From Harry Miller
Madras, India
Perhaps if your urban contributors Anil Agarwal and Sunita Narain had spent
twenty years of their lives in an Indian village, as I have done, they might
have noticed yet another and more novel use for the root that yields turmeric
(“Pirates in the garden of India”, 26 October 1996, p 14). Village women
periodically assume over whatever parts of their skin that can be seen a deep
yellow, for the application of turmeric paste over the whole body keeps them
entirely free of undesirable superfluous hair.
Unfortunately, this is a messy business liable to stain not only skins but
wash-basins and bathtubs. Therefore the practice has been discontinued and has
now been forgotten among affluent, middle-class city dwellers.
A fortune awaits the chemist who can isolate the active depilatory in
turmeric. No more ladies with hairy legs to shave, or wispy moustaches to
embarrass.
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As for the neem tree, there are reasons to think that its insecticidal
properties may have been somewhat overrated. See Nature (Asia &
Pacific edition), p 532, 7 December, 1995.
