Mangaluru: Bennu Novu, Kai Novu, Sonta Novu! Street Doctor has the ‘Solution’ for You

Mangaluru: ” Bennu Novu (Back pain), Tale novu (Head Ache), Sonta novu (Waist pain), Kai novo (Hand pain), Kuthige novu ( Neck pain), Kalu novu (Leg pain)….and whatever parts of your body that you have developed pain, this Street Doctor named Mohammed Rasheed from Bihar, has a “Solution”- and this “Solution” to solve your “Painful Problems” comes in a tiny bottle containing bright pink liquid. This street doctor/street healer seated at the entrance of Central Vegetable Market repeatedly explains in a mixture of Hindi and Kannada accent, while trying to promote his herbal medicine for various types of human body pain. Then we have the crowd gathered in a circle around this street healer, and for curiosity sake I too decided to join in this bunch of spectators. It was quite interesting to watch this street vendor demonstrating his technique while he was trying to sell his unique pain killer liquid stuffed inside a tiny bottle, priced at Rs 30 a bottle or two bottles for 50 bucks.

I guess that I was at the right place to get some relief for waist/buttock pain that I had developed during the weekend doing some extreme lifting work in my garden.To get rid of the pain I had applied various types of pain balms like Iodex, Tiger Balm etc and also consumed a few pain killing pills, but the pain still existed. At this moment I thought to myself, why not try the magical pain relieving pink colored solution sold by this street doctor. I wouldn’t trust a street doctor for any internal health issues, but since this was a external pain issue, I decided to buy a few bottles of the pink “solution”..And according to Mohammed, this pink solution contains extract from over dozen medicinal plants and ten different kinds of oil.

On your mark, get set, massage…To demonstrate the power of the pink liquid the vendor pours a little amount of the pink liquid from the bottle on to his palm-and than he rubs it down hard on my leg. Glad that I was wearing shorts- My leg started fuming like it was on fire-I thought I lost all my leg hair for a moment-thank God that didn’t happen. Instead I felt a soothing sensation. Wow-what a healing touch from this guy, who didn’t even had a medical degree? For 30 bucks, if your pain is cured then its indeed a cheap and worth the deal. I did buy a few extra bottles-because you never know, with the Catholic wedding season already started, and with my crazy dancing spree doing the “bailas” and “twists”, I may need this “pink stuff” to relieve my sore feet, leg pain, back pain etc.

Many people gathered around this street healer had come back to buy more medicine from him, because they had got good results for their pain. Some were seen buying these medicine bottles for their relatives and friends. I too was happy with the results. If the medicine was something that should be taken by mouth, I wouldn’t trust in taking any chances. Since this medicine was applied externally, I didn’t mind taking a chance-and it proved to be very effective. I went home and applied the solution on my waist and buttocks- OMG, it started fuming, felt like my butt was on fire? But truly it gave a relieving and soothing sensation, and within few minutes the pain was gone. wow!

These herbal vendors are the mobile tribal healers seen on the busy streets of many Indian cities selling crude medicinal plants and their products. They prescribe herbal treatment for several diseases, a skill they inherited from their forefathers through several generations of experience. Some of them even claim to have specific herbal remedies for the complete cure of some urino – genital disorders. The street herbal vendors have a long history and tradition of herbal treatment. They are often seen selling crude and dry medicinal plants and their produces on the busy streets of many Indian cities. They have inherited a wealth of knowledge about the healing properties of indigenous medicinal plants through several generations of experience from their ancestors who were the nomadic tribal folk healers wandering in the remote forest, especially in Northern India .

Many say that these herbal treatment from these street healers show very encouraging results. Most of the people gathered around this vendor who had come back for more medicine have expressed satisfaction over the treatment. Since the ingredients used are mostly cheaper except for a few one the treatment is less expensive and can be afforded to by the common man. In certain cases, since venereal diseases has a social stigma and many people especially those who are affluent do not like to visit their family doctors, they usually go for treatment with these street herbalists and pay them handsomely.

Significantly several plant products which have been used for various human diseases since centuries have now been found to be of great medicinal value and is finding application in others systems of medicines too. As Ayurvedic medicines gain popularity, there are people exploiting the trend by promising such magic remedies. With no regulation on manufacturing and selling Ayurvedic medicines, such instances keep happening and will eventually affecting people’s confidence in traditional medicine system, feel experts.