SMOKING IS INJURIOUS TO HEALTH

Obviously, you know that smoking is indeed injurious to health. The health ministers and related people have shouted until they could do no more. The researches have spent millions of dollars getting the truth out for you to see how a ciggarate can damage your internals and externals. It has been proven over and over again how smoking can be a deterring factor socially, economically and healthwise. Despite that, you still hold a ciggarette with pride instead of shame.

So, it's time to ask yourself, "What is stopping me from quitting killing myself and others around me?" (Yes, that's what a cigg basically does, makes you a coward and a murderer! Remember, a cell is  a living unit too!)

Let us analyse some of the most common but lesser talked about responses. 

1. "I always want to quit but I keep postponing."

Are you one of those who believe in "Let this be the last cigg? I will quit from tomorrow or a set date/day?" Well, for your information: Tomorrow never comes! So let that moment be NOW! Let your last cigg be the one you had smoked the last time.

2. "One cigg can't kill me."

Is this your mantra? Well, you are fooling yourself. Not only one cigg, but a single puff can harm your delicate lungs. Recall when you smoked for the first time, all that chokes, cough and reflexes?  Great, now you got my point! Besides, how do you know which particular ciggaratte actually turned that cell of yours into cancerous? Stop Now!

3. "I smoke only when with friends."

If you are a teenager and often find yourself repeating this statement every time you are being asked about your smoking habits, then beware! It could be just the start of a long addiction! Your proud statement should be "I don't need a ciggarette to prove how cool I am."

4. "Smoking is cool."

Sorry, Mr. Fool but smoking isn't cool at all. Infact, smokers stink and that's why you rush to look for a mouth freshner soon after smoking. Check out your fingers, lips and teeth after smoking for years. Oh and did I forget wrinkled skin and burnt lungs? Did you know you can actually have poor eyesight because of smoking and the chances of damaged blood vessels and heart problems?

5. If it weren't for ciggarate,  could you have been a proud owner of a brand new Ford Fiesta or a Chevrolet Sonic? Let's see how. Here is a quick and simplified calculation (I am no mathematician).

Suppose a pack of 20 cigg costs you $10 (cost varies per brand and country).

You smoke a pack every other day (underestimating,  as people smoke more than this!)

So, 

In one month =15 packs= $150

In a year, $150 x 12= $1,800

And you've been smoking for the past 10 years? $1,800 x 10 = $18,000 

Wow, now that makes you a rich guy! 

A Ford Fiesta, Chevrolet Sonic or SUV costs just around $18,000. 

Now, that makes you a fool! Buying a rolled slow poison in a piece of paper which burnt you and itself, giving you and your loved ones chances of ill health while all this time you could have saved and had a wonderful, healthy and a luxurious life! What a waste! Isn't it? Of course, it hurts you more now because you know you have wasted more money than I have exemplified. 

Moreover, the bonus that ciggaratte gives you is a wrinkled, stained, ugly stink, blinded, bedridden with excessive cough and perhaps emanciated self due to an oral cancer!

That's an amazing returns for investing hundreds of hard earned dollars into tobacco with piles of ashes as the interest!

So, what you waiting for? Quit NOW! Never look for a ciggarate or tobacco related products again. Infact, don't look for an alternative,  simply stop the habit. Remember to say NO to smoking! Smoking is injurious to health, even your ciggarette packet has that as a statutory warning.

Courtesy: QuoteAddicts

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Apricot Scrub Review by Himalaya Herbals

As part of routine cleansing,  a facial scrub plays an essential role in removing dead skin cells and deeply embedded impurities leaving the skin soft, supple and refreshed. 

Exfoliating prevents the skin from looking lifeless and dull. It also prevents acne and blackheads. Since exfoliation should ideally be done twice or thrice a week, a gentle and relatively chemical free herbal product would be an ideal choice. One such product I came across is the Apricot scrub by Himalaya Herbals. 

Product name: Gentle Exfoliating Apricot Scrub

Key ingredients:
Apricot, Apple and Wheatgerm Oil.

Packaging: a 100 gram plastic tube containing an off-white coloured scrub in a creamy base with tiny brownish granules. (picture attached)

Fragrance: A pleasant apple and apricote smell.

Direction of use: (FOR EXTERNAL USE ONLY)
Gently massage the scrub in a circular motion over wet face and neck using fingertips, avoiding the area under the eyes. Wash off and pat dry. Use twice to thrice a week for healthy glowing skin.

Price: 115 Indian Rupees for 100 gram tube

Shelf life: Three years

Storage: Store in a cool dry place.  

