Jaggery or Gur

I have been reluctant to write down the “stories” of my life because frankly, I think they would be boring to anyone else who reads them. My friend Daphne has consistently encouraged me to write about my life and I continue to resist. I continue to say, “nope...my life is boring.” Daphne herself is an excellent writer so I will take her advice and start with this one single story.

A friend of mine wrote to me recently asking questions about a rather miraculous “treatment” I had undergone when we were both in India back in 1996. A friend of hers is dealing with terrible back pain and she thought of my situation where I went from being unable to walk to no pain and walking the next day. She was wondering if I could recall the “treatment” I underwent all those years ago. It’s a pretty unusual story so here it goes.

To tell the story right, I have to give a little bit of background on how I, a 25-year-old from Oregon got myself to India. I have never been one to shy away from a new experience. I have always looked at them as adventures. I probably got it from my parents who, while seemingly very conservative in their life, took amazing risks while we were growing up, one being moving us to Papua New Guinea.

Fortunately, my parents exposed us to other cultures and races so when I was an adult and took a job as a flight attendant for a charter airline, I wasn’t too scared to leave the United States and get out there and see more of the world.

Now keep in mind, I was a blonde-haired, blue-eyed, white kid, originally from the mountains of Oregon. I had transplanted to the east coast with two airlines before this one. (which is another story completely, for another time). My naiveté, while admitted, was awkwardly grasped at and challenged when I would witness the world around me.

So, after attending a short 10-day training course on the Boeing 747, I was off to India to work as sub-contract aircraft and crew for Air India during the Islamic Pilgrimage to Mecca.  Commonly known as the Hajj, which has many, many other stories for another time.

It was 48 hours after our departure from Detroit International Airport via Anchorage to Hong Kong then on to Bangkok and finally arriving in an old terminal at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi, India. I remember walking outside the terminal and drawing a breath of hot dusty air. With my eyes stinging in the brightness and my nose twitching from the unfamiliar smells. After our leaders made sure us little chicklings were through customs and immigration,  we made our way to the Centaur Hotel, our home for the next several months.

It was alI palm trees and exotic flowers surrounding the roundabout driveway into the hotel. It was an old 50’s style awning extending from the two front doors and inside it was wide open with ample seating and a very small front desk. I remember looking out through large looking glass windows at the pool and thinking....”is that a cow in the pool?” yup…no pool for me. Not once while we were there. Not necessarily because the cow was in the pool but once after a sandstorm, I remember seeing the Cobra’s fighting that had crawled out of the rock wall surrounding the pool. Nope, nope, nope. No pool for me.

We had all checked in and were hungry so we made our way down to the “Café” in the lobby. The staff was so courteous and nice and we were so tired and hungry. I remember sitting down and looking at the menu and thinking…. I don’t care what they have, I’ll eat it. (This is going back 24 years or so but I seem to recall they had the most fantastic grilled cheese, anyway…I digress.)

After two days of adjusting to the time change and the culture shock, I woke up with a swollen ankle and pain the likes I had not known before. Let me be clear. When I say swollen ankle, I mean the ankle was the size of a large softball. It was not spongy but was tight and painful to the touch.

At first, I thought, what the hell did I do to myself? Then I got scared and thought, “Crap, did something bite me in the night?” I mean, I was in India, in a hotel room that was probably 40 years old with cracks in the walls and ceiling from multiple earthquakes over the years. While the air conditioner worked, it did have sort of a death rattle to it. It was a state-run hotel so I didn’t expect a 5-star status but with my ankle, I began to wonder, what had gotten in my room?

 I looked for bite marks. No…nothing there. Then I tried to stand up. I actually screamed with the pain, lifted my ankle up and fell against the wall. I could NOT believe how much this hurt. I had literally not done anything that could be construed as strenuous the day prior and had no idea what was going on.

 I hopped my way to the elevator and hopped to the open café, where the assistant flight service manager Ron, helped me to a table and asked me what happened? I explained to him I had no idea. At the same time the restaurant manager, I forget his name, came over to take my order. (I of course ordered that fabulous grilled cheese.) He took my order and glanced at my foot, and asked me what happened.  I stated I had no idea; I just woke up that way.

