Author: The Metrognome

Categories
Beauty

Sun-proof your skin

There’s a nip in the air, but your skin still needs to be protected from the sun. Follow our easy skincare guide.
by Kavya Kolli

You can always count on the heat to test your survival skills in Mumbai. Every day before stepping out, you have to wonder to what degree of melting you will be subject to. Whilst indoors, we shamelessly plonk ourselves right under or next to the AC vents. But the humidity outside and the shift to a cool and dry temperature indoors takes a heavy toll on skin.

After soaring temperatures last week, this week we’re looking at dry, cool air in the night and dry heat in the day. Even ordinarily dry skin turns oily with these weather changes, feeling sticky and dirty. By the end of the day, your face feels like a canvas, painted with the city’s dust and pollution.

Protect your skin

First and foremost is protecting your skin from the sun. A good sunscreen is extremely important and must be a part of your beauty regime throughout the year. A good SPF (sun protection factor) of 15 and above is what you will require to combat the side effects of sun exposure on your skin. Even if your routine has you mostly indoors, sunscreen is essential because your skin is still exposed to UV rays. Sunscreen lotions tend to feel oily and sticky once applied, so it’s important to find one that doesn’t feel like a layer of oil on your skin and is absorbed well. A well-known skin or beauty brand will have one that suits you.

Nowadays, a lot of body lotions and moisturisers also come with SPF, which is ideal since we do end up exposing our arms and legs also to the sun.

Using a good cleanser is another vital part of skin care. The pores on our skin enlarge with heat so the amount of dust your skin accumulates is unimaginable. Plus the humidity makes the skin oily, making it that much easier for skin problems like acne and blackheads to arise. So at the end of the day, a good cleanser must be used to wipe off all the dirt and grime for your skin. The heat makes almost every skin type oily, so a gel-based cleanser will work well. If you find it too drying, you can go for a foaming cleanser or cleansing lotion that isn’t too rich or heavy in texture.

Cleansing should ideally be followed up by toning. A facial toner will soothe your skin and tighten the pores. An alcohol-free toner is preferable because alcohol can excessively dry out your skin. Rose water happens to be an excellent all-natural toner. You can even try freezing rose water in an ice tray and rubbing a cube all over your skin. It feels heavenly in such weather.

While we cannot avoid the use of a certain number of products to maintain good skin, we also need to realise that these cleansing products do take away some of the skin’s natural moisture. So it’s important to moisturise skin daily and keep it well hydrated. Drinking lots of water goes a long way and the rest, a good day cream for your face will help with. Again, choose one with your skin type in mind.

Keep in mind, that while using a moisturiser and sunscreen, the moisturiser goes on first and then the sunscreen. You can even apply makeup over the sunscreen.

You will also find day creams with SPF which can be an alternative to applying a face cream and sunscreen separately.

While picking out soaps, face washes or shower gels, opt for ones with aloe vera or honey in them because they help soothe skin from the heat. Even ones that have fruit essences like citrus fruits, strawberries, peaches, melons etc will refresh your skin.

Adding few drops of essential oils like tea tree to your bath water will have a cooling and relaxing effect on skin. It  smells great and is also a disinfectant, so it’ll protect you from prickly heat.

While maintaining a healthy beauty regimen, your diet must also be equally healthy. Include lots of fresh fruit and veggies in your meals and stay away from oily food. And because this weather is dehydrating, make sure to drink lots of water throughout the day.

Kavya Kolli is a Mumbai-based fashion stylist and avid writer, with an obsessive interest in fashion and beauty.

 

(Pictures courtesy www.humana.com and Kavya Kolli)

 

Categories
Big story

Free to go but nobody to take them home

Women languishing at Mankhurd shelter home despite release orders, because police personnel have not yet escorted them to their homes.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

Three days ago, Mumbai Mirror broke the story of how a woman, after escaping with 35 others from the Mankhurd-based, state-run Navjeevan Mahila Vastigruh spoke of rapes and ill-treatment of inmates. While all hell broke loose at the Government level – the Chief Minister and Home Department immediately ordered inquiries into the incident – another, bigger fact came to light after Rajendra Pokharkar, Divisional Commissioner, Women and Child Development department, submitted a preliminary report of an inquiry initiated by his department.

