Soaking up the Monsoon Spirit?

Soaking up the Monsoon Spirit?
Don’t let your health ruin all the fun.

The monsoon season is always a welcome relief after a hot, dry spell of summer. Almost every individual, irrespective of age, gender or geographical location, has fond memories associated with rains.

Some welcome them by cooking special food (in India, tea and pakoras are the hot favorites!), some get drenched in the showers, while many others celebrate at home with loved ones.

Why do diseases love monsoon?

While it is the time to enjoy the cool downpour, it is also the time to welcome a host of diseases – arthritis, asthma, sinusitis, diarrhea, indigestion, skin diseases, gastrointestinal infections like typhoid and cholera, etc. – that plague us during this season. As the rainy season progresses, long queues in front of hospitals and clinics become a common sight. Even though modern medicine offers effective treatment for most of these ailments, Ayurveda emphasizes on the need for preventive cure in order to keep the body healthy in monsoons.

In Ayurveda, the period between mid-June and mid-August is referred to as the Varsha Ritu or the Rainy Season. Varsha Ritu falls in the Uttarayan (northern solstice) and in this phase, the general body strength of most people gets weakened. Monsoons also reduce the immunity of our body and make us susceptible to diseases. In this season, the body’s digestive power or jatharagni gets impaired and, as a result, it is not able to properly digest the food that is consumed. This leads to formation of ama or toxins in the intestines, which happens to be the leading cause of disease in the body. If ama is not cleared, it will continue to build and can cause an imbalance of the doshas or the natural forces at work in the body. When the causative factors of the imbalance are not addressed, the ama can react with doshas and cause disease.

Maintaining Health in the Rainy Season

To maintain good health in this season, it is imperative that you eat the right kinds of food and lead an active lifestyle. This will ensure that your digestive system remains intact and the production of toxins is prevented.

Here are some excellent Ayurvedic tips to increase body immunity and prevent monsoon disorders:

• Eat light foods like fresh vegetables, fruits, cereals, etc. To kill germs, make sure you wash green leafy vegetables and fruits properly before eating.
• Reduce the consumption of fried or heavy foods as they impair the digestive power of the body. Especially avoid eating meat or fish.
• Reduce consumption of dairy products like yoghurt, buttermilk and cottage cheese as the body takes a lot of time to digest them.
• Avoid heavy and salty food items as they lead to water retention and bloating in the body.
• Eat foods that are drying in nature, such as corn (makka), chickpea (chana), gram flour (besan), oats (jow), etc.
• Avoid heavy oils like mustard oil, peanut oil, or sesame oil. They are known to increase Pitta (fire) and can lead to infection. Use corn oil or olive oil instead.
• Avoid sour food items like tamarind (imli), chutneys and pickles as they cause water retention.
• Consume bitter vegetables like bitter gourd (karela) and herbs like neem, fenugreek (methi) seeds, turmeric (haldi), etc. as they are known to prevent infection.
• Drink lots of warming herbal teas, especially those with antibacterial properties such as holy basil leaves.
• Massage your body with sesame oil twice a week as it helps in controlling the production of toxins in the body. And, to avoid skin infections and itching, add 1 or 2 spoons of Neem Oil to half a cup of Sesame Oil and use this for massage before bath at least once a week.
• Do not indulge in heavy exercises; brisk walking along with yoga or stretching is better.

Necessary Precautions during Monsoons

• Always keep your surroundings dry and clean. Do not allow water to get accumulated around you.
• Keep your body warm as viruses attack immediately when body temperature goes down.
• Do not enter an air-conditioned room if you have wet hair or are wearing damp clothes.
• Avoid eating uncooked foods and salads. Definitely avoid roadside vendors as very few people take precautions to handle the bacterial overload at such places.
• Drink plenty of water and keep your body well-hydrated.
• Walking in dirty water during rainy season can lead to fungal infections which mainly affect toes and nails. Diabetic patients should take special care to keep their feet dry and clean.
• Avoid walking in dirty water and keep your raincoats and shoes dry and clean. Drying clothes with fumes of dry Neem leaves is recommended as it helps kill bacteria.
• Make sure your drinking water is clean and pure. Drink boiled water at home and only mineral water when outside.
• In rains, puddles of water become breeding grounds for mosquitoes which spread diseases like malaria and dengue fever. Fumigate your house with smoke of dried Neem leaves in the evenings for 1-2 minutes. This is an excellent Ayurvedic method to keep mosquitoes away.
• If you are suffering from asthma or diabetes, avoid staying in a place that has wet walls. Wetness promotes the growth of fungus that can become the cause of infections.
• Rains affect our level of outdoor activities; so, you need to take special care to indulge in indoor physical activities so that laziness does not grow on you.
• If you are prone to joint pains, avoid sitting or lying down on the floor. The pain can get aggravated when the skin comes in contact with a wet or cold surface.
• Avoid sleeping soon after lunch as it worsens indigestion problems.

