The Magical Powder!

For the past few days I’ve been getting bitten by mosquitoes and ants. Yes, ants. I don’t know since when did human flesh become a part of an ant’s diet but I have around 8 ant bites at the moment. This morning, I’ve discovered the ants’ center hubs: one under my bed and one under the dresser. The ants under the dresser were having a feast on this dead moth, a pretty brutal sight. The thought of terminating all the ants by hand…or some other flat surface really did not appeal to me, so I asked my host mom for a bug spray. Instead, she came back with some turmeric powder. She spread the powder over the trail that the ants made. According to her, in India people don’t like to kill ants because ants are considered to be tiny hardworking creatures. Instead of killing the ants, turmeric is used because ants dislike its strong scent.

During my stay here I’ve also discovered the other magical powers of turmeric: 1) it’s what turns every India dish YELLOW. 2) it’s a natural antiseptic 3) it helps with stomach problems and other digestive problems.

While double-checking the facts on Wikipeida (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turmeric), I found out that turmeric is used in Japan too, as a dietary supplement, known in Japanese as “ukon.” “Ukon” has been a trendy dietary supplement for the past few years in Japan along with other traditional dietary supplements such as black soybeans, collagen, wheat germ and what not. It's interesting how a fancy dietary supplement in a country like Japan is the most commonly used spice and traditinoal medicine in Indian households, almost accessible to every household from the rich to the poor.

And thanks to the magical power of turmeric, the ants did go away.