An ongoing "Culture Shock"!

When we are born and brought up in one country and are made/choose to live in another-especially very much away, in another continent-“culture shock” occurs-well, kind of…. At least that’s what I read somewhere recently. Now, after two years, I can say that yes that “shock” did occur to me, - though I didn’t know what it was called in the initial days-in understanding the language, the ways and gestures and phrases, and in the ever going attempt to fit into the new community.

But we can’t really blame ourselves if we try to find “Indian-ism” or “non-Indian-ism” in each and every thing we find around us. Be it good or bad. We tend to compare it with the Indian counter-part we are familiar with. Every sentence tends to start with “In India…” or “Imagine, if this happened in India...” but as I said, we can’t be blamed; it’s the result of culture shock.

Like this…At first my jaw dropped, when County Councils put plants with flowers in full-bloom on every roundabout overnight, every spring/summer. And naturally I started thinking “If this happened in India…”.

At the first streak of sunlight, when people here welcome sun in almost-beach-costumes, I think “In India, where we have sun thru out the year, if people walked like this!”.

In summer when roses in red, yellow and cream and pink were in full bloom in almost every sidewalk, I wondered, why people didn’t even try to pluck one. I badly wanted to, but felt as the odd one trying that and calmed myself by sniffing them again and again. May be that “plucking” instinct was part of my Indian-ism!

I reminded myself again and again to say “please”, “thank you”, “sorry” and “excuse me” several times a day. Sometimes I even said “excuse me” five minutes after sneezing – but still, I was trying!

I wondered why the roads were so quiet, even at peak traffic. Then I realized, people never honk, here! They really CAN wait in the traffic for hours, without honking! I also realized that sometimes instead, they showed fingers! In India, we just yelled at each other!

Ireland just had its General election last month. It elected its new Taoiseach (pronounced as T-saak, I think!) aka Prime minister. And guess what, the polling percentage was much much less. Common people seemed least bothered about politicians and elections. They looked as if they were really tired of them! And the excitement of election and new government was seen only in newspaper headlines and TV news!

Having been in India for 27 yrs, I really expected a democratic election to be shaking the country to its roots with banners and marches and everything. Nope... nothing… nothing at all, when compared to the “election-quakes” in India!! There were small square boards on electric poles, and that too were removed just 2-3 days after election! In India, every wall would have been like this:

<------- booked by INC(I) or CPI(M) till 2020---------->

Another thing which made me feel “the shock” was, at the end of every supermarket bill, I could find “you purchased so much Irish products” and all the Irish products were marked with a *. When I first saw it, I thought “Wow, that info is cool”, though it didn’t change anything I bought. But eventually I started looking, how many Irish products I bought and what were they.

In newspapers and in international /national news, the importance to an Irish citizen was given as addressing as “Irishman” not as “Co. Westmeath man” or “Co. Roscommon man”. And I wondered, why in India, we were never referred as “Indian” in newspapers but only as “Kerlalite”, “Tamilian”, “Kannadiga”, “Madrassi” etc…

But again, it’s not my fault that I think like that. It’s just the “culture-shock” I am still feeling, and may feel always!

What is happening to me?

I am very much NOT in my virgo-self these days. Don’t know what provoked it. May be the Chinese medicine, may be the acupuncture needle poking, which I badly needed? Or may be even the weather? Anyway I am amazed at my new and odd behavior.

First, I stopped worrying about saving everything I earn. I can guarantee that I was the stingiest person in this planet. I am the one who is always on the look-out for “offers”, “coupons”, “sales” and “half-price” (or even quarter-price!). But now a days, I don’t mind... I really don’t mind. My thought process has suddenly changed to “what if I buy nice and costly things for a change?. After all I can only enjoy that as long as I live!”

And then suddenly I am surprised at my own voice, urging me to “live” rather than to “save”.

Now, I was never a cosmetic-addicted person. I have only ONE foundation, ONE perfume, ONE mascara and ONE eyeliner. And everything will be under 5 Euro, if possible! When that ONE finishes, I will buy another.....only then!