Taking preventive care with regard to eating healthy food and keeping the body and surroundings clean will help you keep diseases at bay in this rainy season. By doing so, you can ensure that the upcoming winter proves beneficial in enhancing your health and vitality. Keep the above-mentioned tips and precautions in mind and you will be able to enjoy monsoons thoroughly.

Have a healthy and safe monsoon!

Some Useful Tips

 HEALTH

Avoid consuming yogurt at night. Yogurt is acidic in nature, difficult to digest and blocks the body channels if taken in large quantities.

EDUCATION

Parents should ensure that their children get ample time to play. Play helps kids relax and makes them happy. It also helps them build physical, intellectual, and social skills that are critical for success in life.

SPIRITUAL

Ingratitude is a serious disease in this material world. A gentleman is one who is grateful. The intelligence of the conditioned souls is so covered that they are unaware of the person who supplies the necessities for their existence. This state of consciousness occurs because we disrespect God or disregard his existence.

Unlocking Each Learner’s Potential

This Teacher’s Day (celebrated in India every year on the 5th of September), I was reflecting on what it means to be a teacher, and wondered if I could distil the essence of the profession into a single expression. I sat for some time, combing through my 40-some-odd years in this world—half as learner, and half as educator/learner, in an attempt to identify an appropriate and succinct definition, when the word “locksmith” suddenly emerged. Within moments, my mind was inundated with similarities between teachers and key masters. Here’s what I discovered.

Students’ minds are like doors with locks, which when open, enable them to access the unlimited ocean of knowledge that exists in the world. However, years of exposure to factory-style education has caused many of those doors and locks to become stuck, making it difficult for teachers to get their students interested in what they are teaching. The challenge for teachers, therefore, is to figure out which key to use to open them. It’s not enough for a teacher to teach the same thing to all students in the same way, as her unique style of instruction will cater to certain types of students, just as a single key might fit certain keyholes and not others. She needs to know the unique qualities of each learner, and how to adapt her approach so that she can get each one of them to open up.

While most teachers have at least a few instructional techniques (or keys) that work with some students, they may struggle to unbolt the doors of others. In a sense, these children remain incarcerated, brimming with energy and capabilities, though unable to connect meaningfully with the curriculum. Unfortunately, teachers often abandon such learners, as they feel it requires too much time and effort to get through to them, and also because they believe their primary responsibility is to complete the syllabus. But more unfortunate than the ignored, are the ones who are forced to open up through excessive pressure, emotional abuse or physical punishment. Such methods may bring about short-term gains, but in the end, result in damaging students’ self-esteem and their love for learning. With locks broken, the doors eventually wind up getting shuttered.

So what does a teacher need to do in order to liberate learners of all types? She must first consider the critical elements that constitute a learner’s psychology, i.e., Multiple Intelligences and Multiple Natures, can be equated with the pins found in pin tumbler locks. Just as lock pins differ in length, a student’s MIs and MNs exist in differing degrees (e.g., some have strong Logical Intelligence or Adventurous Natures, while others are weak in those aspects). And in the same way that the ridges of the key align with the pins, the teacher must provide inputs and activities that match each learner’s MIs and MNs.

For instance, rather than deliver chalk-and-talk lectures, teachers can involve their students in cooperative learning activities that engage Interpersonal Intelligence; they can use mind-maps and graphic organizers to stimulate learners’ Visual Intelligence and Creative Natures; they can provide options for homework and projects that let students represent their understanding of a topic through creating their own songs (Linguistic and Musical Intelligence) or designing flowcharts (Logical Intelligence). They can even activate interest by delegating responsibilities that match students’ innate tendencies. For example, they can assign monitoring roles to those strong in Administrative Nature, create a hospitality team for those who possess a prodigious Providing Nature or even encourage those with strong Educative Natures to serve as in-class tutors.

It takes years of experience to develop the versatility required to tackle a wide range of students by using such methodologies. But when a teacher does so, it is as if she has forged herself a master key—the kind you find in hotels that can open hundreds of doors.

