Most Indians are very impressed and or confidently satisfied when I tell them I am studying biology. When I tell them I am interested in plants and their medicinal and or general uses they are more than happy if not excited to tell me what plants they use for certain purposes. It has been fascinating hearing some of the secrets that people talk to me about pertaining to plants and their uses.
As part of my course I am going to do a case study on one plant and focus on what its many uses are, who uses it, and why etc. As of right now, I think I am going to focus on the uses of the spice turmeric. It is a commonly used spice in many Indian foods and I've been told that it's prevalence in the Indian cuisine has been scientifically linked to be one of the reasons why Parkinson's disease is much less common here than in the U.S. It is used on cuts as an antiseptic as well as to prevent scarring. If you are willing to have a jaundiced appearance for a few days, a turmeric paste when rubbed on the face is said to result in perfectly fare skin. When toasted onto a certain leaf (not sure of the kind of leaf yet...) and boiled in water. The broth will get rid of fever. It is also smeared on guests face or hands in traditional welcoming ceremonies as sign of purification or being cleansing.
These are the uses of the spice that I have discovered so far. I have much more investigating, researching and conversing to do. I have been so pleasantly surprised at how happy everyone is to tell me what they know of either turmeric or plants in general. This makes my job as a first- time ethnobotanist much easier. : )
Some other biology fun from India:
This praying mantis joined us for lunch
These giant millipedes are all over the place. I have managed to not step on any yet...
Stick bug as big as my hand was chillin on my door keeping me company
I almost died when I found out that these badlandishesque piles of dirt were anthills. I was told that snakes live near them so most people stay away from them. I didn't tell Mike that when I asked him to pose for me by it. : ) Mike is 6'11"
This my favorite animal picture. Mynea, Kee, Sarah and I were exploring downtown Mysore and we ran into my ridiculously out of place friend here...
Mysore is a bustling city, tons of traffic, shops vendors, no grass, just like any downtown.
Oh, and after this picture was taken, while continuing to explore the city I stepped in not 1 but 2 different huge cow pies in the street. Gross. : )
3 comments:
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Lydia-
I am so excited for you to be doing this with plants. When you go to Udaipur you will learn a lot about medicinal plants, especially if you get to go to Shikshantar. Glad to hear you are doing well, and take care! P.S. it's spelled Mia Nhia not Mnea. Toodles!
That is so exciting that you can study biology during your time in India! I didn't realize that you would be doing an independent study, but that is such a brilliant idea. I bet looking at the biology of India completely widens your perspective on biology. This all sounds so exciting, glad to hear you are learning lots, we miss you here!
Linnea
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