Health Remedies
Photo by Hanneke Mennens
As the dry season turns wet as well as the rains come knocking on our doors (as well as, in my case at least, dripping through our ceilings as well as onto our computers) which’s time for me to enjoy a bout of flu as well as to create a mini-Mount Merapi of used tissues next to my sickbed. Eventually, which came time for me to head off to the chemists for a big bag of pharmaceutical sweeties. I then headed back home clutching around several different remedies in my hand as well as found myself reflecting on how much I had gone local, vis–à–vis my propensity for chomping on pills as I might on a bag of M&Ms.
Most Indonesians seem to need little encouragement to neck pills as well as potions by the bucketful, as well as not only chemists, nevertheless also supermarkets, convenience stores as well as even a roadside warungs are packed with tablets which are all guaranteed to cure you of common ailments such as flu, muscle pain, headaches, Batavia belly, cancer, spina bifida as well as the like.
There are also plenty of remedies out there to ease the symptoms of those Indonesian sicknesses which don’t precisely match up with strict biological as well as physiological categories. I’m referring here to those two stalking horses of the Apocalypse, masuk angin (enter wind) as well as panas dalam (hot inside). What these two ailments actually match up with in precise medical terms has always eluded me, however these two conditions between seem to cover pretty much all bases, through mild indigestion to haemorrhagic Ebola fever. Moreover, I’ve learnt through bitter experience which wind is usually far more likely to exit my body than which is usually to enter which.
as well as which’s not only humans which are stricken down by these local pandemics. I was once on an InterCity bus travelling through Sumatra. The bus broke down as well as word soon spread among the stranded passengers which the engine had suffered a fatal attack of masuk angin.
Indonesian television is usually full of advertisements for pills of course, my favourite of which might have to be a product called Pil Kita (Our Pills). What these little babies do is usually a mystery nevertheless apparently the things are a panacea for the whole family.
“Dad why are you doing me take these pills? What are they for exactly?”
“They are for us my boy! They’re ours. as well as let’s have a little less backchat shall we?”
Traditional Indonesian remedies are, of course, dominated by jamu, which are those not very pleasant blends of herbs which are sold in roadside stalls or by those ladies who pound the streets with baskets of bottles on their backs. Jamu is usually a multi-million dollar industry as well as there are different potions available to tackle everything through menstruation pain as well as acne to kidney stones as well as impotence.
The reason which these potions remain well-liked however, may have as much to do with poverty as well as desperation as which does with credulity. I’m sure which most Indonesians are aware which glasses of foul-tasting blended plant roots as well as eggs don’t stack up particularly well against heart defibrillators, keyhole surgery, dialysis machines as well as modern drugs, however access to the expensive machines which go, “Ping” is usually so often beyond people’s financial means here.
Moreover, Indonesian doctors will often prescribe expensive, imported medicines when locally-made generic drugs are available. Doctors will also engage in what is usually known as polypharmacy, i.e. prescribing a list of four or several drugs, many of which are non-essential nevertheless expensive (if you’re poor) items such as vitamins pills. Thus ailing Indonesians with barely a few rupiah to rub together are forced to take up with illusory quick fixes as well as the placebo effects of quack cures.
different medicines here are designed for, shall we say, a more recreational use. Those little blue pills which can make a man’s purple battering ram as hard as a diamond in an ice storm can be found on sale all over town as well as after dark, a kilometres-long line of stalls stretches up through the Kota area offering everything through Viagra to condoms. Alas however, up to 40 percent of the blue, big-doing trapezoids on sale in Jakarta are apparently fake.
Never mind though, you can always avail yourself of the services offered by the various clinics bearing the infamous name of Mak Erot, which are guaranteed to set Indonesian schoolchildren giggling. Mak Erot “clinics” deal in penis enlargements as well as cures for sexual maladies as well as employ the power of Muslim prayer as well as a cocktail of 141 different herbs.
As the original Mak Erot’s reputation grew, so did the virility business, as well as practitioners of the noble art of tummy-banana expansion at which point abound in Jakarta. A typical session will have you choosing the shape as well as size of your weapon of choice through a selection of wooden phalluses on display. You will then have your old chap liberally slathered in a herbal gunk. Rather you than me.
Comments
Health Remedies
Health Remedies