Why this Aloe-Vera, Aloe-vera, Aloe-vera Di?

I am sure no one needs an introduction to the name 'Aloe-Vera'. But how many of you actually knows what is Aloe-Vera, What are its uses, How does it look etc etc. Before I get into that, you know what? Aloe-Vera reminds me of a famous movie dialogue from a Hindi movie 'Dil Toh Pagal Hai'! The dialogue goes like this - "Rahul...naam toh suna hi hoga!" (in full style). I am sure movie buffs, like me, must surely have heard and knows this dialogue. I can also assure that, the rest of the readers who are not hindi movie buffs would have also heard at least 20% of the dialogue! How?? I bet all have heard the name Rahul! (20% of the dialogue :) ) And for those who are paralyzed by a week memory..here goes the pic where Shahrukh Khan says this dialogue to Madhuri Dixit in the movie.

Rahul...Naam toh suna hoga!

So, yes I was telling Aloe-Vera reminds me of this scene and dialogue because just like the name 'Rahul', the term 'Aloe Vera' is also so popular and over used these days! So, I strongly feel that if Aloe-Vera could speak, this would have been the best intro line or pick-up line for it... "Aloe-Vera! naam toh suna hi hoga!!" (picture Aloe-Vera plant with a sarcastic smile in place of Shahrukh khan in the pic above).  Yea perfect isn't it! :)

No this post is not about a comparison of Aloe-Vera with a movie hero! The post is about how I realized what Aloe-Vera is!

Thanks to all the cosmetic cream, shampoo, medicines and oil companies, that today, everyone from just born babies to people in the grave knows the word 'Aloe-Vera'. We get to see so many commercials saying the product contains Aloe-Vera extracts in it which makes the product special. Also the packages of the products boasts loud and clear that the product has Aloe-Vera in it. The marketeers have used Aloe-Vera so much so that, now whenever we read 'Aloe-Vera' written on the package of any product, we give an expression as if 'Aloe-Vera' were a close relative of us!  That is the impact! We have been made so familiar with the name Aloe-Vera that we tend to assume that we know what Aloe-Vera is!. I will take you through a small story when I realized that I didn't know anything about Aloe-Vera!

In 2011, when I had been to my parents' place in Gujarat for a mini vacation stay sorts...I had found that there was a new cactus like plant in my m's mini garden.  I asked her what this plant was and why she had included this cactus like plant in her garden..where she mostly kept only beautiful and good looking plants. She told me "Arrree beta you don't know this plant? It is apna...woh...Aloe-Vera!". I was like, "Ohh!! This is Aloe Veraa !?!?!"

I was super-excited that my mom owned 'THE' Aloe Vera plant. Well I don't have any knowledge about plants etc. and I use to think that Aloe-Vera was some rarely found herbal plant, the types which you get to see only in may be some part of Africa (thanks to the high priced cosmetics which boasts of having Aloe-Vera gel in them)

But my mom then told me that Aloe-Vera actually is not a newly discovered herb or it is not even rare like we would think because of the sudden outburst of products based on Aloe-Vera. It is in-fact widely used by several societies since ages and is a commonly found plant. Though Aloe-Vera originated from north Africa ( as i had assumed), it is found in abundance in several parts of India also. She told me she had seen this plant many times here and there, but didn't know then, that this was called Aloe-Vera. Then she took me to a brief flashback of how she got introduced to different uses of Aloe-Vera, the term Aloe-Vera and then the plant Aloe-Vera itself (in that order)

Flashback

Long back, when i was in school, the society in which we use to live there was this old couple in the neighborhood. My mom says, the old man used to bring a plant leaf from somewhere every morning and once when my mom asked him what it was..he very fondly said..it was a herb called 'Kunvaar Paatthu' (in Gujarati). According to him, the gel like paste of that plant was very good for the leg pain and people having symptoms of arthritis. As both the old man and the lady had joint pains..they used to regularly consume the gel of that plant. My mom was amazed to know of such plant.

