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. :)