Anjarai petti and our Ancestral ways

As soon as the monthly grocery comes home, pati or amma would carefully sort and fill this box with the necessary spices. This box will have mustard, jeera, fenugreek seeds, broken urad dal, chana dal, pepper, coriander seeds,red chillies,turmeric powder, dry ginger.

These are the most used ones in the  kitchen everyday. If the spices mix up, pati would very carefully and patiently sort them all again!

Whenever someone complains of any day to day health issues, amma or pati would give the remedy immediately!

Cold - have pepper kashayam
Headache - coriander seeds coffee or ginger tea
Stomach upset/indigestion - jeera water
Gas trouble - hot water
Stomach pain - hot water with ghee and sugar
Cough - kids dry cough- apply mustard oil on a betel leaf on the chest n ribs
Wet cough with phlegm-milk with turmeric powder and pepper
Apply coconut oil and camphor on a betel leaf on to the chest and ribs.
Body heat - fenugreek seeds in buttermilk
Deworming - Neem leaves boiled in water

Any common ailment, the solution is in the kitchen! Nobody would run to the doctor and get the prescription!It would be first this medicine and only if the problem persists, would they goto a doctor.
Most of the times, the issue would be solved!

But, today we don't have enough knowledge as there is no documentation and we don't use it with confidence. That's why our turmeric is patented by someone and they sell yellow gold latte which is our own turmeric milk! We are so magnanimous and quiet so that people from somewhere own our methods and traditions. Our way of praying to Lord Ganesha by thoppukaranam is super brain yoga, our Ekadasi fasting,our neem sticks which we have lost to the toothpaste is being used by the west, our yoga is being celebrated everywhere! The turmeric powder we use in every item we make kills many invisible germs and the vegetables boiled in tamarind water retain their nutrients! The vegetables used to have only salt and pepper as seasoning.

Since we do not do anything told by our ancestors without reason, they linked everything to God!
Under the name of God, they believed that younger generation will not derail from the customs. Like, applying vibuti or thiruman on the forehead after bath. This is to suck the water from going inside our body and prevent a head cold or cold.
The others like, sit down and eat because digestion will be easier and on a banana leaf increases longevity because the leaf has more chlorophyll.
The order of items served also has it's own meaning, first the proteins like dal, sambar and then rasam and finally buttermilk. Our ancestors never had any processed foods, however tasty they were. They refrained from eating outside food even during travel.
They ate with fingers because we will feel the food and can enjoy it more! They also worked in the Sun! Now we prevent our kids even from playing in the Sun and we walk and exercise in the gym and for drinking, we give them D Vitamin processed milk!!

Our ignorance is utilized and we fall prey to it. Health mixes, bottled juices however fresh they maybe is not worth it! It plays with the health. Indian toilets follow the best hygiene. We don't have to worry if someone wiped the seat or not and like PiKu movie says, constipation was never an ailment!

If time is placed as a major constraint, then I would place our health and other side effects on the other side of the measuring balance! Our elders have shown us a healthy way of life through their lifestyle and even if we argue why we need the refrigerator etc, my humble point would be to make use of them for the necessity and avoid the unnecessary! The choice is still ours and how wisely we make it will reflect on our next generation.