Tulsi ark: There are many brands of tulsi ark in the market today, tulsi ark is the concentrated liquid extract of five types of tulsi or basil varieties… the drops have been clinically proven to be natural immunity boosters. The liquid concentrate has a wonderful aroma to lift the spirit! IMC and Jolly Tulsi 51 are popularly available at Hindu Pharmacy in Panaji
BY TARA NARAYAN
Eating is Fun / Eating is Yuck! – A variety food colum
What is tulsi ark? I must confess I love the sound of it and when a friend said, put a drop of it in a cool glass of water and sip… I’ve been looking for tulsi ark high and low and then found it at Hindu Pharmacy. It’s supposed to be an Ayurvedic proprietary medicine and I’m not sure how good or just fancy it is but now I have two brands of this tulsi ark. One is the Jolly Tulsi 51 and recently at the naturopathy fair in town I acquired the IMC tulsi ark approved by the Ayurvedic Drug Department of the government of Uttarakhand.
It’s a liquid tulsi concentrate apparently distilled from the leaves of five different varieties of tulsi or basil, namely Shyam tulsi (Ocimum tenuiflorum), Vishnu tulsi (Ocimum sanctum), ram tulsi (Ocimum gratissimum), nimbu tulsi (Ocimum americanum), van tulsi (Ocimum basilicum). You know how sacred the leaves of the tulsi and the tulsi plant are in Hindu religious mythology and even European herbal pharmacology, don’t you? I ‘m sure it is not for nothing that we worship the plant of the tulsi, especially the dark, bluish-purple, hardy Shyam tulsi and the more tender fresh green-leafed Vishnu tulsi…anyway tulsi is said to be antibacterial, antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-cough, cold and fever and we put tulsi leaves in water to purify it, especially when it is water used for any puja rituals.
Most Hindu homes of old will have a this ornamental vrindavan or brindaban tulsi pot outside or the aangan of their home and many are the stories associated with the tulsi plant. Generally speaking, the tulsi plant represents the figure of the mistress in his wealthy lordship’s life! Come to think of it perhaps it’s not such a bad idea to be a man’s mistress… seeing how many wives I see being treated as glorified slaves. I’m sure one of these days the institution of marriage itself will be abolished and women finally liberated from marriage!
But this is about tulsi ark or drops and I must confess I love the highs of tulsi aroma and have taken to putting in a drop wherever I can — in bath water, in a chilled glass of water on the rocks to sip, sip, sip…for suddenly the rains have gone and an irksome heat is here with its itches. Say it is change of weather and I’m at the bottom of my barrel of déjà vu anew seeking more excitement from life that what is available to me currently.
These days I carry my IMC Shri Tulsi drops around with me like they’re some kind of smelling salts or just an affection I’ll get over one of these days… a cup of tea, in goes a drop; a glass of water, in goes a drop; limbu paani, in goes a drop and so on and so on. I’m overdoing it of course but am seeking reassurance from others about this tulsi ark by writing about it here, if you’ve got more knowledge about it, please write or sms or call me. Too many tulsi ark drops and I get too windy! Since it is quite pricy (200) I wish it came in a glass bottle instead of plastic. Real good things have no business to be in plastics. I’ve begun to equate bad things in plastics nowadays to discourage myself from buying them! I bought the IMC Shri Tulsi drops in white plastic bottle anyway…I think I’m more hung up on the scent of these tulsi drops, like eu do cologne or something equivalent. I also learn that tulsi is like ashwagandha, an adaptogen herb, that means it’s a great anti-stress friend to have around. OKAY, to move on to another topic, I’m thinking it’s past six years since my heart bypass (when they told me I had a dangerous left artery T-section 60% block and if I didn’t do bypass straight away and if I go into a heart attack I’d be gone with the wind in a tic or something like that). Well, somewhere along the way I dropped my medications of ghastly coloured scarlet ecosprin and statin and these days I’m back to puffing and huffing a bit….but refuse to go checkup. I do believe that apart from diet and lifestyle choices an important role is played by stressed out emotional roller coaster rides of life in which parents, siblings, hubbies, colleagues, all play a contributive role down life’s road to perdition or heart disease. Not blaming anybody anymore. But just noting that there is a brain-heart connect and there’re medical testimonies of this. How we think and what we do to drive somebody else to mental illness is for real. And of this I’m certain now after catching the filmJoker’ last week.
Joker’ is a 2019 release and a film for our times. You want to sympathize with a criminal! Sympathize with Arthur Fleck of Gotham City who is abused, bullied, conned, lied to by his mother, taken advantage of by colleagues, scolded by his boss, sacked…there is nobody to talk to, to make sense of the world around. He asks his State-recommended psychoanalyst to whom he has to go to get his “sickness” medicines, “Is it me? Or is the world out there getting worse…nobody is civil out there anymore, everybody is shouting…” It’s not him. It’s definitely the situations we create for one another given our growing insensitivity courtesy gross wealth, vanity and aggrandizing power to see ourselves as heroes instead of zeroes in our own eyes, but constantly throwing dust in everybody else’s eyes! Arthur knew he is not supposed to have a gun but when a colleague palms off a gun on him he does not return it…soon he discovers what fun it is to go on a killing spree to get even with a world which has wronged him consistently. He kills off his torturers and wrongdoers…who beat him up for no reason, made fun of him in his joker’s or clown’s attire in public. According to his mother his real father — the city’s favourite politician — is no paragon of virtue like he pretends to be. Arthur’s mother was his long-time employee, seduced, later disowned along with illegitimate son (Arthur). Todd Phillips’Joker’ is radically different from previous associations. It tells a chilling story of how we, perfectly decent people, go off our rocker, en route to becoming mentally ill and criminals of a smaller or larger denomination… courtesy society’s sins of omission and commission. The film is a grim portrayal of how our society is ticking and how we all play our part as cogs in a wheel falling apart. I urge you to go see Joker’ to understand how we are all guilty reaping an increasingly unhappy world. Joaquin Phoenix (who plays Arthur Fleck) does a terrific job as do other cast members like Robert De Niro, Brett Cullen, Frances Conroy. YOU will ask me what’s the film got to do vis-à-vis my heart talk here this week? Well, these days I’m thinking ruefully about all the people who play a constantly negative role in my life and how it impacts my mind and body, heart and soul. Like Arthur Fleck inJoker’ I too am asking myself, kill myself, or kill them all! Is it me or is it getting much worse out there in the world? How do we stop contributing to the moral decline of our society individually and collectively so that we don’t repeat the killing fields of life and history? Think about all this my friends and go see `Joker’ — it’s the film of 2019 if you’re asking me and I’m feeling better after seeing it, twice over. It’s a film with real insight into our mentally ill world!
A RECIPE to share courtesy Dr Aurea Mascarenhas of Menezes Polyclinic, she posted it on Facebook….
(Pineapple and oatmeal are the key to rebuilding cartilage, ligaments and knee strengthening..)
TAKE one large chunk pineapple, clean eyes, cube and keep ready to use; 3 tbs oatmeal; 1tbs cinnamon, 1 cup orange juice; honey to taste.
NOW put pineapple and all other ingredients in blender and blend. Drink immediately. Every morning on an empty stomach for best results. Get set to race with anyone for this recipe has antioxidants, anti-inflammatory properties, potassium, magnesium, calcium and all things good. Will make you feel as good as new!