But now, I have found myself non-hesitant in buying everything more than ONE. I really don’t mind if I have anything TWO or may be even THREE. So, I have three perfumes (which I never had in my life!). And the funniest thing – I don’t care... What if I spend 50 euros for that? I deserve to be happy, is what I feel! I don’t feel obliged to save three-quarter of my salary!

And another thing, I have stopped eating left-overs. I got that habit from my mom. She used to eat all the old food so that it is not wasted and the result – the worst "irritable bowel syndrome", which can happen to anyone!! But now, I don’t hesitate in throwing away left-overs. NO… it’s not worthy eating all those…I deserve good food! Nothing is more important than my stomach! LOL… when did I start thinking like that?

And the best of all… I have stopped worrying- well almost. I don’t mind if the clothes are in washing machine for more than a day. I don’t mind, if dirty dishes are in sink for more than half a day! And I try my level best not to pick single strands of my hair from floor, every time i see it.

And in office, my work list is getting longer and I am not tensed. I don’t feel that I MUST finish everything within a day or two. I will do it, easily… no pressure.

God! What is happening to me?

Is there anything terrible in that Chinese tea, I am drinking?

A Brief History of Medicine !

Here’s one of those wonderful little pieces that float through cyberspace. No-one knows who wrote it, but I wish I could take credit for it! It would be a perfect additive to my acupuncture sessions!

A Brief History of Medicine

"I have an earache...."

2000 B.C. - Here, eat this root.

1000 A.D. - That root is heathen, say this prayer.

1850 A.D. - That prayer is superstition, drink this potion.

1940 A.D. - That potion is snake oil, swallow this pill.

1985 A.D. - That pill is ineffective, take this antibiotic.

2007 A.D. - That antibiotic is artificial! Here, eat this root.

Acupuncture photos

NOTE: VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED.... not suitable for people with weak-heart!


For all my friends, who HAVENT seen an acupuncture in action.... see this...

Thats me with twelve needles on my head(six on each side, for migraine) and another six on my arms and legs (not visible)...





This my second acupuncture session.
I need to have six more, to test if it really works! Till then, I cant say whether it works or not!

dear friends, don't worry..its not as painful as it looks... i mean it is painful... but not soooo painful...if u know, what i mean..
the "look" is scary..while pain is less...i suppose...

-Cheers
Swathi


photo courtesy: my hubby

Old ailments, new measures-part 3

After forty-five minutes the doctor came and started removing needles one by one. This time also he began with my head. But with the needles on either side of my temples, the pain was too much. I felt my head throbbing and sensing that, some how the doctor pressed my temples for a while longer. But later I learned that this was because, when he removed needles from my temples, the bleeding lasted for more time than other places like arms and legs. I don’t know why, but the pain was also very bad in my temples.

May be because I encountered more pain with the head, I didn’t feel pain in arms or legs. Also they didn’t bleed much too. After removing all twelve needles, he asked me whether I needed a massage. At first I didn’t understand what he was telling, but when I learned that he was offering me a massage, I didn’t wait for a split second to answer "my head, please". He put some kind of aromatic oil on his palms and started massaging my head, again pressing on my temples, which felt really good. Already my head was hurting and I feared my migraine that was resting temporarily may return forcefully. But it didn't, at least then. After ten minutes of massage, my session was over.

At the reception, my nurse was there with a bag of "tea" packets for one week. I have to repeat my acupuncture every Saturday for eight weeks (each week costing fifty euros) with extra one hundred and sixty euros for the "tea" bags. But as my migraine was fifteen years old(!), they gave me the medicines (tea) for free! I need to pay only for my eight acupuncture sessions. And they will be covered partially by my health care insurance. I have to take the one and half packets of "tea," completely dissolved in half a cup of boiling water, one hour after meal, morning and night. Now, I haven’t had regular breakfast in years, so it was postponed to one hour after lunch. And I should not use sugar with that "tea".

Now, imagine my surprise when I really saw the contents of the packet! First of all, the packet cover didn’t mention anything in either in Chinese or English about the contents. It was a plain white cover.


