Author: The Metrognome

Categories
Wellness

50% cosmetics sold OTC are fake?

A study of over 500 cosmetic, beauty products sold without prescription showed that most of them were harmful to skin.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

We follow ads on TV and in the newspapers which point us towards the latest cure for our physical ailments. Some of us want the perfect skin, others want to lose weight without exercise and diet. What’s more, if the product we’re aiming to buy comes from a major pharmaceutical or FMCG company, we’re confident of its results even before using it.

You could be so wrong.

Dr Samir Mansuri holds up one of the products testedA team of doctors conducted an in-depth and comprehensive survey and study of cosmetic and beauty products available in the Indian market OTC (over the counter) and without prescription. Over 500 cosmetic and beauty products were studied for several parameters, most notably on their efficacy, safety of use, whether they satisfied manufacturing and Government norms, and whether they really delivered what the promised. The team of doctors was led by ayurved exponent Dr Samir Mansuri (in pic on left) and it included Dr GK Mansuri, who is a member of the CCIM, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.

As per the products tested in laboratories in Ahmedabad and Mumbai, the doctors’ findings were:

– About 50 per cent of all cosmetics and beauty or skin care products sold over the counter in India are either fake or spurious or both, or whose shelf life has expired and are harmful to the human skin in the long run.

– Many products do not have the mandatory Government of India manufacturing license for cosmetic products.
– About 65 per cent of unbranded (or unknown brands) products contain harmful ingredients or compounds including synthetically-produced elements, ingredients and compounds.
– Even ayurvedic products manufactured by FMCG giants contained ingredients obtained from herbs and plants or plant extracts grown artificially and not organically.
– Overdoses of pesticides remained as residues in such ayurvedic products. Most ayurvedic products sold in India as beauty and cosmetic products are not tested for residual pesticides.
– According to Dr Samir Mansuri, if bottled water and colas manufactured by large international FMCG brands and monitored by several NGOs can contain high level of pesticides, onefake drugs can only attempt to imagine the situation with medicinal and non-medicinal cosmetic products manufactured with herbal and plant extracts and sold OTC as ayurvedic medicines.

Dr Samir Mansuri has now launched a ‘Save our Skin’ campaign on the social media to highlight the dangers of buying spurious OTC beauty and cosmetic products that are sold without regulation.

(Pictures courtesy www.cosmeticsdesign-asia.com, www.scoop.it)

Categories
Big story

Mumbai, Thane record highest rain in State

Today, June 10, has been the wettest day for Mumbai’s suburbs and city, and Thane district, than all of Maharashtra.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

The rains reached Mumbai and Thane three days before expected time this year, on June 7. Before the monsoon started here in earnest, it lashed Pune, Ratnagiri and the State’s drought-prone regions.

Today, however, as Mumbai and Thane woke up to dark skies and sheets of rain that threatened to never stop pouring, the rest of Maharashtra was spared the battering. As per figures from the Revenue and Finance Department, Government of Maharashtra, Mumbai suburbs, Mumbai city and Thane recorded the highest rainfall figures in the State.

As per Government figures, Mumbai suburbs recorded 90.40 mm rainfall, while Mumbai city clocked in 81.10 mm. Meanwhile, Thane experienced the most amount of rain in the State today – 150.02 mm of rainfall.

The only other district to record high rainfall figures today, apart from these three, was Ratnagiri, which recorded 108.31 mm of rainfall.

In Mumbai and Thane, commuters experienced the usual troubles that are now synonymous with monsoon here – incredible road traffic, water logging at the usual low-lying spots, and train schedules thrown off kilter. There were numerous complaints of autorickshaws and cabs refusing to ply short distances.

Keep these numbers handy this monsoon:

BMC disaster control room: 108, 1916

MMRDA control room to report flooding: 022- 26591241 /26594176/8080705051

Mumbai Fire Brigade: 022-23076111

Autorichshaw and taxi complaint helpline: 1800220110

(Picture courtesy dnaindia.com) 

Categories
Big story

Thousands lose their homes while the rain pours down

Several hutments were demolished recently at different spots in Mumbai. Where will these people go while rains lash the city?
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

khar east andolanThe monsoons have set in Mumbai and Maharashtra in earnest, at least three days before expected time of arrival. And while the monsoon brings its usual problems for the average Mumbaikar – water-logged roads, floating garbage, leakages in walls and erratic trains, for some Mumbaikars, this monsoon is going to test their survival skills.

On June 4, 2013, some slums in Mumbai were witness to demolitions via bulldozers and they also suffered their share of police brutality as they tried to save their homes. “Bulldozers mowed down houses at Ganpat Patil Nagar, Sanjay Nagar, Indira Nagar and Adarsh Nagar. Around 250 houses were demolished at Ganpat Patil Nagar and more than 300 houses were broken down at Adarsh Nagar-Indira Nagar and Sanjay Nagar,” said an activist attached with the Medha Patkar-led National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM).