Circa 2008, my mother was having a chit-chat with my better half's mom (my mom in law) and were talking about how my mom in law makes hair oil at home. My MIL told the whole recipe of the wonderful hair oil she makes and how good it was (my mom-in-law who is almost 60 still has long and thick hair). My mom-in-law then spoke very fondly of these wonder herb she puts in the hair oil and gave the whole credit to that herb which she called 'Kattaar Vazha'(in Malayalam). My mom was amazed...to hear of the new herb which is so good for the growth and quality of hair.

Somewhere in 2008, the trend of marketers marketing the term Aloe-Vera on anything and everything slowly started. So she got to know about Aloe-Vera. In 2009, My parents had relocated to Nagpur in Maharashtra. There my mother had picked up a hobby of gardening, as she had taken VRS (early retirement) from her government job and was a housewife now. One day as my mom was just a beginner in gardening visited the aunty in the neighborhood who was an expert in gardening. There the aunty was taking my mother along her well maintained big garden..and was giving her gyaan (Hindi word for knowledge) about all the plants..she as well knew the botanical names of those plants. There was this cactus like plant ...which the aunty introduced as 'Aloe Vera'. That's when my mom saw 'The'  Aloe Vera Plant.

Sometime in 2010, in another meeting with my MIL, somehow they again had a talk on the hair oil that my MIL made, and this time my mother wanted write down the recipe. And she asked what this 'Kataar Vazha' was and where could she get it. To which my mother-in-law replied with a smile..you don't know Kataar Vazha!! it is nothing but our...Aloe-Vera! (Now that my MIL was also well versed with the  term Aloe-Vera from the TV Ads).

After which, going back to Gujarat my mother had sourced an Aloe-Vera plant and placed one in her garden. One day, our neighbor aunty had come to just chit-chat with my mom and she glanced upon the new plant in the garden. She exclaimed - "Oh! you have got 'Kunvaar Paathu', I also wanted one for my knee pain". To which my Mom said-"yes I just recently got this Aloe-Vera plant". To which that aunty exclaimed..."Oh! Kunvaar Paathu is called Aloe-Vera! I thought Aloe-Vera was some new foreign plant!"

It was an introduction-in-installment that my mom had with Aloe-vera! And after so many years everything fell in place! I was amazed how I had not known about Aloe-vera for so long and that it was something so wonderful and easy to find as well.

The next day of this discussion, I was looking over the Internet for an English name for an ayurvedic medicine called 'Chenni nayagam' (in Malayalam). I had heard of this medicine a lot from the elders in the family, whenever they used to tell us the stories of how they had successfully weaned their respective babies from breastfeeding. This medicine is known for its bitterness and as a solution to weaning breastfed babies. I was just trying to be prepared before hand, as being in Bengaluru, there was a possibility that the vendors didn't know the medicine by the name of 'Chenni nayagam'. That is when i found the wiki page on chenni nayagam..which said that it was nothing but a processed form of the Aloe-Vera gel. And there I was like.."once again..humara apna Aloe-Vera !"

So friends the bottom line is, We all have heard of Aloe-Vera, we all know that Aloe-vera is a very wonderful herb with some magical properties and wide uses! Aloe-Vera gel does have rich properties which is considered to be good for several things be it beauty, medication to joint pain, leg pain, burns, wounds, diabetes, weight loss etc. you name it! It has been there amongst us since ages, may be all of our grand parents used it more extensively back then as they were more close to nature than we younger generations are these days! What many of us don't know is, (I am assuming) that it is very easy to get an Aloe-Vera plant (may be you will find it in your neighborhood or a nursery nearby), and even easier to grow your own Aloe-Vera plant as it only needs a sunny spot and use its wonder gel customizing to your own requirements!

And guess what I have grown my own Aloe-Vera plant, which basks in glory in my home's balcony! Here's the pic. :)

 

A first day to remember

I was the happiest person in the whole world that day! It was the day I had been waiting for...since my...since my...mmmm birth!! (okay...i know its hard to digest..but at least can I say... since I started to speak and understand!)

I had been preparing myself for this day since several months. It was my dream..and I was about to achieve that dream. I had seen and heard of many people in my family having achieved it... they had been at this cool and wonderful place!

I have been demanding for things to my parents...things, that I would need to be at that place! I have been doing all the planning and arranging of shoes, bags, accessories for hair, and other necessary things like bottles to store water, boxes or tiffins to preserve food...everything that people who go to THAT place owned.