Still, there will always be those exceptionally difficult students who refuse to open up no matter what you do. Whether you use kindness, anger, jokes, sarcasm, or even call their parents, nothing seems to stimulate or engage them. In such cases, locksmiths have only one choice—to pick the lock. They must find a wire or hairpin, and through one jugaad or another, jiggle it around until it gets the pins to move and the plug to turn.

When I think of the ‘impenetrable ones’, I am reminded of a teenage girl I once taught in Japan who came to my English class every day and just sat in the back chewing gum with her mouth open. She was one of those tough types with numerous body piercings, tattoos, leather and chain outfits, and so on. Every attempt I made to get her interested in the subject ended in failure and my deep frustration. Finally, one day, I handed her a stack of blank pages on her desk and said, “I don’t care what you write on them, but you have to fill them up—and it has to be in English”.

A few days went by, and when she entered the class, she dropped the stack of papers on my desk and silently went to her seat and began chewing gum. I looked down, and to my surprise, found every page in the stack filled with colourful drawings, elaborate descriptions, and an array of photos cut and pasted from magazines. “I like tattoos,” began one page, which was passionately filled with examples of body art. Next was an exposition on motorcycles, followed by a tribute to her favourite brand of cigarettes, complete with an empty packet affixed to the sheet. Twenty pages, each bursting with vitality, scored the symphony of her life, revealed the kaleidoscope of her soul. My Lord. Click!

Since that day, I have looked at my students differently—perhaps the way locksmiths view each lock—as a unique puzzle to be solved. And I have come to understand that the main challenge of teaching does not lie in covering the syllabus (though that will always be a part of it), but more, in figuring out how to jimmy each student’s distinct internal mechanisms so every one of them gets turned on to learning.

But while it is meritorious for a teacher to acquire the skills to extricate multitudes of students, she performs a disservice if she sees students merely as “locks to be opened”. No doubt she has the duty of deciphering each student’s unique combinations and helping engage them in curricular content, however, she has the greater responsibility of getting learners to recognize their individual characteristics so they can control their own locks. In fact, I believe that is the ultimate goal of education. For, once learners know how to do so, the keys to release their potential rest in their hands.

Home Remidies

• Acidity
  

1. Take a tiny piece of jaggery (gur) every hour. Just keep it in the mouth and slowly suck it till acidity subsides. 
   
2. Drink coconut water 3-4 times a day. Have a plateful of watermelon (tarbooz) and/or cucumber (kheera) every hour. 
   
3. Harad juice, 1-2 teaspoon daily after meals is very effective in controlling acidity. The juice can be mixed with an equal amount of amla juice for better results. To take out amla juice, grate an amla and squeeze the pulp through a clean muslin cloth to get juice. 
   

Chewing a piece of harad is an age old remedy.

• Acne 
  

1. Clean face with cotton wool dipped in rose water 2-3 times a day. Do not use soap. 
   
2. Orange peel is very good in the treatment of acne. Grind the peel with some water to a paste and apply on affected parts. when oranges are not in season, you may use a powder of dried orange peels. For this, when oranges are in season, dry orange peels in shade. Powder finely in a grinder and sift it to make it a very fine powder. Store in an air tight bottle for future use. 
   
3. Mix 1 teaspoon lemon juice in 1 teaspoon finely ground cinnamon (dalchini) powder and apply on affected areas frequently. Sift the cinnamon (dalchini) powder to make it into a very fine powder. 
   
4. Crush a fegarlic (lasan) flakes and apply on the face, once or twice a day. Swallowing 1-2 flakes of ragarlic regularly helps further. 
   
5. Grind some neem leaves with water to a fine paste. Apply on infected area. 
   
6. Make a paste of ½ teaspoon each of sandalwood and turmeric (haldi) powder in a little water and apply. 
   
7. Grind some black cumin seeds (shah jeera) with a little vinegar (sirka) to a smooth paste. Apply on affected parts. cumin seeds 
   

• Asthma 
  

1. Mix 1 teaspoon honey with ½ teaspoon cinnamon (dalchini) powder and have at night before going to bed. 
   
2. Boil carom seeds (ajwain) in water and inhale the steam. 
   
3. Boil 8-10 flakes of garlic (lasan) in ½ cup of milk. Have this every night. Gives excellent results in early stages of asthma. 
   
4. Add a handful of drumstick leaves (sahijan) to 1 cup water. Boil. Simmer on loflame for 3-4 minutes. Cool and strain. Add salt, pepper and lemon juice to taste. Have every day, once or twice a day. 
   
