Madhu B Joshi
With corona crisis deepening every second, there are a number of advises people have been receiving from family, well-wishers and various sources. Prevention is the key undoubtedly. So exercising the basic hygiene like washing your hands with soap and water (no need for dicey hand sanitisers), cleaning all frequently touched surfaces like door knobs, handles and kitchen counters with hydrogen peroxide (very effective, cheap and easily available at chemist shops) while keeping your immunity levels high is the way to go.
How to boost your immunity: Consuming lemons, oranges, tomatoes and green vegetables is a must. Also, these are inexpensive and easily available thanks to the prolonged spell of low temperature, the same factor that might be supporting corona spread, although there is no scientific theory to back this right now.
So apart from the leafy vegetables and foods rich in Vitamin C that boost your immunity, one can consume hot soup, milk, tea boiled with turmeric or simply nimbu pani in warm or hot water. There is no harm in trying these gharelu nuskhe considering there is no side effects to them and they only boost your health in general.
You should also try and not let your throat go dry. So ingesting a glass of warm water with a spoonful of honey is a good idea. Honey keeps your throat and skin-hair-nails moisturised, It would also take care of that unpleasant itchiness in the throat you are likely to have because of a range of pollutants. Gargling with warm saline water is also good. Plus, it will make you look like a million dollars is an added bonus.
Keep your breathing tract clear. Drinking a cup of garlic soup or a glass of rasam soup (recipes at the end of the article) is a delicious way to do that. A low cost, no sweat way is to let eucalyptus oil permeate the air around you. At home this can be done by puncturing a hole in the screw top of a 100 ml vial of the oil (available at most chemists for Rs. 100-120.) and keeping one in each of the rooms.
The oil vapours will mix with the air and keep your breathing tract clean and dilated. Also do simple breathing exercises like anulom-vilom and kapalbhati. It will certainly help keep our lungs that have been constantly exposed to pollution, healthy.
And, most of all, instead of fretting, use this period of low outdoor activity in doing what you have been denying yourself for so long: reading, chatting with friends, exercising, deep cleaning your mind and home, listening to music, embroidering-knitting-painting-sewing etc.
Easy recipes to boost immunity
Garlic soup (makes two servings)
6 cloves of garlic, 10 almonds soaked and husk removed, 10 black peppers/kali mirch/ peppercorns.
Blend to a chutney consistency in a mixer with spoonfuls of water. Bring a glass of water to a boil, add the chutney, cover the pot. Leave for 5 minutes. Switch off gas. Add 1/4 cup of hot milk and about 1 gram of salt. Keep covered for 2 minutes. Happy drinking!
Rasam soup (makes two servings)
1 teaspoon zeera /cumin seeds; 1 teaspoon dhaniya/coriander seeds; 1/2 teaspoon black peppers/kali mirch/ peppercorns; 2 large ripe red tomatoes; ¼ inch piece of ginger or 4 cloves of garlic: half a juicy lemon; 20 karipatta; salt to taste; two glasses of plain water.
Lightly dry roast the dry spices and let cool. Put the roasted spices and salt in the blender and powder, add the ginger/garlic, karipatta, tomatoes, blend to a smooth chutney consistency. In a pan boil water and the chutney together till tomatoes are cooked. Pour the soup in glasses, top with lemon juice. Serve with moong papad, puffed rice (murmure) or plain crackers.