Once adding water it looked exactly like our very own Kerala Ayurvedic "kashaayam".



I had a hunch that the taste was going to be like the bitterest "thriphala choornam"[medicinal powder made with Terminalia chebula, Terminalia belerica and Phyllanthus emblica ,ie amla-indian gooseberry)], in Ayurveda-if not worse. So, I added honey into this "terribly looking" drink called "tea" (our Indian tea will run away in fear of life, if it ever comes into contact with this!).I was allowed to add honey, anyway.


Now, I would say that after adding three table spoons of honey it was as bitter as "choornam". I had to take one hour to drink it completely and that too with sip at a time.

I slept well on Saturday, but slept very less on Sunday. On Monday it was ok. Tuesday night I had to work till twelve at night. So, when I came back home, I was too tired even to drink that "tea" and I skipped it. On Wednesday afternoon, my migraine started again and I ended up vomiting five times. I couldn’t take "tea" that day too. Today any way I took it in the afternoon. And till now I don’t have migraine(touch wood!)

It will take at least two weeks to settle down with acupuncture-ing and "tea" sessions going side by side. And even after migraine coming back this week, I have faith. I am ready to give it some more weeks’ time. It has to settle comfortably with my body and I have to get used to it. There is a time-gap for all of us [acupuncture, tea and me] to accept each other, and yes, I am ready to wait....

Old ailments, new measures-Part 2

>>> Continued from Part-1 <<<

On Saturday we went there. Now that Chinese doctor didn’t know English. He had a female assistant (can’t exactly be called nurse) who translated Chinese to English back and forth. Now with my 15 yr old migraine history, even they were surprised. But I didn’t care about migraine. I was so much used to it. I wanted to sleep.

The doctor checked my pulse and asked me, through the translator if I get tired very easily. And I was about to tell him my blackout sessions, breathing trouble and palpitations, but instead just said “yes”. And then he explained why it was. As per Allopathy, “insomnia” is a neurological disease. But as per Chinese medicine, insomnia is related to problems with heart and spleen.

And hearing this we both looked at each other. Now does that mean that my blackout sessions are due to a weak heart? God, if at all I had anything weak on my body, certainly it WASN’T my heart, anyway. It would be more precisely my spine or discs? If I was weak-hearted then I wouldn’t have reached here!! . I screamed mentally. I am not even thirty and does this mean that I am going to have a heart attack? After explaining the 45 min session of acupuncture along with Chinese medicinal teas to be taken-, which they told, will be covered by medical insurance, she asked if I wanted a session now. And I said YES. What I didn’t know that how it was going to be done.

I have read that they used fine needles and it didn’t cause pain. On a room inside the clinic, lying on my back, I was not at all scared. I felt like lying down for a facial! Now this doctor, tore open a box marked “acupuncture needles” and after cleaning my skin with spirit, started inserting them into my head, first! [There ended my facial feeling] Literally it was more like hammering – he would just prick the skin and then with a slight knock on the top of needle it will be hammered into my whatever nerve endings that caused migraine and insomnia. (Later, he told me that because of my particular(!) condition, he treated me for both!).

And soon I realised one thing, whoever told me that acupuncture didn’t hurt, actually was lying! It hurts. Come on- they are all 1.5-inch needles. And can you guess how many needles were hammered into my whole body? 12!!! At first I felt pain, then I felt as though I am fainting, then finally I felt sleepy- yea, I did feel sleepy!


The sole witness to my needling- who was also the master-brain behind all this exercise, must have felt bad for me with all those needles stuck all over my body. Because he came to me and asked with a worry “Does it hurt? It looks like it hurts.” I told him- yes, slightly. But to be honest, I had faith in Chinese medicines. So I didn’t mind lying down with all those 12 needles poking me for 45 minutes, making me look and feel like “Bheeshma in Sarasayya (pincushion ) - as in Mahabharatha. And I even thought of asking my hubby to take a photo of me in “sarasayya” so that I can see how I look and may be post in blog! LOL…. But seeing worry written in his face, I decided to put that idea aside!

What happened after 45 minutes in “sarasayya” and what about the “medicinal tea”- on my next blog!

