Tiara in Transit

I quietly watch my grandmother count out the 15 pills she’s required to consume each day to keep her running like a well oiled, old, toyota.

Speaking in Chinese, she asks if I know what the 5th type of pil is for? I inspect the 1cm long, flat, white bean, type of drug that looked like it had been picked straight off the tree, dried by the sun, and free from any form of modern manufacturing .

‘No’, I replied, never having seen any drug that looked even close to similar.

Popo, my 84 year-old grandmother, continues to frown in concentration while trying to recollect what this pill was for and why it was needed. Then she shrugs her shoulders and resigns to the fact that if it’s in her pil box, it must be a do or die situation.

Conclusion – I think it’s safe to say that it’s NOT a memory helping drug.