“As always, the police force was present in huge numbers and disrespectful to the protestors that included men, women, children and the aged. Even the pregnant ladies were not excused of high handedness. With the onset of the monsoon, these people’s vulnerability is increased as they have no roof over their heads and their belongings either crushed or lying here and there,” he added.

NAPM alleges that the demolition drive at Ganpat Patil Nagar was done under the pretext of ‘protecting mangroves’ as per the orders of the Bombay High Court, “which not at all had said anything about demolishing slums. The over enthusiasm shown by the local MLA of Shiv Sena – Vinod Ghosalkar – in demolishing this slum and evicting the families from the land exposes the nexus with the land mafia which wants to transform this locality into high rise buildings and towers. Even the Forest Department has informed that they do not want for demolition of slums but only protection of mangroves.”

At Indira Nagar, Adarsh Nagar and Sanjay Nagar, the demolitions were done to widen a nallah (sewerage line) in time for the rains; demolitions were carried out at the same spots last year for the same reason. Activist Siraj Ahmed, who was detained by the police for protesting the demolition, said that the nallah was never widened despite repeated demolitions.

“Most shocking and deplorable is the fact that in January this year, no less than the Chief Minister of Maharashtra and the Chief Secretary had promised to under take a survey of the these khar eastsettlements for the purpose of declaring them as slums and provisioning of basic amenities,” an NAPM release says. “Instead of water pipe lines and toilet blocks, they have sent bulldozers and police force. It seems that the slogan of ‘slum free India’ is to be realised by bulldozing the existing slums and not be upgrading or resettling them.”

(Pictures courtesy tehelka.com, khareastandolan.wordpress.com. Pictures are file images)

Categories
Overdose

Ode to a pothole

So here you are again, in all your glory, just like you promised. Jatin Sharma’s been eagerly waiting for you.

Jatin SharmaMy dear Khadda,
I have been waiting for you to show up. I know that you have always been around, and there is no particular season when you choose to emerge. But this is the most favourable time for you to make an appearance, when my city and its administrators welcome you with open arms.

I am amazed at the sense of variety you have. Sometimes you are big, sometimes you are small and deep, sometimes round and sometimes your shape reminds me of the rotis that I try to cook at home.

I know that you are not so adamant about coming to this city every year, but it is only that you are lured by corruption and malpractices attached to the road construction business. I even know that you have been asked to (or made to?) reappear the moment a road is completed. You are as precious and reverential as the craters that dot the moon, only you dot my city’s roads. I also understand that the construction contractors have failed to understand you from the past 25 years. They (and we) don’t know what it is that makes you so attractive that even after spending crores of rupees on you, they still can’t get enough of you.

There is something about you. I feel that you are a woman because it’s so hard to fathom you. At other times, you’re the pesky neighbour potholethat deserves all the dirty looks you can get. You are so sexy that all monsoon, as the rain pelts the city and while everything is thrown out of gear, I think only of you. And my city loves you so much that no matter what, we will not raise a voice against you. We will look at your vile effects – the way you damage our vehicles, the backaches you provide, the cesspools you create in the rain, but we will still ignore all of these because we know you are here to stay.

Even though I pay taxes, it gives me immense joy to know that a large part of my money goes to nothing and I get to experience you always. Because tum nahin toh monsoon nahin. Some people have always blamed you for their troubles: don’t listen to them, it is just because they look at better cities that are as world class as they claim, and these people want their own city to be like that. To these people, year after year, you say: Ha ha!

But the rest of us are not rude like them. We love you and that’s why year after year, you have occupied not just a permanent place in our hearts, but a permanent spot on our roads. And you getting bigger, wider, deeper. From just being a few in the city, I can now see that you have mushroomed everywhere. You Khaddas have this amazing stage presence, too. With the rains thrashing the city in the last two days, I have heard a lot of people talk about your different shapes. It must feel bad to be spoken of like this (especially if you’re a woman), but kya karein, you are something that we can’t get our eyes off once we leave our homes for work.

potholesI am sure, even this monsoon we would have made all the right moves for you to arrive in style. For you to be present all over the city. We are a world class shitty, I mean city, and we will continue to be so with you in it.

Welcome to my city this lovely monsoon.

Love,
Jatin Sharma

 

Jatin Sharma is a media professional who doesn’t want to grow up, because if he grows up, he will be like everybody else.

(Pictures courtesy www.dnaindia.com, www.afternoondc.in, www.mid-day.com)

Categories
Achieve

Mumbai doctor scales Mount Everest

Dr Murad Lala is the first doctor from India to scale the world’s highest mountain. The journey took two months.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

Scaling the highest mountain in the world must give one a huge high. Setting a record in the process must be simply fabulous.

Dr. Murad E. LalaMumbai-based consultant oncosurgeon Dr Murad Lala reached the summit of Mount Everest on May 19 this year at exactly 9.10 am to become the first doctor in India to have summitted the mountain successfully. Dr Lala, attached to the PD Hinduja Hospital, Mahim, took seven weeks of climbing to reach the top.

