Compounders

I have been taking a lot of Uber taxis these days. I was on the phone with a friend of mine talking to her about Chaitra Navratra, cough, meals to be eaten and prayers to be said during this auspicious period. With the onset of the New Year of the Hindus, a whole lot of festivities set in. Our conversation flitted between lot of these topics. After my call was completed, the driver told me to have an Ayurvedic medicine  Jivdaya Cough Tone for cough. He went on to explain how his son was diagnosed with Asthma at the age of two and the Doctor asked him to take the pump. His friend recommended the Jivdaya Cough Tone along with taking steam of water with cabbage leaves and little Vicks cream. The child is cured of Asthma and is now 12 years old. He said Allopathic medicines can harm the liver and should be taken as the last resort when the home made remedies don't work. His wife has Gall Bladder stones and she is taking homeopathic treatment. He was so good with numbers and the names of medicines that he could have easily been a Compounder in a doctor's clinic, if not a doctor. 

Gosh, I have used this word ' Compounder' after years. In Jharia, most Doctors we went to, were Bengalis and they had a man who helped at the clinic. This person was like a receptionist, cashier, medicine dispenser, manager, banker all rolled into one. The syrup medicine was given in a glass bottle with a cork lid. There was a long strip of paper cut into small hexagon pieces stuck vertically  like a chain on one side of the length of the bottle. The Compounder was the man who said " Daaktar sahab aa rahey hain" . Those were days of no mobile and hardly any landline phones. When you asked him how long the Doctor will take, he said " Nahin bol saktey" meaning I can't say. It could mean any of the following: 

I don't know.

I wont tell you.

How am I supposed to know? 

The doctor is on his way. 

The Doctor has gone to see a patient on a home visit.

The Doctor is still at home sipping his tea while you crave for a cup.

The compounder  kept the flies away and little brats too. He was usually dour looking man, his youth would have brushed past him. He lit the lantern when the electricity went off in the evenings. He also went to buy the kerosene for the lamps. He swept the place with his broom and left the cob webs in place. Doctor's handwriting was legible to the Compounder only. The Doctor had a code language with the compounder which said what meds to mix. He gave the glass bottle with the cork lid firmly in place and a packet of  mixed colourful tablets to the adults and barked out the dosage. If you did not understand, he murmured exactly the same words as before to explain the dosage. It was truly an art being a Compounder in those days. 

I have lot of joys of living in Matunga Dadar. It is well connected by road and railways. The place is centrally located, has fresh green vegetables, the iconic Shivaji park, the temples, the cultural part which is active and beautiful. The sea without its Cuffe Parade, Bandra or Juhu arrogance. On Gudi Padwa, my in-laws gave me one more reason and this one is truly unique. I mean, I know for most Maharashtrians, Dadar is the Mecca of shopping but this one blew me off. They said the only reason your area ( Ahem! From when did Dadar become my area? ) is good is because it has a good Doctors. I almost choked on the Gehu ki Kheer I was having. I did not want to get into the Doctor discussion and how the ones in my area are better vis a vis other areas of Mumbai. I have heard a Gujarati saying which says Food to be eaten in Gujarat, the breeze is good in mountains of North India and the medical treatment should be taken in Mumbai. Guess the Gujjus knew this before we started promoting Medical Tourism in India. Now I better rush and tell my Gujju relatives that it is not Bombay but Dadar which is the best for medicines. 

I am never disappointed when I call the Gujju side of the family. I am always put firmly in my place,which is at the bottom of the intellectual pyramid. I am told the original saying is " Surat nu jaman aney Kashi nu maran".  The food of Surat is divine and a death which comes in Kashi is the best.  Benares is the most Holy city for the Hindus and death there is God sent. In olden days, people used to spend their old age in a Holy place in the duty of God or praying on the banks of a river. The idea was to leave the adult children to live their own lives and run their own business and move to a frugal life of meditation and prayers without worldly attachments. Sanyasa is how this stage in life is described when one leaves the material things and moves towards seeking the Higher self. Kollam was not that.