“Let us go home”

In his report, Pokharkar said that as per his findings after the incident, “Prior to this (mass breakout on October 27), about 17 other girls had run away from the institution on September 10, 2012. That time, the girls had had one persistent demand – they kept saying that the court had ordered their release, that they were free to go, and that they should be allowed to leave because they had not committed any crime. At the time, they were told that once suitable police escorts were arranged for them after the festive season was complete, they would be sent home to the addresses they had provided in writing to the court.”

The procedure followed by shelter homes is that once the court ratifies a person’s release, that person cannot leave of their own volition, but must be escorted to their residences by police personnel. Pokharkar added in his report, “The shelter has space for 100 inmates, but on the morning of October 27, there were 212 women at the shelter. There is overcrowding of inmates at the shelter. Also, there are some inmates who have been languishing in the shelter for over a year now, despite release orders, because the police escort has still not been provided to them. This had led to a growing unease and frustration among the inmates, and with 93 additional women, a big group of old and new Bengali inmates was formed. This group then hatched the plan to escape from the shelter.”

How the women got away

On the night of October 26, he said, this group spread the rumour that there was a stranger on the building’s terrace. “Taking advantage of the feeling of insecurity among the other women, the next day this group went up to the institution’s gate and picked a fight with the security guard and the women constables posted there. A lot of confusion was caused at the gate, and about 100 of the inmates pushed the gate hard from the inside, and about 25 of them bent the gate grilles. Some other women threatened the guards and constables with pieces of broken glass, and when the inmates physically attacked the guard and constables, 36 of the women escaped outside the gates.”

However, 13 of the runaways were caught by Govandi police station cops a day after the incident, while the others are still at large.

(Pictures courtesy

Categories
Listen

Music at a railway station

We catch up with Neeraj Arya as he performs at the Borivli railway station and quickly draws a big crowd.
by The Diarist | thediarist@themetrognome.in

It is 6.15 pm, and Borivli railway station’s platform number 1 is expectedly buzzing with commuters on their way home. But at a space near the main indicators, the unmistakable strains of a man singing to the accompaniment of a dholak fill the busy air. Edge closer, and you realise that you can no longer hear the passing trains.

I catch up with the next performer in line, Neeraj Arya. “What’s the time?” Neeraj asks me, clearly distracted. He is a few minutes away from his performance – he sings and plays the guitar – but he stops to chat and offer details. “I am a resident musician with the National Streets for Performing Arts (NSPA), and so far, we’ve played at three railway stations this month, every week. I have performed on at least 15 occasions,” he grins, adding that he also fills in for musicians who are scheduled to play but who cannot turn up at the last minute.

 

Arvind Ekrupe, coordinator at NSPA, joins us. “We perform at railway stations because train travellers are an extremely stressed lot, and live music helps bring their stress levels down. Besides, musicians and good artistes perform only at galleries and closed auditoria, so the common man on the street doesn’t get access to good music. This is our effort to make music accessible in a community space,” he explains, adding that with local trains being a mass transit travel mode, the initiative gets all kinds of audiences.

“We perform at Churchgate station on Monday, Borivli on Wednesday and Bandra on Saturday,” Neeraj chips in. “We have two artistes performing from 9 am to 11.30 am, and two others from 5 pm to 7.30 pm. And there is a good mix of music played out. So far, the response has been fabulous.”

He leaves us to prepare for his own act. By now, several curious commuters have stopped to watch, and listen, as Neeraj and a friend start tuning up their guitars. Three beggar children are the audience members closest to Neeraj, but he doesn’t seem to mind them.

And then he begins to play, and we forget the trains once more.


Categories
Patrakar types

Who’re you calling fat?

Rolls of fat all along the abdomen and jiggly arms – is this your definition of a curvy Indian woman? So really thin is healthy, I suppose?
by Vrushali Lad | vrushali@themetrognome.in

I am seriously annoyed when women at the gym call me thin. This is not false modesty. I am genuinely irritated when I get called thin. Because that observation is generally followed by this statement I am still not able to understand – “Why do you need to exercise? You are so thin!”