Pros of Apricot Scrub
1. Natural herbal product- no harmful chemicals
2. Hypoallergenic
3. Gentle on skin, the fine granules gives a soft gritty feel leaving the skin supple and glowing.
4. Affordable
5. Lasts long - about six months or more if a tube is used by a single person
7. Contains Vitamin E which is vital for skin rejuvination
8. Nourishes skin.
9. Helps fight excess oil
10. Helps fight acne and blackheads. 
11. Pleasant fragrance.
12. Can be used regularly .
13. Efficacy remains the same over time.

Cons of Apricot Scrub
1. Can change colour as it is a herbal formulation.
2. Takes longer time to improve skin complexion.

My experience:
I have to admit that I am not a regular user of this product, I use it only when I need a scrub occasionally.  Despite this, I just loved its smell and the consistency.  It is easy to use and does not end up giving the over scrubbed effect like its Walnut scrub counterpart nor does it abrade the skin. Moreover, it leaves the skin soft, supple and glowing as it claims, immediately after its use.

I would definitely recommend this product to be included as a part of your routine facial care. The best news is, it is a unisex product!

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Neem Active Toothpaste Review

As the world is moving into re-experimenting on herbals, I thought a daily use product would be an ideal to shade some light on.

Product name: Neem Active Toothpaste from Henkel India. The company also is known for its Margo soap as its trademark.

Product description: A light green tooth paste.

Flavour: It has an added mint flavour.

Packaging: a 200 gram tube with a nozzle cap. (Pic attached)

Cost: INR 65 (MRP) in regular stores.

Direction to use: Open the cap and squeeze the tube from the bottom to the top.

Introduction:
Neem Active Toothpaste claims to offer a complete oral care. It is 100% vegetarian and have efficacy in preventing cavities, long lasting freshness and strengthening teeth and gums.

Ingredients:
It contains a long list of hard to pronounce compounds but the active ingredients are calcium carbonate, Glycerin,  hydrated silica, sodium carboxymethylcellulose,  Neem extract, sodium monoflouro phosphate and Tea Tree oil among others. These are all natural and nature derived ingredients. The toothpaste is 98% herbal.

Properties: Because it contains Neem (Azadirachta) extract which is a strong naturally occuring anti-bacterial, the toothpaste helps to fight germs. The product also claims to prevent bleeding gums and inflammation. The mint flavour helps fight bad breathe for hours.

My experience:
Easy to open and recap. 
Easy recapping with no spill over.
Tastes good. Minty and fresh.
Easily accepted by children due to its flavour and mild strength.
A pea size quantity suffices to clean the entire mouth per use.

I have been using it for four months once daily and I still have half of the tube intact. The number of users for the paste are 5 per day. So basically it is cost effective for the entire family use.

It has a temporary fresh feel but the minty flavour lasts for hours.

Compared to other toothpastes falling in a similar category like Dabur red paste and Meswak, Neem Active toothpaste lack the efficiency of whitening the teeth.

Conclusion:
Neem Active Toothpaste is a herbal choice for those who can't adjust with chemical-loaded toothpastes. It might offer what it says if used twice daily. It is an affordable product for a complete oral care for the entire family.

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The cons of compulsory voting

The right to vote is the pinnacle of the pyramid that we call as a democracy. Bestowing the power in the hands of the people is how citizens can exercise their right of choosing nominated candidates as fit for running the country. However, not every citizen is qualified enough to make this decision and so the right to vote should be exercised with severe caution. A wrongly contested vote can tip the balance of power and leave the country in the hands of incompetent people which could have serious consequences on the growth and future economic aspirations of the country.

Firstly of all, the very idea of a democracy rests in bestowing its citizens with the power of choice. If a citizen is indifferent to the nominated candidates of the contesting parties then he or she may choose not exercise their vote. They could also refrain from casting their vote if the ideologies of the candidates do not resonate deeply with their thoughts. Secondly, enforcing the choice on the citizens can directly hamper the voting process where the voices of candidates who were unable to reach out to the masses would get drowned out due to lack of information. In a country where the streaming media hasn’t penetrated into the masses, it would lead to a dictatorial rule. It could also lead to the ruling party devising unscrupulous means of demanding votes and thereby prevent new candidates with fairly low influence from casting their opinions on impressionable voters.

It is evident that voting is a choice, and in order for a healthy, stable rule and a country to flourish, the power to cast votes should always remain in the hands of the people.

