Being Mom is no easy job. It is tough enough on regular days – but at least it is a lot of fun The job however becomes heart wrenchingly painful and really difficult to handle – when little ones are ill. I am Mom to an eight year old and I can vouch for that. When you are a Mamma – your little one suffering from fever – is TERRIBLE! And coughs, colds or throat pains are sometimes just as bad. An upset stomach can upset you terribly. And an injury on their person can leave you aching and hurting more than you can ever imagine. You want to do something to make things better. Something – anything! But WHAT? I have often found myself asking this question in desperation when my daughter is ill. As a doctor – I know that most coughs, colds and fevers are caused by viruses and that - viral infections do not require to be treated with antibiotics. All that one really needs to do to treat a viral infection is – to take lots and lots of rest – and do nothing else but wait. But it is tough to see your little one suffer and not do anything about it. And patience is the one virtue that is really put to the test when your little one is ill. It was once when I was almost running out of patience and resisting the urge to give my baby a drug for a terrible cold that she had caught – that I discovered something that I could actually DO. I was pacing the corridors of my house with a cranky ill baby – when a neighbourhood Aunty – my neighbour’s mom walked in. As her kind and gentle eyes probed me – a flood of tears threatened to overcome me and my voice shook as I conveyed how desperate I was to do something and how I could think of nothing to do to alleviate my little ones symptoms. And she said – “Have you given her Haldi wala doodh (milk with turmeric added) yet?” Of course I hadn’t. Home remedies were not something I had ever practised too much of and I didn’t know too much about them – but Aunty insisted – and I thought – why not. Milk and haldi were both things that could not be classified as drugs. Milk was something I believed in anyway – because it was a complete food that supplied all the nutrients in a glassful. And the goodness of Haldi was what prompted its use in almost every Indian dish. Together they were sure to be even better. And if they relieved symptoms and helped my baby recover – why not? And so with Aunty’s help – I went about making and administering Haldi wala doodh that day. It gave me the satisfaction of doing something without doing something wrong (like administering and extra drug – just to tide over the cranky atmosphere in the house). And my baby finally fell asleep – so maybe it worked. I then read up on Haldi and found an article on the Huffington Post called “5 Ways Modern Science is Embracing Ancient Indian Wisdom” and in that they called Turmeric “A Miracle Cure’. Turmeric the article says is a powerful anti – inflammatory agent – which is probably why it reduces symptoms if you take it when you have a cold or even if you are injured. It also supposed to reduce indigestion and heartburn. That is an added plus point because colds usually also leave one with a gently revolting stomach and if this mix calms that down – even better. There are of course articles warning against the excessive use of the spice and articles that advice it’s restricted use in certain cases. But by and large – a tiny pinch of turmeric in a glass of milk – appears to be a time tested and harmless home remedy that is according to ancient Indian wisdom – also very beneficial in many ways. Mooshake is a brand that has recently come out with turmeric milk in various appealing flavours. Moms like me will now not need to leave cranky ill children alone to whine while they prepare haldi wala doodh in the kitchen. Luckily for them – the haldi enriched flavoured milk from Mooshake is packaged in Tetra Pak cartons and for them – is now just the ‘snip of a scissors’ or ‘a prick of a straw away'. #MilkJustGotSooper 
The plan was always to parent only one child – but I inadvertently ended up with two.
The younger one of the pair – I must admit has always been much easier to parent – primarily because she was born to me and is aged eight . Parenting the older one is a task that has always required much more brain manoeuvring on my part – first, because I acquired him by marriage and second, because he is Forty two. In the fifteen years that I have been married I have had to parent my husband much more diligently – especially where healthy eating habits are concerned – than I have ever had to parent my daughter. Like father – like daughter – the taste buds of both - veer in their likes towards anything that is tasty. And so they always try to pick out the tastier versions of Healthy Food. I however am quite the stickler for genuine taste. I insist that they develop a taste for the unmasked versions of healthy food. Clouding the taste buds and fooling them into thinking they are eating chocolate or strawberries – when they are actually drinking milk – is something I am very much against. Father and daughter however are quite unscrupulous in this regard – and do not hesitate to con their taste buds whenever they can. With this being the prevailing scenario in the house we have always had this raging debate about flavoured milk in the house. I insist that milk packed in Tetra Pak cartons is so tasty by itself that it does not require any additional flavouring. They argue otherwise. They say that when a tasty thing has been made tastier still by adding flavour to it – why ever should they not consume that? My warnings - some audible and some not so audible - about the excess sugar that they take in by drinking flavoured milk – follow them around in a steady stream as we wind our way through the aisles of departmental stores. But I am usually badly outnumbered – and we still come back with a stack of flavoured milk. In the past I have always had the pleasure of being in the right. I used to snootily look down my nose at the lesser mortals in my house as they indulged themselves with flavoured milk. I used to proudly raise my eyebrows, twist my mouth in disgust and fix them with cold stares whenever they decided to actually drink the bought flavoured milk. But not anymore. Ever since Mooshake arrived in the market the father daughter duo have had the upper hand. As they drink the flavoured milk of that brand – if I fix them with a cold stare – they challenge me with their questioning – “What?” expressions. Mooshake is a brand that has added Haldi to the milk they package in Tetra Pak cartons and then they have gone a step ahead and added totally yummy flavours to the Milk and Haldi mix. The result is a delicious delicious drink. Even I have to admit that. The drink - as is pointed out to me time and again by my family – is endowed with the goodness of Haldi (an ancient Indian spice which is considered an all-round home remedy) and of course Milk (which is almost every nutrient you need for good health in a neat package – as I repeatedly remind them). What can you not like about it? Very little – I have to admit. Of the four available flavours - the family favourite is definitely the Peachy Strawberry flavour with Slurpy Mango coming a close second. We like the Oh So Chocolatee when it is chilled so that has earned it spot number three on the list but Nutty Badam we think tastes a little too rich. It tastes OK however when it is chilled. The other flavours of course are just mind blowing when they are chilled. And so with the arrival of Mooshake - flavoured milk has found favour in our home at long last. I have had to replace my downturned grimacing mouth – with a benign upturned smiling mouth. Everyone in my house is delighted. I can’t say – I am not. #MilkJustGotSooper |
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