"While my older sister is a trained doctor in Western allopathic medicine, my parents are big believers in traditional remedies. Having grown up in a small town in India, I am accustomed to rituals. My dad had a ritual too. Every time we visited his home village in southern Tamil Nadu, he'd get a bottle of thick, pungent, herb-infused oil from a vaithiyar, a traditional doctor practising Siddha medicine."
"Dad's tumour showed signs of being malignant, so the hospital doctors and my sister strongly recommended surgery. My parents were against the idea, worried it could affect my dad's speech. This is usually where I come in, as the expert mediator in the family. Like any good millennial, I turned to the internet for help in guiding the decision. After days of thorough research, I (as usual) sided with my sister and pushed for the surgery. The internet backed us up."
"We eventually got my dad to agree and even set a date. But then, he slyly used my sister's pregnancy as a distraction to skip the surgery altogether. While we pestered him every day to get it done, he was secretly taking his herbal concoction. And, lo and behold, after several months the tumour actually shrank and eventually disappeared. That whole episode definitely earned my dad some bragging rights."
My dad was diagnosed with a tongue tumour and faced a choice between surgery and traditional remedies. My older sister, a Western-trained doctor, and hospital physicians recommended surgery while my parents preferred traditional Siddha treatments. I mediated, conducted extensive online research, and supported the surgical option. My dad postponed the operation and used a herb-infused oil from a vaithiyar; over several months the tumour shrank and disappeared. The unexpected outcome challenged assumptions about the efficacy of traditional remedies and exposed overreliance on digital authority. The experience prompted reconsideration of trust dynamics between traditional knowledge and internet-based medical information in an AI-driven world.
Read at Aeon
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