When I went to purchase milk at the Mother Diary Booth today, I was surprised to find Turmeric milk. It is priced at Rupees 25 and on an impulse, for I was little amused, I purchased it. The milk has no flavour of Turmeric (Haldi in Hindi); it was too sweet and to add insult to injury it was butterscotch flavoured. Exactly what Haldi milk is not.
Amma used to make us drink hot milk with haldi powder (or Manjapodi in Tamil) and pepper. whenever we had sore throat. Sugar was never added. The milk was given to us last thing in the night before we went to sleep. Couple of days of it and the sore throat would disappear. Growing up my brother and I never took cough syrups or antibiotics for cold. Even now whenever we tell her that we have sore throat, she will instruct us to drink milk with manjapodi and pepper.
Nowadays, Sumitra, my maid, who is well-versed in latest trends, exhorts me to drink haldi milk everyday. In winters we get fresh turmeric root in the market. So instead of using the powder, she ensures that I grate the root, boil milk with that, and drink it every night. This summer she got fresh roots for me from her native state, Uttarakhand. But hot milk during summer is something I cannot do. So I will wait for the temperature to cool down before satisfying Sumitra.
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