One of the most effective ways we have to protect ourselves from ill effects of health risk is good personal hygiene. Personal hygiene is the first step to good grooming and good health. Elementary cleanliness is common knowledge. Neglect causes problems that you may not even be aware of.

Many people with bad breath are blissfully unaware of it. Some problems may not be your fault at all, but improving standards of hygiene will control these conditions.

Poor oral hygiene and infection of gums often results in a bad odour emanating from the mouth. This is called halitosis. Proper brushing of the teeth and oral care can get rid of bad breath. There can be other reasons for bad breath. Cold, sinuses, throat infection or tonsils can cause bad breath. It means being careful not to cough or sneeze without any protection.

Body odour: The body has nearly two and half million sweat glands. These glands produce three quarts to one pint of sweat in a day. In tropical countries, naturally, more sweat is produced. The perspiration level increases with an increase in physical exertion.

Fresh perspiration, when allowed to evaporate does not cause body odour. An offensive smell is caused when bacteria that are present on the skin get to work on the sweat and decompose it. Diet influences the odour too.

Two baths a day, with liberal lathering and change of clothes in close contact with the body should take care of the problem. Talcum powder or deodorants or antiperspirants can be used. Most skin deodorants contain an antiperspirant, such as aluminum chloride, which reduces sweating by forming a hydroxide gel in the sweat ducts. But sweat suppressed in one area, comes out in another.

The world around us swarms with microorganisms. Some bacteria are found on our bodies. Where food is eaten and prepared with bare hands extra attention has to be paid to the cleanliness of hands. Besides, a permanent layer of dust or grime reduces the sensitivity of the hands.

Wash hands thoroughly with soap and water before and after every meal and after visiting the toilet. Soaping and rinsing should cover the areas between fingers, nails and back of the hand. Hands should be dried with a clean towel after wash.

Things to remember, use gloves as protection while handling waste items otherwise you might be at risk of catching an infection. Good personal hygiene is one of the most effective ways to protect others and us from many illnesses.

As Indians, we can be good citizens of our country only by first being proud of our country. Only when we develop a sense of pride, we will work towards the welfare of the society and the development of the land.

Some of you may ask, ‘what is it that we have to be proud of? What is so special about this land?’ If one were to answer this question completely, even a thousand pages would not be sufficient.

But here are some facts that will not only surprise you, but will also give you a glimpse of the greatness of our motherland, its culture, its wisdom and its phenomenal achievements in all fields;

1. India never invaded any country in her last 10000 years of history.
2. India invented the Number System. Zero was invented by Aryabhatta.

3. The World's first university was established in Takshila in 700BC. More than 10,500 students from all over the world studies more than 60 subjects. The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century BC was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education.
4. Sanskrit is the mother of all the European languages. Sanskrit is the most suitable language for computer software – a report in Forbes magazine, July 1987.

5. Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to humans.
6. Charaka, the father of medicine consolidated Ayurveda 2500 years’ ago. Today Ayurveda is fast regaining its rightful place in our civilization.

7. Although modern images of India often show poverty and lack of development, India was the richest country on earth until the time of British invasion in the early 17th Century.
8. The art of Navigation was born in the river Sindh 6000 years ago. The very word Navigation is derived from the Sanskrit word NAVGATIH. The word navy is also derived from Sanskrit 'Nou'.

9. Bhaskaracharya calculated the time taken by the earth to orbit the sun centuries before the astronomer Smart. Time taken by earth to orbit the sun: (5th century) 365.258756484 days.
10. The value of "pi" was first calculated by Budhayana, who explained the concept of what is known as the Pythagorean theorem. He discovered this in the 6th century long before the European mathematicians.

And this, my dear friends is barely the tip of the iceberg. Be proud to be Indian.

To overindulge in favours where children are involved leads to pampered brats. This causes inconvenience to parents who after years of over pampering face facts.
When a child behaves in an impudent manner, the cause is deeper than the situations that the parents have to handle. The child ignores and defies all rules set by his parents. The child does not behave properly and is often disobedient. It is far convenient to call such a child naughty. Impatience in dealing with children leads to over pampering them. It is when adults want to wriggle out of counselling session that they hurriedly ‘bribe’ the child with sweetmeats and gifts.

That’s when the disadvantages of over pampering strike. Children need nurturing. For that, parents need to be patient, especially regarding childlike behaviour and growing up blues. Parents may give choices to help children make better decisions. The child should have a positive attitude towards life and should be ready to take up future challenges.

Nuclear families are becoming increasingly popular with time. While both parents are earning members in the family and help the financial status of a family, children are seen to be less adaptable and need counselling. Parents are unable to communicate with their own kith and kin and to compensate, fill the toy room with new arrivals from the market. Here, the family elders can play a very important role in a child’s life. They can help the child to express emotions and deal with these kinds of situations.

Teaching a child that actions have consequences is one of the most important lessons a parent or teacher can convey. Understanding the consequences that their own actions will have for themselves and others is the first step; children need to take in order to learn to take responsibility for their own actions, to think before they act, and to respect authority. Therefore, as a form of discipline, the removal of privileges should not be haphazard and aimed simply at punishing a child. Instead the privileges removed should be logically related to the misbehavior and designed to teach the lesson that actions have consequences.

Many parents, especially those who didn’t have many luxuries when growing up, want their children to enjoy the wealth that they worked so hard. If you give your child everything he wants on demand, he will grow up believing the world owes him a living, and will find it hard to cope when realizes it doesn’t.

When children are born, they are like blank slates on which their parents’ help to script the beginnings of the stories of their lives. Every child grows up and ultimately charts his own destiny, but his parents lay the foundation. And everybody knows the consequences of building on a weak foundation. Disciplining children is one way of setting them on the right path and equipping them to wing it on their own.

Years of perseverance from parents and elders will ensure children, who can be happy individuals when they grown up.

A group of working adults got together to visit their University lecturer. The lecturer was happy to see them. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.

The Lecturer just smiled and went to the kitchen to get an assortment of cups - some porcelain, some in plastic, some in glass, some plain looking and some looked rather expensive and exquisite.

The Lecturer offered his former students the cups to get drinks for themselves.

When all the students had a cup in hand with water, the Lecturer spoke: "If you noticed, all the nice looking, expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal that you only want the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. What all you wanted was water, not the cup, but we unconsciously went for the better cups."

"Just like in life, if Life is Water, then the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold/maintain Life, but the quality of Life doesn't change."

"If we only concentrate on the cup, we won't have time to enjoy/taste the water in it."

- Mother Teresa