Dear Patanjali Products, ‘Dark Complexion’ is not a skin ailment!

Our country’s obsession with fair complexion is no secret. Fair skin has always been the desire of people since ages and has been associated with beauty. “Let’s scrub out that tan” is a common refrain in beauty parlours in India, where girls grow up with constant reminders that only fair skin is beautiful. From Sunday classified ads looking for “a fair good looking girl’’ to neighbourhood aunties advising saffron paste to “maintain the complexion”, the  subtle sign are  present everywhere. This obsession of white skin has given a golden opportunity to the cosmetics and FMCG companies to heavily bank on it.   Our top most celebrities like Shah Rukh Khan,Hrithik Roshan  Aishwarya Rai,  Sonam Kapoor , John Abraham have millions of fans looking upto them and all have the dubious honour of endorsing a skin lightening product.     Though skin fairness products are widely used worldwide, their excessive consumption is mostly found from the Asian and African countries.

Today , the consumers can find a wide range of fairness products; fairness creams, fairness soaps, fairness face washes -- all that promise to make our "dark" faces, knees, elbows, and other parts of the body multiple shades fairer. Some of the popular ones are Fair & Lovely, Fairever, L’Oreal, Olay and Neutrogena. Continuing with the trend, in a new low, a company which promised to be different from the rest of the lot- ‘Patanjali’ fueled  the very thought while marketing their "Beauty Cream" by calling ‘dark complexion’ as a skin ailment. In an ad published in Deccan Chronicle on 17th December, Patanjali, advertised their "Beauty Cream" to heal dry skin, wrinkles, and dark complexion. The product claims to heal and give you the confidence of 100% natural beauty. And a careful look at the ad, shows how products from other MNCs "are full of chemicals while Patanjali products are "natural"!

Is it not sad? A company that swears by everything that is ‘swadeshi’ is   propagating an idea about ‘fair skin’ which was a gift handed down to us by British. As for calling ‘dark complexion’ as a ‘skin ailment’ is so ironic as leaving a few regions, most of us have wheatish to dusky complexion. This type of advertising is really irresponsible.

Beauty is definitely beyond colour. It's time  as a nation we  raise our voice against these brands and let them know that  every shade of skin tone is beautiful. Real change can come  when majority of the citizens let go their light skin fetish and cherish their own skin colour. Advertisements which promote  colourism equality and showcase the idea that being darker will not stop anyone from achieving their dreams.Also as parents we need to educate our children on the importance of striving to be comfortable in their own bodies.

This world be surely be a better place if we all our  comfortable in our own skin and realise that there is more to life than skin colour. 

Mommy Meltdown Moments- Moms, Can You Relate?

Being a mom is wonderful! There are so many beautiful moments and then there are some not so beautiful moments. Like life, motherhood is also not a bed of roses. Once in a while we all lose our control with our kids! Yes, we all have been there! Occasionally we all have a meltdown .We all yell, cry and scream at our kids! Here is a funny take on some common mommy meltdowns moments that really make us think “I just can’t deal with him/her now”

1.   To Pee Or Not To Pee- You ask your toddler a zillion times if she needs to use the potty before you leave home, and you only get no’s and yet when you are midway between home and destination, she cannot hold and really needs to go RIGHT NOW.

2.   No One Seems To Be Listening- You have asked your little munchkin to pick up the toys that few minutes back you just organized. In between you requested your husband to open the door as the bell has is ringing. There are umpteen tasks that needs to be done; the dinner needs to be cooked, the laundry needs to be done and much more. And what happens? Your requests go completely unnoticed.  Are you invisible? Now you have completely given up!

3.   Bed Time Madness-Only moms know what bed time actually means. It means reading the same story again and again for hours along with patting your little one’s back and when you think you are almost done then the kiddo start feeling hungry!  And then again the vicious cycle of going to the washroom and brushing the teeth begins.You look at the clock, think about the morning chores and try to control yourself

4.   All Eyes on You- The more public a place, the longer the tantrum .In the month of December the little angel suddenly wants a chocolate ice-cream at the grocery store. She will not take a ‘NO’ for an answer. And the mom in you is not giving up so easily. So she is going to yell, scream, and howl and much more. Everyone at the store is looking at you. These are the time when you wish you were ‘Mr.India’.