Old ailments, New measures-1

It has been a very long time since I wrote something. No I am NOT down with work. I am (was) down with something else. My migraine returned with a vengeance once it felt sure that my slipped disc was better. Now should I be thankful that they attack me only in a mutually exclusive way? I wonder if they have an understanding between each other. Any way finally my husband asked “Do you have any special gene in your body that particularly attracts diseases, one after another?” The migraine attack had gone too bad that I had to end up in ER due to non-stop vomiting. Now THAT needed four injections a day, not to mention seventy euros of medicines.

But things didn’t end there. After that horrible migraine session, I didn’t know that another disease/condition was on its way to me – nothing but insomnia. I stopped sleeping. I would lie with wide-open eyes till 5 am in the morning. First I tried to sleep. Then I stopped even trying. [Now there is some history here. I am a nocturnal being by birth. My dad used to call me “fox” because he used to say that I “hunt” at night. Physically and mentally I will be more alert at night and very groggy at day. May be, that explains why I forget what I was talking in the middle of a sentence, which is very common now a days!!].

Anyway my husband didn’t label me as “fox” and leave me on my own with my nocturnal hunting-habit. He had a wonderful (!) idea of trying alternate medicine, so that I wont be drugged to sleep. And he chose “acupressure”. Yes, that’s right, the Chinese type of acupuncturing with needles on certain nerve endings. Now, honestly I want to believe that his intention was good, and that he didn’t think about taking revenge on me for my non-stop talking and that he didn’t remember the age-old issues I have with any kind of needles on my body.

My migraine is 15 yrs old and runs in my family. Every female in my mom’s side has it, and we all suffer from identical symptoms with my aunt and myself competing for the top. My mom and my cousin (aunt’s daughter) come second. We all tried Allopathic, Ayurvedic and Homeopathic medicines. And I am sure if we had authentic Chinese therapists in India, we would have done that too.

So, when my husband suggested Chinese medicine, I was ready- anything to get a good night’s sleep because I was really developing problems tracking the thread of my conversation. Now, last week I cancelled two appointments. Finally it was decided that this weekend we (in fact I) would try acupressure no matter what happens.

And thus the much-expected day came, when we went to the Dr & Herbs clinic.

I will tell my experience, there in next blog…

A 27 yr old Fantasy!

My dad had lots of friends who were working in Dubai. Also my sister’s (cousin) dad was in Dubai,too. So we had one of those silver colored Sony stereo cassette player that blinked light green lights according to the beats of the songs (in the cassette) playing. I was just 3 yrs old when I would look at that blinking beats for hours without anything to eat or drink. The year was 1980, and it was the boom of Disco. Apart from Boney M and ABBA, the one song that made the blinking lights go wild (and me too!) with beats was this song…
Disco Deewane – Nazia Hassan.



Even at the young age of 3 , I could evaluate the beauty of the woman pictured in the cover of that cassette (see the pic above?).
Wow! How much I loved to look like her when I grew up. I loved her everything. I loved the way she held the mike. I loved the way the light made her brown hair go red (I still have fascination for red hair, though I see lots here in Ireland-original and colored!). I even loved her khaki dungarees and the way she held her hair in a lose braid, with a slight tilt. I badly, badly wanted to be her.

Of course my 1.5 yr old cousin didn’t share my fantasy to become Nazia Hassan. So I was left alone in my fantasy world of me singing with the blinking lights, when I grow up. (It was one of the many fantasies I am thankful, that never came true!). I think I shared the awe till I went to proper school when I was six, and found my self bombarded with more things much intriguing than Nazia Hassan.

But as childhood thingies never fade off completely, now when I am nearly 30, I had this déjà vu, of Nazia Hassan, which made me google her name last Friday. I was shocked to find that she passed away in 2000, at 35 yrs of age, still angelically beautiful! I got some of her songs from Pakistani music sites.



I almost cried when I came to know that she passed away in 2000. And now my ipod and computer plays only Nazia Hassan songs(at least, till I get over that!). Another tribute to my 27 yrs old fantasy!