Health Remedies
Photo by Hanneke Mennens
As the dry season turns wet in addition to the rains come knocking on our doors (in addition to, in my case at least, dripping through our ceilings in addition to onto our computers) the idea’s time for me to enjoy a bout of flu in addition to to create a mini-Mount Merapi of used tissues next to my sickbed. Eventually, the idea came time for me to head off to the chemists for a big bag of pharmaceutical sweeties. I then headed back home clutching around all 5 different remedies in my hand in addition to found myself reflecting on how much I had gone local, vis–à–vis my propensity for chomping on pills as I could on a bag of M&Ms.
Most Indonesians seem to need little encouragement to neck pills in addition to potions by the bucketful, in addition to not only chemists, although also supermarkets, convenience stores in addition to 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 in addition to the like.
There are also plenty of remedies out there to ease the symptoms of those Indonesian sicknesses in which don’t precisely match up with strict biological in addition to physiological categories. I’m referring here to those two stalking horses of the Apocalypse, masuk angin (enter wind) in addition to 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, by mild indigestion to haemorrhagic Ebola fever. Moreover, I’ve learnt through bitter experience in which wind is usually far more likely to exit my body than the idea is usually to enter the idea.
in addition to the idea’s not only humans in which are stricken down by these local pandemics. I was once on an InterCity bus travelling through Sumatra. The bus broke down in addition to word soon spread among the stranded passengers in 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 could have to be a product called Pil Kita (Our Pills). What these little babies do is usually a mystery although apparently the things are a panacea for the whole family.
“Dad why are you producing me take these pills? What are they for exactly?”
“They are for us my boy! They’re ours. in addition to 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 in 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 in addition to there are different potions available to tackle everything by menstruation pain in addition to acne to kidney stones in addition to impotence.
The reason in which these potions remain common however, may have as much to do with poverty in addition to desperation as the idea does with credulity. I’m sure in which most Indonesians are aware in which glasses of foul-tasting blended plant roots in addition to eggs don’t stack up particularly well against heart defibrillators, keyhole surgery, dialysis machines in addition to modern drugs, however access to the expensive machines in 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 all 5 drugs, many of which are non-essential although 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 in addition to the placebo effects of quack cures.
additional medicines here are designed for, shall we say, a more recreational use. Those little blue pills in 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 in addition to after dark, a kilometres-long line of stalls stretches up through the Kota area offering everything by Viagra to condoms. Alas however, up to 40 percent of the blue, big-producing 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 in addition to cures for sexual maladies in addition to 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, in addition to practitioners of the noble art of tummy-banana expansion at in which point abound in Jakarta. A typical session will have you choosing the shape in addition to size of your weapon of choice by a selection of wooden phalluses on display. You will then have your old chap liberally slathered in a herbal gunk. Rather you than me.
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Health Remedies
Health Remedies