5. An expectorant and a very effective remedy for asthma is prepared by boiling 6 cloves (laung) in 3 tablespoons of water. Take 1 teaspoon of this decoction with a little honey, thrice daily. 
   
6. Mix ¼ teaspoon asafetida (hing), 2 teaspoon honey, ½ teaspoon juice from betel leaf (paan ka patta), ½ teaspoon white onion juice. Have it 2-3 times a day. To take out juice from betel leaf, Clove flowers crush to a paste and squeeze through a clean muslin cloth. For onion juice, grate the onion and squeeze through a clean muslin cloth. 
   
7. Mix equal amounts of fresh ginger (adrak) juice, honey & pomegranate (anaar) juice. Take 1 tablespoon, 1-2 times a day. 
   
8. Figs (anjeer) are known to give relief by draining the phlegm (balgam). Take 3-4 dry figs, wash them well with warm water. Soak overnight in a cup of water. Eat them first thing in the morning and also drink the water. Do this for at least 2 months. 
   

• Blackheads 
  

1. Mix 1 teaspoon lime juice in 1 teaspoon finely ground cinnamon (dalchini) powder and apply on affected areas frequently. 
   
2. Mix 1 teaspoon each turmeric (haldi) powder and juice of fresh coriander (dhania) leaves and apply daily as a face pack before going to sleep. 
   

• Constipation In Adults 
  

1. 'A healthy stomach is a healthy body'. Many diseases have their roots in the digestive system. Constipation is a very common problem affecting a lot of people. Wrong eating habits, sedentary lifestyle & sluggish intestines are the main reasons. If the stomach is not cleared well, it leads to a lot of problems such as headaches, gas etc. However, use of laxatives should be discouraged as it is habit forming and also harmful in the long run. Here are some tips to relieve you of your problem. (It will take some time but be persistent and you will surely benefit) 
   
2. Take a hot glass of water with 1 teaspoon honey and juice of ½ a lemon first thing in the morning. 
   
3. Drink one litre of water first thing in the morning. 
   
4. Soak 6-8 dates (khajoor) in a cup of water at night. Churn in the mixer in the morning & drink first thing in the morning. 
   
5. Consume approx. 250-300 gms fresh grapes (angoor) every day. When not in season, soak 12-15 raisins (kishmish) in water and have them. Raisins should be soaked for 24-48 hours and eaten early in the morning. The water in which they are soaked should also be drunk. 
   
6. Simply eat a few liquorice (mulathi) sticks. One of its many properties is that it is a natural laxative. 
   

• Guidelines of a Diabetics Diet 
  

1. Eat plenty of vegetables like lettuce (salaad patta), tomato and fruits. Use the following fruits and vegetables sparingly and with caution: banana, seedless grapes (angoor), cheeku, leechi, custard apple (sharifa), dry fruits, mango, raisins (kishmish), potatoes, jackfruit (kathal), carrots (gajar), peas (mattar), beans, sweet potato (shakarkandi), beetroot (chukandar). 
   
2. Foods rich in fibre should be preferred. Daily intake of calories should be restricted.Use proteins moderately. 
   
3. Milk & nuts intake to be restricted to the minimum whereas have plenty of curds and buttermilk (chhach). 
   
4. Avoid all refined foods & sweets. 
   
5. Drink 8-10 glasses of water daily. 
   

• Eye Aching 
  

1. Powder equal quantities of liquorice (mulathi) and cumin (jeera). Take ¼ teaspoon every day along with 1 teaspoon honey for a month. Eyes burning w Mash 1 ripe banana along with a little curd and water; take twice a day. 
   
2. Mix equal quantities of fenugreek seed (methi daana) powder along with Shikakai powder for washing hair. Wash frequently. 
   
3. Grind an onion with 1 teaspoon each black pepper and poppy seeds (khuskhus) soaked in ½ cup milk. Apply this paste on the head. Allow it to dry for 15-20 minutes. Wash in warm water. 
   
4. Mix the juice of bottle gourd (karela) and sesame oil (til ka tel) in the ratio of 4:1, and heat till the moisture is evaporated completely. Once cool, use it for massaging the head. 
   

• Eczema 
  

1. Rub a nutmeg (jaiphal) against a smooth stone slab with a little water and make a paste. Apply on affected parts. (Note: It is believed by some rural, old fashioned practitioners that instead of water, one's own early morning saliva can be used for better results.) 
   
