5 November 2015

Where have you gone?

Dear readers, I have some times seen missing person reports on the TV with a mix of feelings. How and why do people go missing? How are their families and friends bearing up with it?

These are people of all age groups and ethnicities making it harder to figure out the possible causes.

An elderly friend of mine who lived not far from me has vanished without a trace. I pass her house on my way to drop and pick my little one from school. I was free to drop in whenever I felt like and wander around her herb garden with her chatting and listening to her wisdom.

A hello to her rescued cockatoo and then we would sit at her cosy kitchen table sipping tea/coffee/herbal concoction of the day, regaling each other with tales from our lives.

She has a herbal/kitchen based remedy for most things.
An oncoming cold/cough she told me could be handled by a spoonful of garlic jam every morning for a few days.
Garlic jam, the words made my eyes all but pop out. But being the sort who will give anything at least one try I went home and made it.
Recipe-
Take 1 pod of garlic, peel and give the cloves one sound pat with something heavy, so that they carck open but don't get mashed.
Put these into a small pan and cover with 2 tablespoons of honey or more.
Simmer until golden and then store.
Ayurveda does not agree with heating/boiling honey but I went ahead and tried it.
The resultant golden jam was delicious in a garlicky way. I ate and fed all and sundry 1 spoon of this on waking till all the cold bugs had been chaes away, steam inhalation and salty gargling aiding the process.

Coming back to my friend, one morning after doing the school run I parked my car outside her home and gave her a call to check if she was home. No answer. I rang the bell. No answer. I went around to peer into her garden and yelled myself hoarse. No answer.

I went home thinking to myself that she must be at the hospital tending to her daughter-in-law who was due to give birth any day.

Since then I have gone there twice a week to check if she's back and rung her phone innumerable times but to no avail.

One of these times a neighbour saw me and came over. She said that my friend hadn't been seen at all for many weeks by then and nobody had any idea about her whereabouts. My friend had gone missing.

I have hit a blank and for the first time ever experienced something like this. It's left me wondering and feeling a little empty every time I think of her.

I hope she is safe, healthy and happy wherever she is.