5.   That Important Phone Call- The children will get up to their naughtiest shenanigans when you are on that ‘one important call’. You are talking to your boss and the hyperactive brat suddenly does something which makes you momentarily forget that you are on the phone. You scream loudly ‘Stop that right now’ at the person who is going to decide about your next promotion.

6.    Step into the Shower- The baby is finally sleeping! You gather all your stuff like a mouse, silently and head to the washroom to take a shower. Step into the shower and as the first drop of water hit you; you hear the baby wake up and start to wail.

7.   That One Moment- Like a hawk you watch them all the time. But the one time, you turn away, you blink your eye for that one little second and the disaster is done. That expensive cutlery is broken. And the worse she has hurt herself.

8.   Mama Wants to Watch TV- After winding up all the chores of the stressful hard day mama collapsed in front of the Idiot box. But the ‘On’ button of the remote activates the sleeping baby also. Is it just a coincidence?

9.   The Morning Blues- The alarm clock rings and really hits you. It’s time for the daily madness. The children are fighting over the bathroom, the toast is burnt, you are all rushed and irritable-and, to top it all off, your kids miss the bus! Definitely not a good start to the day.

10.   The Quiet Toddler- Silence is golden, unless you have kids, then silence is just plain suspicious. You are super happy that your toddler has been quietly entreating herself for the whole half an hour. You decide to give her that candy. And then you see is happily busy drawing all over the furniture in the next room.

A perfect mom, who is calm and is in control 24/7, surely doesn’t exist. There is no one right way to deal with these mommy meltdown moments. Each day, in our own capacity we are doing our best to navigate the delicate trade off –between keeping the peace and retaining our sanity. Whether you find yourself having a meltdown every day or once a year, you are not a bad mom. Sometimes those meltdowns are necessary. They remind our children that adults are also not perfect and they also struggle with their feelings, just as kids do. 

Some Smart Tips to Use Your Phone Less

It’s a brand new year again! And 2018 seems to be a perfect opportunity to change some of the habits and try to live a more productive and happy life.

Scanning the phone as a first thing in the morning after waking up and last thing before hitting the sack, constantly checking notifications, getting engulfed in web of social media, answering texts or calls while having food with family or friends, being available 24 hours, getting uncomfortable when the phone is out of sight– all these are subtle signs that our digital life is killing our real life.  

The social media boom has happened and is   driving the pace of our lives beyond our capacity to cope. There is a reason why every child wants to grab their parent’s phone. By observing us, they are getting a sense of how important a mobile phone is. It’s high time we stand up again this addiction and try to create a healthier relationship with technology.

So, here I am sharing some simple and smart tricks which helped me immensely in maintaining self control and beating my phone addiction:   

1.Not using phone in the bed- Removing all gadgets  out of the bedroom is the ideal situation as electronic devices such as laptop and phones emit blue light which can trick our brain into thinking that it’s still daytime and making it tougher for us to fall asleep. If cannot do that then like me, at least stop sleeping within arm’s length of them as it helps kicking the temptation to check the screen. And using the good old alarm clock for waking up is not a bad option.

2.  Deleting unnecessary apps - Our smartphone would be useless without having any apps but too many of them can also be problematic. Personally I like  declutter  my   phone every month by removing anything either  I rarely use or had completely forgotten about .This not only free up space on my  phone but  also improves  the  handset’s battery life and enable me to get a tighter grip on my personal data.

3.Turn off notifications-For me sometimes checking a single notification turned out into a half-hour session of phone browsing. I am sure that I am not alone! It’s all too easy to get sucked into the social media world through one alert. Disabling all unnecessary notifications and muting most of the Whatsapp groups have helped me ending that impulse to check my phone whenever it chirps.

4.Phone Free Periods in a day-At our home both my husband and me try our level best that we don’t use our phone at the dinner table,   while playing with our son or reading a book. Putting the phone on Airplane Mode can really help in getting some quality  family time

    5.Monitor the phone usage- If all the above mentioned steps seem to be failing then some hard statistics are surely going to help you. Apps like ‘Moment’, ‘Quality Time’ and ‘Space’   helps in letting you know about the smartphone usage habits. And my experience tells that the brutal truth can be really tough to acknowledge, but definitely serves as a good warning.

Let 2018 be a starting point to kick your phone addiction and aim towards a healthy mind and soul.