Beauty and Personal Grooming

You relish eating hot, spicy food. But this time, your mouth is literally on fire from too much spice especially as the spicy dish that you are savoring is full of chili peppers & also flavored with garam masala. Your immediate reaction would be to gulp half a dozen of glasses of water to relieve that fire in your mouth. Apparently, water doesn’t soothe a mouth on fire. This burning is actually caused by the component capsaicin present in chilis which adheres to your taste buds and other receptors in your mouth. Plainly, this substance is not soluble in water. So if you try to satiate your burning mouth with water, it doesn’t help. Cold milk (boiled and cooled), instead is great. So drink a glass of milk and relieve yourself from the burning sensation. Casein the principle protein in milk, helps remove the capsaicin from your mouth. Alternatively you can consider buttermilk or yogurt (curds, dahi) also. Eating a tsp of sugar also helps or you can add 1-2 tsp to a small glass of water, stir well and drink the solution.

(Guest Post by Smitha)

All of us have experienced, sometime or the other, that frustrated feeling of being ignored. You find you have to repeat yourself so many times! People seem preoccupied and not really listening to you. And worse, others seem to just butt in while you are still talking and steer the conversation away right from under your nose!

Well, it happens to everybody sometimes. But if it happens more than sometimes, you must sit up and analyze yourself. To be habitually ignored, does not augur well for your emotional and physical well-being. It can adversely affect your career and life. Experts say the major reason for this sorry state is poor speech impact. You may be a brilliant person with original ideas and intelligent thoughts. But if your speech lacks even the average impact, all your ideas will fall flat. No one will listen to you.


Like Rita. At her office meetings, her ideas and suggestions always go unheard and unnoticed while far more inferior ones actually get accepted. Rita, naturally, feels frustrated and sad. “I don’t see myself in any way inferior to my colleagues” she laments, “but somehow, always others get heard more than me.”
Sumati lives in a joint family and often remarks, “I don’t know why, though I am loved by all, no one seems to take me seriously.” All major and minor family decisions are taken without even one of her suggestions meriting acceptance.

We all know that speech is the vehicle of thought. On the quality of this vehicle depends the successful translation and communication of our ideas.
The quality of speech is determined by the language used, speed, tone and volume of voice.

Confused about what to get that fancy lady in your life for Valentine's Day this year? Why not consider the wonderful array of beauty products at your disposal? Most women love a good pamper, and nothing says, "Because I think you're beautiful!" like receiving beauty gifts. Here are five suggestions for cosmetic and perfume presents that are just right for this Valentine's Day.