I had Indian nose piercing in honour of marriage goddess Parvati, and met the love of my life. Coincidence?
- The author travelled to India with her mother to seek a cure for Lyme disease, and on a whim both had their noses pierced
- Cured, she returned to the hospital two years later and met someone she would go on to marry. She’s not sure if she should credit the marriage goddess
“Babe, I want to get my nose pierced like the Indians. You have to do it with me,” my 65-year-old mum announced with excitement. We were strolling down the street in Delhi, India, sipping lattes when she dropped the bombshell. It was a bright and warm afternoon. The smog was absent, which made me long for my home in California. I shot my mother an “Are you serious?” look as her blonde ponytail swung with hope.
We had arrived in India a few weeks earlier with vaccine records and visas. We were there for something I couldn’t find at home: a cure. For seven years, my body had been falling apart from late-stage, chronic Lyme disease. My heart raced constantly, I had lesions on my brain, and my body seethed in pain from head to toe. I was almost more afraid of living than of dying. The best doctors in the United States had admitted defeat. I was 28, and no one could help me.
In a tiny hospital on the outskirts of Delhi, a female Indian doctor offered an experimental stem cell treatment to incurable patients. My internet research returned contradictory results, such as “medical maverick” and “seller of snake oil”. My specialist at home warned that the treatment could kill me.
When I told my parents that I wanted to go to anyway, they said, “If you’re going, we’re going, too.” It would become the epic family vacation we never asked for – my parents leaving the United States for the first time, and struggling through the ups and downs of my dad’s depression without the comforts of home.
“Come on, I came all the way to India for you. You owe me this nose ring,” mum joked – or maybe she was serious.