RJD chief Lalu Prasad on Sunday donned the role of doctor and during a news meet at his residence prescribed a number of home remedies to beat the scorching heat. He first held up a tikola (unripe mango) and said: “This is tikola and it is the best way to beat the heat wave. First boil the tikola and then drink its juice by mixing it with mint, black salt and water.
“Suppose someone is down with sunstroke,” he continued. “Again, boil a tikola. After it cools, rub the tikola on the whole body and after a few minutes take a bath; you will feel relaxed.”

There are more than 10 mango trees at 10 Circular Road and Lalu uses the unripe fruits for the family.
His third tip: “Take 1kg curd, add jaggery and water as per the number of people, and mix it. This drink is very good for the stomach; it will keep the liver functioning smoothly and you will not feel the heat.”

He also urged people to drink sattu (roasted gram powder), “Sattu is very good in summer. However, you must add onion, green chilli, salt, roasted powder of cumin seed and lemon. Drink two to three glasses of sattu before heading out of the house. You will feel relaxed.”

Lalu is a sattu aficionado and he has a signature style of consuming it. He mixes water, salt and tikola chutney in the sattu. 

He also advised people to drink sugarcane juice without ice, water kept in earthen pots and avoid cold aerated drinks. 
He asked the state government to dig at least 10 wells in every village to tackle frequent fires and declared that Prime Minister Narendra Modi took oath during an inauspicious occasion and hence the country was facing drought.

Text by Amit Bhelari, picture by Ranjeet Kumar Dey