Mount Everest is 29,035 feet high and lies in the Himalayas along the border of Nepal, China and Tibet. Dr Lala set out on the journey from Mumbai on March 28. “I reached Kathmandu the same day,” he said. “After completing the formalities set by the Nepal Government, my team and I set out on April 1 to Lukla and from there, we walked approximately 63 km and reached the base camp on April 8.” From there on, it was a short three-hour journey to Camp 2, and from Camp 2 to 3, and from Camp 3 to Camp 4 was a journey of approximately 16 hours in all. “The whole process of climbing Everest takes time because mountaineers believe in ‘scaling high and resting low’, which means even though one reaches Camp 1, climbers have to come back the same evening to base camp and rest. This is done so that one’s body gets acclimatised to high altitudes,” Dr Lala explained.

Why Everest?

Dr Lala said, “Since childhood I always I had this dream of climbing Mount Everest. The Hinduja Hospital management has been kind enough to allow me to take time off and realise my Dr Lala (second from left) with Mr Lele (first from left), Ms Vinoo Hinduja (second from right), Dr Bhaleroa (first from right)dream. Trekking the Everest is a no mean task. I did my training by doing the ‘Triple Crown Expedition’, which means scaling the three peaks Lobuche East – (6,119 metres high), Pokalde (5,806 metres) and Island Peak (6,145 metres).

“We were a group of eight (excluding the personal sherpas and Western guide, Marty Schmidt) and our group motto was ‘One Team, One Dream’. The 12-hour journey was the walk of a lifetime for me. When I finally reached the top, I finally realised that just because we are ordinary people, it does not mean we cannot have extraordinary dreams.”

Congratulating Dr Lala for his accomplishment, Dr Gustad Daver, Director-Professional Services, PD Hinduja Hospital said, “Dr Lala, apart from being an excellent cancer surgeon with our hospital since 2001, has been an epitome of courage and determination by achieving this act. As a fellow consultant, I feel proud that he has managed to excel in his professional life and in the same time achieved his personal dream to become the first doctor from India to have scaled the Everest.”

(Pictures courtesy Dr Murad Lala)

Categories
Enough said

Some highs and some tremendous lows

This week has been an eye-opener on the state of the human condition in India. And it hasn’t been pretty.
Humra Quraishiby Humra Quraishi

This has been a strange week, to put it mildly.

Still reeling in the capital city over the Chhatisgarh Naxal attack on the State’s top Congress brass, we are now waking up to a detailed five-page letter on why tribals in the country are angry at the establishment. Space constraints bar me from producing the entire letter, so let me just write the operative part of the communication.

The letter was written by a Minister in the Central Government, V Kishore Chandra Deo, Minister for Tribal Affairs and Panchayati Raj. He has written to the Governors of the Schedule V Areas, in which he mentions, “The main challenge that is staring at us today is the explosive situations (sic) that are prevailing in the Schedule V Areas of our country. These areas are inhabited largely by people belonging to the Scheduled Tribe communities, forest dwellers and other marginalised and deprived sections of our society.

“It is, therefore, not a matter of coincidence that we are today faced with a situation which is threatening to strike at the very roots of the basic structure of our polity, and has  become a threat to our national security…The root cause of this situation is, however, result of continuous exploitation, oppression, deprivation, neglect and indifference for decades.”

And so on.

Recently, Roli Books launched Incredible Ascents to Everest, which captures “extraordinary stories of ascents – from a blind man’s success to a sherpa’s record 21 climbs. From the oldest, two weeks before his 77th birthday, to the first person to ski down the Everest. From the first solo ascent without any supplemental oxygen to the first double amputee to scale the Mount Everest…the extraordinary stories of ordinary men and women who have risked their physical, emotional and financial well-being to make the momentous and perilous climb to the top of the world’s tallest mountain.”

Jiah KhanBefore I could get more details of these men and women scaling the highest mountain in the world, came the news of Bollywood’s Jiah Khan and her suicide. News reports claim that she couldn’t claim with the emotional turmoil and the struggles of everyday life. It is sad to hear of the death of a young, reasonably talented girl, who I wish had seen the positives in her life and not given up the courage to go on. Some day, I hope many such Jiahs will learn to look past immediate disappointments and just live.

On the other end of the spectrum, there’s a symbol of mingled hope and grief. An exhibition titled Nirbhaya by artist N Swarnalatha was launched here recently, and it bears sketches and paintings of the human form exploited, molested, raped and abused. To quote from the brochure to the exhibition, “‘Nirbhaya’, her current body of work reflects her angst on the plight of the Indian women today. The series is dedicated to Nirbhaya, Vinothini, Vidhya and all the women martyrs who have taught lessons of bravery and self esteem worldwide…”

Humra Quraishi is a senior political journalist based in Gurgaon. She is the author of Kashmir: The Untold Story and co-author of Simply Khushwant.

(Pictures courtesy www.warisboring.com, www.dayandnightnews.com)

Exit mobile version