cup, and deliver it back to the lab. Okay, so we're like 0 for 4 at this point. We can't have lab work done at the hospital, nor can we fill the prescriptions, the first pharmacy doesn't have everything the doctor ordered, and I can't pee in a cup in the lab.

So I take my cup, and start walking home. Let me tell you the LAST thing you want to be doing when you have a UTI. Yep, that would be walking. So I get home, do the deed, and head back on foot to the lab to deliver the sample. I'm told to come back on Friday for the results. Mind you this is Tuesday. Not sure if that's a normal time span for something like this, but it makes me wonder if the lab even has a lab or if they'll also be trotting around town with my deposit. Not to mention, I'll have completed the prescriptions by the time the lab results come back.

On the upside, just 24 hours after taking the first of the meds, I feel exponentially better. So that's good news, but what it took to get there is a bit to boggle the mind.