Alive and spitting

Take a walk through the alleys of old Dubai and Sharjah. Splatters of blood-red spittle taint most walls, boulders and streets of Naif and Rolla.

Rumour has it that it died a 'contained' death on October 6, 2008, when the Dubai Municipality decided to launch the 'Say Yes to Clean Naif' campaign.

However, stained walls and alleyways in some of the older parts of Dubai and Sharjah provide proof to the contrary. The paan may still be alive, as betel leaf chewers continue to deface the city.

No, it is not a secret band of Jackson Pollock followers thrilling in abstract expressionism but the shenanigans of the 'paan' brigade.

Twenty minutes is all it takes for a betel nut to paint the town red. From being diced into thin slices and rolled up in a betel leaf to being chewed into a 'spittable' consistency.

Colloquially known as 'paan', the green triangular leaf fold contains other secrets too - spices like clove and cardamom, with tobacco if desired and lime paste. A food dye contained in the betel nut combines with the lime paste and saliva to form a fibrous residue.

Most betel leaf chewers, unable to swallow the copious fluid, spew it out. The result is abstract red images that have de-beautified certain areas of the UAE.

Evidence of the popularity of betel leaf chewing has led Dubai municipality to launch its directive - any person caught spitting in public places will be liable to a Dh500 fine.

The heart-shaped betel leaf grows on a creeper, similar to the grape vine. One can smell the plant from a distance. It can grow in height up to one metre and is available throughout the year.

The popularity of paan chewing in the UAE can be traced to expatriates from South Asia, as the practice is alien to Emirati culture.

A thousand-year-old delicacy and favoured mostly by royalty, the betel's earliest reference is in the Mahawasma, a book on Sri Lankan history, written in Pali.

References to the betel leaf have also been traced to as early as 1BC, as part of ancient Greek, Sanskrit and Chinese literature.

Paan chewing, as a habit was later adopted by Buddhism and spread from India to China, Vietnam, Burma, Thailand Cambodia, Malaysia, Sumatra and Bali.

The bitter betel is an integral part of social interaction and cultivated in most parts of modern India, Malaysia and Vietnam, Micronesia and Polynesia. A common courtesy and popular practice is to have the paan served at the end of each meal. If you are Vietnamese, your conversations most probably do not start off without the betel 'breaking the ice'.

In India, the betel is as much a part of history as the icon of love - the Taj Mahal.

Legend has it that Queen Noorjahan of the Mughal dynasty would chew the paan to acquire a natural redness to her lips - a beauty alternative to its modern-day chemical cousin, the lipstick.

Before the introduction of chewing gum and instant menthol, a lot of people would use paan to ward off bad breath, maintain good dental health and as an aphrodisiac.

Although many believe paan to be detrimental to health especially when it contains tobacco, researchers look at the betel leaf as being a medical miracle because it has shown cancer curative properties in lab mice. Further research is being conducted to this effect, particularly in Japan. If successful, it could mean cheaper treatment for cancer.

Risk: Cancer link

Despite the fact that the betel leaf finds place in many herbal treatments and exotic cooking, Dr Hasrat Parkar, a specialist in family medicine at the Al Tawam hospital in Al Ain, believes that the negative effects considerably outweigh the positives.

He said: "Use of the nut may produce mental stimulation. However, for a paan addict, it could lead to an increased risk of oral cancer from tobacco, along with a risk of dependence, especially in long-term use. However, this does not mean that every paan eater will get cancer, just that the risk is higher."

Parkar affirms that the damage to the environment is of great concern, too, as chewing betel nut and spitting it frequently can spread respiratory pathogens as well as deface the surroundings. Other harmful effects include gum inflammation and asthma.

He said: "Unfortunately, these conditions are common in populations with a high betel nut usage, for example the Indian subcontinent, Taiwan and Malaysia. The UAE national population does not indulge in this habit, and all my patients here are Emiratis."

Parkar advises addicts to avoid chewing paan, especially with tobacco. He said that the effects are similar to that of other addictive substances.

It is very disgusting. My only question to those who chew paan and deface public areas - will you ever do the same inside your own house and continue living there all the time? Wakeup! Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Help keep our city beautiful. Don't pay the price and keep our city nice.
Albert Stephen
Chennai,India
Posted: February 27, 2009, 17:16

Paan must be stopped as it is spoiling the image.
Mozammel Hoque
DUBAI,UAE
Posted: February 27, 2009, 16:46