2. Add 1 teaspoon camphor (kapoor) to 1 teaspoon sandalwood paste and apply on the affected areas. 
   
3. Mix a paste of turmeric (haldi) and neem leaves (1:1) in a little gingelly oil (til ka tel) and apply on affected areas. 

• Eyes Having Dark Circles Around Them 
  

1. Take one teaspoon tomato juice, ½ teaspoon lemon juice, a pinch of turmeric (haldi) powder & a little gram flour (besan). Make a paste & apply. Leave for 10 minute & wash off. 
   
2. Drink tomato juice with a few mint leaves, little lemon juice & salt w Soak cotton wool in cucumber (kheera) or potato juice & apply around the eyes. You will find a change in 2-3 weeks. 
   
3. Eyes strain due to TV watching 
   
4. Boil ½ teaspoon fennel seeds (saunf) in a cup of water till it is reduced to half. Cool. Use as eye drops (Caution: Beware of contamination). 
   

• Tired Eyes 
  

1. Lavender oil offers gentle relief for tired and strained eyes. Add a drop of lavender oil to 500 ml (2½ cups) of water and shake the solution well. Dip two cotton wool pads in the liquid, squeeze out the excess water and place one pad over each eye. If you wear contact lenses, they must be removed beforehand. 
   

• Eyesight Weakness 
  

1. Mix seeds of cardamom (chhoti illaichi) along with 1 tablespoon honey. Eat every day. 
   
2. Boil 2 tablespoon fenugreek (methi) leaves along with ½ cup moong dal and 10 small onions and eat regularly. 
   
3. Mix equal quantities of fenugreek seeds (methi dana) powder along with Shikakai powder for washing hair. Wash frequently. 
   

• Fainting 
  

1. A hot poultice of carom seeds (ajwain) used as dry fomentation for hands and feet.
   

• Fatigue 
  

1. Take a glass of grapefruit and lemon juice in equal parts to dispel fatigue and general tiredness after a day's work
   

• Gas Problem 
  

1. Some people are allergic or have intolerance for milk, milk products and wheat, wheat products but go through life without ever realizing this and keep suffering from acute gas trouble. Lactose intolerance (from milk) is being recognized in the west as also gluten intolerance (from wheat). Hence giving up these two things may greatly benefit you. Instead of wheat you can have rice or chapatis of maize, jawar or bajara. w Mix ¼ teaspoon dry ginger powder (sonth) with a pinch of asafoetida (hing).
   

• Hair Falling 
  

1. Take a handful of neem leaves and boil them in 4 cups water. After cooling and filtering, use the decoction for rinsing hair. 
   
2. Mix equal quantities of dried curry leaves (curry patta), lime peel (nimbu ka chilka), Shikakai, fenugreek seeds (methi daana) & green gram (moong saboot) and grind them finely. Store and use as a substitute for soap or shampoo. 
   
3. Apply fenugreek (methi) seeds, ground with some water and the paste on the head. Allow to soak at least for 40 minutes before washing. Use every morning for a month.       
   

 

• Hair Loss 
  

1. Apply a little almond oil (badam ka tel) on scalp frequently and massage.
   

    

• Hair Greying
  

1. Wet a lemon half and rub lemon juice into the scalp well. Wash off after it turns dry. 
   
2. Grind 1 tablespoon each, pulp of amla and lime juice. Massage this into the hair before going to bed. Wash it next morning. 
   
3. Soak shredded ginger (adrak) in honey. Eat a spoonful every morning. 
   

      

• Hair Thinning 
  

1. Bathe the hair in 1 cup coconut milk twice or thrice a week for a few months.
   

• Head heaviness 
  

1. Grind the fresh amla fruits into a fine paste and apply on affected parts. 
   
2. Grind 2 to 3 cloves (laung) into a fine paste along with ½ teaspoon dried ginger (sonth) and apply on nose, forehead, etc. 
   

• High Blood Pressure 
  

1. Restrict salt intake and drink plenty of fluids (at least 8-10 glasses of water daily) 
   
2. Drink curry leaves (curry patta) juice initially 3 times a day (1 glassful) for 1-2 months and then reduce to only once in the morning. Have it on empty stomach. For taking out juice: fill your mixy with washed curry leaves, add ½ - 3/4 glass water. Churn well and sieve. Add ½ - 1 lemon juice and drink fresh. 
   
