Now, another important daily ritual that is often misunderstood is brushing teeth. To be fair, the name of this activity is itself misleading. I mean, what is brushing? You take a brush and run it along something, right? I brushed my teeth diligently twice a day for as long as I can remember. Still, when I went to the dentist, my teeth were not alright. […]

Today’s topic is simple and familiar. We are going to talk about washing hands – the very fundamental skill we learn in our early childhood from our parents. We all know how to do this, so let’s just get it over with. Ok, so it takes about one minute to wash your hands properly… What? It doesn’t? Well, it looks like someone needs a refresher […]

When I travel, I carry a small bottle of hand sanitizer. By travel I mean proper travel, way past the luggage check in counter and passport control at my local international airport. Got to keep those hands microbe free, right? Of course, I do not use hand sanitizer in my day to day life – I use soap and water instead. Once I had to […]

Soap and hand washing go together like sunscreen and a day at the beach. Psychologists suspect that washing hands with soap is a major formative block of a civilized person’s ego. My earliest childhood memory is of my mom standing in the doorway of our bathroom, arms akimbo, her head at a slight angle, looking at me as I turn around to make my way […]

Wait a minute? Calendula? Pot marigold? Is this the flower my mom used to put in salad dressing to make it look all bright and summer like? Yes, yes it is. As a matter of fact, calendula is such a common flower, that you are probably used to passing by it without looking twice in its direction. It even reminds me of dandelions – the […]