I was completely prepared and ready to be at that..coool place...Any guesses about the place?? Its the place that all of you who are reading this post have gone to..been there and done it! ;) Everyone...age no bar, sex no bar.

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Well that happening and cool place is called... 'SCHOOL!!!'. Yes! It was my first day of School!

So going back to that day...that day I jumped off my bed..early in the morning..as soon as my Mom called me. Unlike the other days, when I would go on saying "5 mintsh ...only 5 mintsh more Amma!' for getting up from bed. To my amma's surprise, I had also brushed my teeth and had taken bath...all by myself! For a change, that day I was after my amma to dress me up and get me ready for the 'Shhacool'!

So here I was, ready for the picture that my Achan was about to take, "brand new, shiny, black-coloured buckle-up bata shoes, red coloured socks, red and white check pinaform with a white inner shirt (that was my uniform), hair neatly tucked by a red ribbon... into two small ponytails, round football-like face (I was really plump) and a big bright Colgate smile, showing off a set of neatly brushed teeth.

Yea..That's how happy I was that day..Ohh please!! of course not..i didn't go to my school in that tricycle. But ya i guess some day..someone had told me..i will be going on that tricycle to my school... maybe just to amuse me, but i believed it fully and was pretty serious and thrilled about it :)

Well somehow, my parents convinced me why i could not go to my school in my tricycle and i reached my school for once.

Huge gates...large playground...lots of trees....a big statue of God....a large stage....long corridors behind the grilled windows in a huge building...I felt like I was in some other world!

I saw there were many other kids like me along with their parents in the ground...everyone checking out the surroundings!  Some kids were looking so grumpy and sad...as if somebody forced them to be there...some kids like me were beaming with their colgate smiles..and there were this other strange kids..who had literally gone crazy...and were running..shouting and jumping around the campus like monkeys! I thought to myself - "uff why are these kids behaving like this at a cool and sophisticated place like school...they should look at me and learn how to behave!"

Then a big siren rang..and all of a sudden all the parents panicked and started grabbing their children and creating a line in front of one small door. Even my parents rushed me to join the line. I figured that the siren meant something serious...was frightened for a while. But my achan (father) told me that it was a signal that meant that the school is about to begin and in order to get into the room where we would sit ...the room called class... we had to form a queue...so that everyone could go one by one. Aaaah...i was relaxed...there again with a beaming smile. Then one fat aunty came and told something aloud in a language i didn't understand then...guess it meant now we could go in...as after that, parents started taking their kids inside one after other.

All the parents went inside ...made their respective child sit in the front rows of the benches and kissed their kids goodbye...and went outside...some parents just nodded their heads to their child and went...Some parents were telling some secrets to their children...i was curious to hear what they were telling. My parents made me sit...and they said they will come to pick me once the school is done..and i was totally fine about it..and waved goodbye to them..as many times as they waved goodbye to me...even after going out.

I looked around and observed that some kids were sitting there with a balloon face...some were sobbing....and some crazy ones were trying to run out even here...and the fat lady with another lean young lady were trying to put them back on their seat. After a while..this fat lady..told something to the parents waiting outside and she shut the door with a thud....soon...there was this huge noise of many of these kids crying aloud together.....this made my heart pound faster...and all of a sudden i realized no one looked happy!!

I thought there must be something wrong about the situation...that all were crying except that fat lady! May be she was going to cause some harm to us...beat us up...or never let us go back to our parents...may be i was fooled and tricked...and after the sudden flow of all these thoughts...i too started crying out ALOUD...at the top of my voice and mouth wide open...and tears were gushing out as if a tap had been switched on....i also then remember trying to run and push the door open and save everyone of us....but all in vein :)

I don't remember what happened after that :) ... But that was one memorable day and event in my life...and now I am awaiting one more such memorable day of my life...when it will be my son Vivaan's first day at his play school on the 3rd of this June.

My only qualm he won't find a big playground with lots of trees as we don't find many such schools in a city like Bangalore these days! :(

PS : If you also have a funny or fond memory about your day at school...kindly share it in the comments section :)