3. Have single pod garlic (lasan), one pod first thing every morning or if this is not available, have 1-2 cloves of ordinary garlic (lasan). If you get discomfort with having garlic first thing in the morning, have 2 cloves twice a day - swallow with water any time or with meals. 
   
4. Mix 1 teaspoon honey, 1 teaspoon ginger (adrak) juice, 1 teaspoon cumin (jeera) powder. Have twice a day. 
   
5. Go on an apple diet for a few days. It has a diuretic effect and thus brings down the B.P. 
   
6. Fruits such as mausami, orange, peaches (aaru), plum (aloo bukhara), watermelon (tarbooz) are also beneficial. 
   
7. Having rice, particularly brown rice as the main staple food is very beneficial. As rice has very low sodium content and low cholesterol, it is a perfect diet for those who have been advised to have low salt diets. 
   
8. Consumption of natural diuretics like coconut water, butter milk, coriander (dhania) juice (make from green coriander in the same way as curry leaves juice) is very beneficial. 
   
9. Last but not the least, rest, relaxation and good sleep are effective in keeping B.P. under control. 
   
10. Drink coriander (dhania) juice made from fresh dhania (same way as curry leaves juices) 3 times a day. If this is not effective, start having fenugreek (methi) juice instead (made from fresh methi) and if this is also not effective, move to curry leaves juice. Drink each juice for 10-12 days at least before you decide. If it is not working and then move to the next one. 
    

• Sexual debility 
  

1. Fry equal quantities of carom (ajwain) seeds and kernel of tamarind seeds (imli ke beej) in ghee. Powder and store in a dry, cool place. Mix 1 teaspoon of this powder in a glass of milk along with 1 tablespoon honey. Drink daily at bedtime. 
   
2. Make paranthas of wheat flour by adding ½ cup fenugreek (methi) leaves, ½ teaspoon ground almonds, ½ teaspoon poppy seeds (khuskhus) and a little ghee. Eat every day for 40 days. 
   
3. Soak 8 to 10 almonds and 1 teaspoon rice overnight. Remove the outer skin. Grind into a fine paste. Mix in some milk and a pinch of turmeric (haldi) powder. Boil and drink along with sugar candy (mishri) or ordinary sugar to taste. 
   
4. Take 2 teaspoon of amla juice and mix it with two teaspoonfuls each honey and lime juice. Add 1 teacup water and drink on an empty stomach every morning. (Attention: The treatment should continue for at least 120 days to achieve expected results.) 
   
5. Boil 1 teaspoon ground fenugreek seeds (methi dana) in a cup of water and drink. 
   
6. ½ teaspoon ginger (adrak) juice mixed with honey and a semi-boiled egg, taken at night. 
   
7. Mix ¼ teaspoon nutmeg (jaiphal) powder in teaspoon honey and take with a half-boiled egg an hour before going to bed. 
   
8. Onion seeds (kalaunji) dried and powdered, 1 teaspoon eaten 3 times daily along with sugar or honey. 
   
9. Boil 1 teacup milk with ½ teaspoon black pepper (kali mirch) powder and 6 to 8 crushed almonds. Take at bedtime. 
   
10. Grind 2 or 3 teaspoon dried pomegranate seeds (anaar dana) and take once or twice along with milk. 
    
11. Mix ¼ teaspoon saffron (kesar) with milk. Take twice daily. 
    
12. Mix sesame seeds (til) with jaggery (gur) and eat. 
    

• Sexual under-development in women 
  

1. 6 to 8 almonds, crushed and mixed in 1 cup milk along with 1 egg yolk, ½ teaspoon ground sesame seeds (til) and 1 teaspoon honey. Take once or twice a day. 
   

• Sexual weakness 
  

1. Onion seeds (kalaunji) powdered, 1 teaspoon eaten 3 times daily along with sugar or honey. 
   

• Skin allergies 
  

1. Grind 1 tablespoon poppy seeds (khuskhus) with 1 teaspoon water. Add 1 teaspoon lime juice. Apply on the affected areas. 
   
2. Mix 1 teaspoon lime juice with sandalwood paste and apply all over. 
   

 

• Skin cracked 
  

1. For dry, cracked hands apply a mixture of grated potato soaked in olive oil. Leave this on for 10 minutes and then rinse off. 
   

• Skin complexion 
  

1. Mix equal quantities of almond oil and honey and apply on the face. Sneezing w Boil 2 tablespoon fennel seeds (saunf) in 1 cup water till it is reduced to half. Filter. Take 1 tablespoon every morning and evening for a few days. 
   

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