And this pronouncement is followed by a quick, sad little look at their bulging abs and/or thunder thighs.

I am not thin. I am underweight. I am 33 years old and I weigh lower than I used to when I was in college. But people think that because I have a thin waist and because my jeans sit loosely on me, I don’t need to exercise. So why do I need to exercise? Because there’s a history of diabetes in the family. At the wrong side of 30, I don’t want to develop cardiac disease, or have painful joints, or something worse. But there is still the problem of being underweight.

Then there is the other extreme comment, generally from women who are overweight but who possess some insane confidence that makes them think that they are not fat, but curvy. They talk of Vidya Balan and Beyonce. Sometimes, in some dim moment of despair, they think they should lose a little weight. But mostly, they seek consolation from pictures of pudgy celebrities, who openly declare that they celebrate their curves, and that they would never go under the knife because they love their bodies, blah blah blah.

Hey, please love your body, wobbly bits and all. Also love it if you’re eating as much as you should, but you’re still rail thin. But do something about that extra fat you’re carting around, and don’t pretend to love it. There’s nothing to love about something that gives you cardiac problems, that puts you on the path to diabetes, that makes you heavier on your knees than you should be. And there is nothing sexy about carrying fat around, just like there is nothing remotely beautiful about being bones in a skirt.

After a recent interview that a now-rotund Vidya Balan gave to an entertainment paper, about how ‘Fat is sexy’ (she can get away with saying that, she has a National Award backing her sentiment) and which Kareena Kapoor rebutted two days later with the bitchy comment, “There’s nothing sexy about being fat. Anybody who says so is just lying,” I saw pictures of Vidya in the same paper yesterday. Lying or not, Vidya Balan is the poster girl for the wrong kind of pudginess – why are we celebrating a woman who is simply bursting out of her backless sari blouses? Is it just me, or does anyone else think that she is deliberately not changing out of her saris – is there another dress option for her left? I’m not saying she would look ugly in a dress or a pair of trousers – I am just saying that that is probably what she herself thinks.

I don’t think fat is ugly. I think skinny is ugly. But there’s a need to choose the right role model for your body type. And what’s more, whether you choose Vidya or Kate Moss, you still need to exercise and eat right. That’s what I’m doing. Because underweight is just as dangerous as overweight.

Vrushali Lad is a freelance reporter who has spent several years pitching story ideas to reluctant editors. Once, she even got hired while doing so.  

(Picture courtesy www.healthmeup.com)

 

Categories
Trends

Sweet khakras, anyone?

The ubiquitous khakras have found their way to the dessert section too. Is this just a fad or something more?
By Ritika Bhandari

Is this some kind of Willy Wonka trick? Who’s ever had khakras for dessert?!

My mum’s cousin believes that breakfast is only complete when you have finished it with a khakra spread with ghee. So much so, that for outstation tours, the dabba of khakra and ghee is always ready for him. As for me, give me a khakra spread with spicy seeng chutney, and I can have two of those for breakfast, lunch, dinner and midnight snacks.

Despite khakras being made at home daily, you will still find the majority of Marwaris’ and Gujaratis’ making a beeline for the methi khakras, the pav bhaji ones and the pani puri-flavoured khakras at the many farsan stores in Mumbai.

During one such sojourn to the khakra aisle, I chanced upon ‘Roasted Pepper Chocolate Khakra’ and the more fanciful ‘Roasted Pepper Vanilla Khakra’. While one was a chocolatey circle, the other was a white one. Not ready to try it, I searched for another food item to munch on. Yet, something about those two variants got me.

I needed to know if this was just tempered chocolate shaped like a khakra with a slight curve in the centre. Or was this really a genuine attempt to introduce this dish in the dessert arena? And within two hours of buying the whole packet, I knew. They were khakras for sure! The same thin, crunchy, crispy and unmistakable taste of a khakra infused with the lightest vanilla flavour. If your palate isn’t strong, you might just miss it.

But the chocolate khakras, they are worthy of their dark flavour. Just one bite and you want to eat more. The best part about these sweet khakras is their not-so-overwhelming taste and flavour. It does not reek of essence, as one would imagine.

