I have been making a home remedy for allergic and persistent coughs based on basic principles of Ayurveda since I was in school. Over the years I calibrated and balanced it, using spices and other ingredients found commonly at home. I now turn it into these lozenges for Om, who likes the sweetness alongside the slight heat and finds it easy to have.
But there is a find story associated with it…
This was when I had just started college. Uncle was Baba’s good friend and colleague. Having been a chain smoker for long years, a persistent cough plagued him and stuck to him even beyond his smoking years! Baba, one day, told him about a concoction that I make at home for family that was very effectively on persistent coughs and throat irritation. Uncle took it so seriously, that he insisted on coming home and taking it from my hands. I was surprised. It was just a home remedy!
I did make a batch, bottled some and gave him a spoonful with my hands. Uncle sat and chatted for a while and went back home with the bottle. Lo and behold! He called Baba a few weeks later to say that his cough was troubling him much less.
He used to come home regularly and take bottles of the concoction from me, always making it a point to come and collect it himself. This continued till he fell very ill a year and a half later, became bed ridden, and passed away shortly after that. Apparently, when Baba went to meet him the last time, he kept reminiscing about my throat remedy saying how I had given him some comfort when so many doctors and others couldn’t.
Uncle was one of those people in Didi and my life who were like a family elder, and loved us like his own daughter. I am sure what gave him comfort was his fondness for me, his trust in me and the ritual of coming home to take it from my hands. Otherwise, I am no trained Ayurvedic practitioner!