 He walked away and my concern turned to the airline manager sitting next to me. Ron was kind and very fun to be around, but he was also a manager of a company that had hired us, on a contractual basis to actually be able to work, not be out sick. I was worried that they would say, “Well, you can’t fly, so we need to send you back to the U.S.” Terrified actually. I had packed up my entire life to spend the next 6 months in India so going home was not really an option.

The restaurant manager returned with my order and he said to me, “You have pain?” I answered, “Oh yes.” He then said to myself and Ron,” I will come to your room with an old Indian remedy. It will fix your pain. Ok?” A thousand thoughts ran through my mind about how bad of an idea this could be as I did not know this man, along with, I had just arrived in a foreign country 48hrs ago, but my need to keep the job won out. “That would be great!” I replied.

We agreed on a time and my manager Ron looked at me and said,” Would you like me to come be with you?” I grabbed his hand and closed my eyes, with a sigh of relief I said, “Thank you, yes please.” Ron laughed as he realized he and I were thinking the same thing. Just being cautious.

So, at the pre-determined time, there was a knock on my hotel room door, which Ron answered, and in walked the Restaurant manager with a towel-covered wooden bowl. I was on the bed with my foot elevated on a pillow. He looked at me and made a kind of exasperated “tsk, tsk” sound and then set the bowl down on the dresser and pulled out a package of what looked like gauze. He uncovered the bowl and it was filled with what looked like a brown ball of mud. The room suddenly had a smell that I couldn’t quite identify but was heady and nice. The restaurant manager took the bowl and walked over to me and said, “This is an Ayurvedic remedy. Ayurveda is very old Indian treatment. It has been around for a very long time.” I was a bit frightened but totally intrigued. He sat down next to me and began scooping out handfuls of the brown goo and gently placing it on my ankle. It was warm and felt very soothing. It looked granular with tiny flecks of yellow in it. I asked him what it was and he replied.” This is a mixture of turmeric and jaggery or gur.” Both Ron and I nodded as if we understood even though, I believe, neither of us had any clue what Jaggery or Gur was. I knew what Turmeric was and had already decided I hated it, having had curry in the U.S. to prepare myself for India. I did NOT like it at all. But the warmth was soothing and I would do anything to kill the pain at that point.

After he had packed the entire glob of brown mud on my ankle, he took the gauzy bit and started to wrap it around my ankle. At the end, he tore the gauze into a split and wrapped them around my ankle and tied it together. I asked what the stuff was and he said, “it is cotton.” I had no idea what cotton looked like before it was processed into cloth so was kind of amazed. Ron said, “so this is a poultice?” and the restaurant manager replied, “yes. Go to sleep and in the morning, you will have no pain.” 

We thanked him for his help and he left. Ron looked at me and asked if I was ok. I said I was and he left. Now, what to do. It was something like 7 o’clock in the evening. I hadn’t gone to bed at 7pm since I was 5 or 6 years old so I turned on the ancient television and watched Bollywood movies until I fell asleep.

The next morning, I woke up and looked down at my foot. It was still swollen as hell and I thought,” this is not gonna be good.” I had turned over in my sleep and the skin around my ankle was stained yellow. I sat up in bed and realized there was NO pain. I quickly undid what was left of the cotton bandage and gently removed the hardened lump of turmeric and jaggery from my ankle. It was all bright yellow and still very swollen. I very gingerly swung my legs off the bed and put both feet on the floor. No pain. I began to stand up. I could feel the tightness of my action on the ankle but there was no pain. I took a few cautious steps…..no pain. I was ecstatic, elated, relieved, and mystified.

I quickly showered, and no, the yellow did not come off as I was hoping, dressed, and went downstairs. Ron was sitting with the Manager of Flight Attendants at a table in the café. He saw me and his jaw dropped open. I walked over to them and he said, “I guess it worked!” I turned on my swollen ankle and said, “It worked.”

Then I saw the restaurant manager and I walked over to him. He shook my hand with a big smile as I thanked him. I tried to offer him money as a “thank you” tip, but he emphatically refused. He put his hand on my shoulder and said, “Your wellness is thanks enough.”

It wouldn’t be until years later that I would find out that at age 25 I had my first Gout Attack. I have thought about that moment and the treatment I received many times over the years. What were the proportions? Was there ANYTHING else in there beside Turmeric and Jaggery? I’ll never know but if you run across a poultice recipe for pain that includes Turmeric and Jaggery or Gur…..use it. It WILL relieve your pain.