So how do I make everyone eat them without making them look like khakras? Maybe cut triangular decorative pieces as a garnish for the chocolate mousse? Or maybe with some fruit on top, the roasted pepper chocolate and vanilla khakras can be a twist on the traditional nachos and dip dish. What do you think? Any Mumbai Willy Wonkas at hand?

 (Pictures courtesy www.thatsthesecretformula.blogspot.com, Ritika Bhandari)

Categories
Big story

Are you taking the bus today?

A Mumbai-based NGO is asking the city to avoid taking autos or taxis today. So what’s your plan of action?
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

This protest seems better-coordinated and planned than the Meter Jam one two years ago, which was largely confined to the Internet and hence, passed most of the city by. But the Acharya Atre Katta (AAK), a Kandivli-based NGO, which has given the clarion call to Mumbaikars to not take an auto or taxi today, is backed by some major biggies.

For starters, the Mumbai Grahak Panchayat (MGP), which has also filed a PIL in the Bombay High Court against the recent auto and taxi fare hikes, is firmly behind this initiative. Additionally, the Rajya Sarkari Karmachari Sanghatana (Maharashtra), a union of state government workers, has also pledged its support in writing, with a press release issued to all newspapers and news channels yesterday. Hence, AAK seems better-placed to make an impact on the city this time around; the call to boycott autos and taxis today has already been well-received on social networking sites.

Will we, won’t we?

Shayla Gonsalves (45), an accountant with a company in Dadar, says her office is located far from the railway station and she needs to take a cab because BEST buses are very crowded in the mornings. “But when my daughter told me about this boycott, I told my husband and sisters also to join in the protest. I will leave a little early from home tomorrow (on October 31) and one of our colleagues has promised to pick us up from Bandra station in his car.”

Homemaker Reshma Ghadi (36) keeps her Wednesdays for going vegetable shopping. The Borivli resident says, “Though I sometimes take the auto, especially if I’m carrying very heavy bags, I will wait for the BEST bus tomorrow. We should all support this initiative, because by putting pressure on errant auto and taxiwallahs, we can at least ensure that their services improve.”

However, Meet Mhaiskar (20), a student at a Bandra-based college said, “I would like to boycott the autos and taxis, but sometimes there is no choice. BEST buses are not always on time, and they are very crowded. If I get late for my class, I will not be allowed to attend the lectures. So I will be forced to take an auto.”

Meanwhile, AKK and MGP members are planning to target major railway stations and speak to commuters about not taking autos and taxis, but there will be no pressure on them to not do so. AAK members will also carry out a signature drive to gather support for the campaign.

They certainly will

Mumbai tweeted in favour of the ‘No Auto No Taxi’ day.

Neeta Kolhatkar @neetakolhatkar Mumbai citizens…walk, use buses, but say NO to autos tomo… plz support the NO AUTO TAXI day tomorrow 31st Oct pl RT

Renison Pereira @renison007 I liked a @Youtube video http://youtu.be/3jZLbSggr_E?a  No Auto–Taxiday on 31st October-TV9

UsCabbies @UsCabbies Mumbai citizens…walk, use buses, but say NO to autos tomo… plz support the NO AUTO TAXI day tomorrow 31st …

Kedar Paranjape @Kedar_cp “@Ganesh_Khare care to retweet.31st October-No Auto–Taxi DAYin Mumbai” Ensure u r on rite side by nt takin a rick ride.

Prasanna Kashikar @sweetstarguy Tomorrow is a No Taxi, No Auto Day !!!! Please do not travel byauto and taxi… This is a protest against unfair hike of fares.

Shweta D @shwetz8311 JAGO GRAHAK, JAGO. Lets observe 31OCT as NO TAXI/AUTO DAYto protest agnst unjust fare hike. Lets make it a habit to use BEST buses.

Akshay Redij @Akzey @meterjam you guys should also appeal to your users to support NoAuto–Taxi Day on 31st Oct. #NoAutoTaxiDay

IAC-Mumbai @IACMumbai Participate in “No Auto–Taxi Day” on October 31.

(Picture courtesy The Wall Street Journal) 

 

 

 

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