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Designed , developed & Hosted By Kishoo, Barkur |
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This column will be uploaded every fortnight. The names of the writers will not be published, if requested. |
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This page is updated regularly, please refresh or reload on your visit. |
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The Leech Therapy
It
was my duty to tie my cow for grazing in any vacant rice field on my way
to grade school and bring her home at lunch time.
One day this cow was missing. That
morning, I had noticed a limp in her leg.
Well, I missed attending my afternoon school, in search of her.
Finally, I found her in a pond (thalhen), where I had taken her
for a drink or for a cool dip, occasionally.
This day, she was not responding to my calls to get her out of
this pond. I had to
go deep into the water, and by twisting her tail, I made her listen to
me. There must have been
about 50 or 80 leaches (jholu) all over her, however, there was a group of them
stuck to her injured leg joint, looking like bright red
bunch of ripe ‘thendlin’.
I tried to pluck them off of her.
They were slimy, and were stuck tight.
Meanwhile, I noticed I too was
attacked. There were 5-6 of them hanging on between my toes, less
bulging though. I got
panicked, and both of us raced home.
My mother had a
solution, by all means.. She
borrowed (we borrowed not to return, anyway.), our neighbor’s
‘chuno’ (a by product of khube shells).
She did not even, touch them with it, however, the closeness
caused them to fall to the ground, like ‘ambade’.
My two or three daring chicken feasted on some of them.
Well, in a day or two I noticed my cow was perfectly healthy.
How did the cow know to treat herself thus? My skin between the
toes, infected with ‘nanju’, as a reward for playing/jumping in
stagnant puddles, had also healed fully.
My mother and I finally deducted that the ‘paad ragath’, was
sucked up by those blood-sucking leeches!
Next day, I caught some more, placed them in a glass jar, and
cured my ‘nanju’ from both the feet after a few exposures. The chronic treatment of Barkur sarkari hospital’s vaseline/ointment
was not tested in animals nor in humans before marketing, I suppose.
I
joked with my mother saying “Ami thyaa
nanju ulouncha Rukkucha thondanth 3 ya 4 cheplyear, kashen jaith mai?!” “
Athan, kon nanju ulaitha
putha?”, was her reply, with a disciplinary tone. Well,
believe it not, leaches are used for medical purposes extensively.
Leeches have a chemical that prevents blood from clotting, a
requirement in certain medical procedures, Their saliva contains an
anesthetic which makes its bite not to hurt!
(That’s why, I did not know when I was bitten!, not because, I
was slow/buddu!) These
can be used in re-attaching toes or fingers.
There are leech raising farms all over the world, earning money.
Just type ‘leech’ in any ‘search’ space on internet, and
you will be bombarded by leeches.
I wouldn’t call this leech holy, but my cow, surely! Name withheld by request.
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Barkur, located in Udupi Taluk, Karnataka, India. 576 210 |
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Copyright Kishoo, Barkur 2002. |
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