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Embracing the unknown

The next time you are on a public transport, put your phone down, remove your earplugs and take a good look around you. What do you see? People texting on their phones, not wanting to meet each other’s gaze, avoiding contact as much as possible yet remaining in touch virtually with their near and dear ones. Why, even after being so close, are we so distant from one another? What prompts people to shy away from genuine human interaction, but compels them to not leave a message unread? 

There is no denying the fact that technology has obliterated boundaries. We as a species are more accessible to each other now than ever before. Its primary function is to act as a tool to maintain an already existing human relationship and not replace it. What started as a means to find emotional connections through pages like messengers and MSN, has become the connection itself. Today, apps like Tinder have made finding love so profoundly transactional that it is no different than buying a t-shirt. We look at the statistics, zoom in on the pictures, form our notions which hinder the whole process of going out there and embracing the unknown.

The idea of meeting a tall, dark and handsome stranger on a bus has only been a dream. In reality, we are driven by our falsified prejudicated perceptions of people. At first glance, we make up our minds of who the person is without even uttering a word of greeting. It is this misguided, judgemental nature that brings us to our next big problem. Loneliness. We have all gone through the phase of feeling alone, being part of a pain that is beyond the comprehension of another human. The notion that we don’t fit in constantly looms over our heads. This is another misconception that we seem to carry, along with our perceptive eyes.

We continue to reply to questions such as “How are you?” in an almost repetitively similar way. “I’m fine” is the ideal response that society asks to say, but are we really fine? We carry this veil of the person that society wants us to be and use it as a mask to hide the character that truly lies beneath. Wouldn’t the people who we feel won’t understand our pain, have a better grasp at our mental state if we just communicated how we really are, not just through words and smileys, but through expressions. When we begin to do this we would realize how alike we all are. It is our loneliness, the need to form a genuine connect with people that binds us.

We are so entwined in the past, so lost in the decay of a relationship that we continue to ignore what the present can bring for us. It is that decay, the emotional turmoil faced at the end of a relationship that hinders us to initiate a new connection. Why, things that started off with intense passion loose steam and end up dry and lifeless has always eluded is. And it is this very reason that we shield ourselves emotionally.

Change is inevitable. We as a species and individually evolve every day. When we start on a journey with someone, along the way we allow our experiences to change our wants and desires. Along with those changes, we also allow ourselves to outgrow the person that we were. In a long standing relationship this can be seen as a hindrance. Rather than being confined it would seem that the relationship is blocking us from truly realizing our potential. We become hesitant. The things that were once shared, the thought of constantly telling our newest desires, don’t get communicated anymore.  “They won’t understand me” is the explanation that we give to our changing attitudes towards our partners. This can bleed negativity and inadvertently cause the couple to become distant to the point when we lose all emotional attachments that we had to our partner and realize we are just waking up next to a stranger every morning. And it is in this struggle to maintain one’s individuality or sacrifice for the sake of the partner that the relationship ultimately suffers. Minor arguments can then eventually, boil into catastrophic fights which just unlock the ticking time bomb that the relationship was and destroy it. This can be devastating to both the parties and it would only make sense to focus on oneself and avoid being in a relationship altogether after it’s ended. It is then that we shield ourselves with technology and use it as a crutch.

It is critical that we continue on the path of greater self-awareness at the same time being considerate to the needs of our partners. Depression can slowly creep in if we keep ourselves limited to the confines of our situation. We all dream about getting comfortable in a cushy job but when that finally happens we realize we are not satisfied. When the dreaded realization of stability hits us we find ourselves in a situation when we feel that nothing can be done about it. We let the monotony define our lives and that kills our want to seek the thrill of embracing uncharted ventures. The relationship takes a serious fall for things that clearly can be in our control. We lose the trust that we once had on our intellect that we won’t able to navigate through the toughest of challenges and thus keep content with being average. We can’t change what’s going on around us until we fight the battle that is raging within us. Have faith in your strong character. Have trust that the accolades you coveted in the past were well deserving and given the opportunity you can prove your worth once again.

The unknown has always fascinated us than the known. Humans have undergone centuries of evolution but our basic human needs of acceptance, love and achieving great success have remained the same. We are luckier now than our forefathers ever were. At the mere click of a button we have the world waiting, ready to be explored. We crave for genuine affection and intimacy which our touchscreens simply can’t provide. It is our hunger for striving to be the best versions of ourselves that has driven us for centuries. Weather to keep lingering in the past and get cosy in an average life, or to undo the shackles of monotony and embrace the unknown; the choice is completely ours. 

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