Shahnaz Husain

Neem (Margosa) is not only one of the most power-ful natural antiseptics, but is also nature's own antibiot-ic. The botanical name is Azaridachta indica, which indi-cates that it is indigenous to India. Neem has a historywhich goes back thousands of years. It has been iden-tified on 5000-year old seals of the Indus Valley Civiliza-tion. Over the centuries Neem has been highly valuedin India for its healing and purifying properties and it isprobably the most widely used among plant products. InSanskrit, Neem is called "sarva roga nibarini" whichmeans that it is "the cure for all ailments." It was used asa preventive in malaria, cholera, smallpox and many oth-er such diseases. It was also used to treat bronchial ail-ments, asthma, jaundice and various digestive prob-lems. It is also commonly used in homes for skin andhair problems like prickly heat, boils, rashes, dandruff,itching, etc.

One of the most common uses of Neem in India has

been for cleaning and brushing the teeth, for which thetwigs are used. During the ancient times, poultices weremade from neem leaves for skin diseases and skinulcers, In fact, neem leaf infusions are still used to relieveitching and rashes, as well as for clearing away scabsof diseases like chicken pox and measles.

As far as the skin and hair are concerned, Neem con-tains organic sulphur compounds, which have been foundextremely beneficial for the skin and scalp. Due to its ver-satile healing actions, neem extracts and oil have beenused in protective, preventive and corrective care of theskin and hair. It has a healing and soothing effect oninflammatory and eruptive skin conditions. The coolingand soothing action of Neem has made it invaluable forthe care of oily skin conditions like acne, pimples, rash-es and spots, as well as scalp conditions like dandruff. Ithas also helped to soothe skin-sensitivity in dry and dehy-

drated skins. Neem has been included in formulations forskin and hair care due to its many benefits.

Home CareDuring hot and humid weather, the skin and scalp are

more prone to rashes and eruptive conditions. The skinand hair also attract more dirt and pollutants duringhumid weather. Neem can easily be used as a homeremedy for skin and hair care, not only to prevent prob-lems, but also to soothe and cure.

Neem leaf infusions can be used to wash the skin andhair. First boil water and add the neem leaves to it. Donot boil the leaves, but cover it and let it stand in thewater overnight. Next day, strain the water and use it towash the face and hair. In fact, the water can also bepoured as a last rinse on the body. In cases of pimplesand acne, or even boils, neem leaf infusion will help. Ithelps to prevent and soothe heat rashes and prickly heat.In fact, even in itchy conditions, neem leaf infusions willbe beneficial. In cases of dandruff and itching of thescalp, neem leaf infusions are very helpful. Use the infu-sion as a last rinse, after washing the hair.

Neem can also be used with oil for head massage.

First heat about 200 gms of pure coconut or sesameseed (til) oil. Take a handful of neem leaves and add itto the oil. Let it stand in the oil for about ten days, allow-ing it to remain in the sun during this time. Then strainthe leaves and keep the oil for use. This is a preventivetreatment for rashes, itching and other scalp conditions,including dandruff. It relieves itching and prevents scalpinfections.

During humid weather, people with oily skins sufferfrom increased oiliness. Sweat deposits remain on theskin, leading to rashy conditions. Neem can be used inscrubs for oily skins. The leaves should be dried andpowdered and then added to wheat bran (choker) or oats.Add a little rose water and use it as a scrub, rubbing itgently on the skin. It helps to reduce oil and keep theskin free from pimples and spots.

For oily skin, add a few drops of lemon juice to neemleaf infusion and apply on the face. Wash it off after 20minutes. This also helps to reduce oil and prevent skinproblems.

Dr Zameer Ali

Low back pain itself is not a specific disease, but ratheris a general complaint that may be caused by a large vari-ety of underlying problems of varying levels of seriousness.The majority of LBP is referred to as nonspecific low backpain and does not have a definitive cause. LBA refers to painarising from lumbar, lumbo sacral spine or sacro iliac joints.Low back ache is a very common problem and has an ubiq-uitous distribution.

It is believed to stem from benign musculoskeletal prob-lems such as muscle or soft tissues sprain or strains. Obe-sity, smoking, weight gain during pregnancy, stress, poorphysical condition, bad posture, and poor sleeping positionalso may contribute to low back pain. The full differential diag-nosis includes many other less common conditions. Physi-cal causes may include osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis,degeneration of the discs between the vertebrae or a spinaldisc herniation, a vertebral fracture (such as from osteoporo-sis), or rarely, an infection or tumor.

Women may experience acute low back pain due to cer-

tain medical conditions affecting the female reproductive sys-tem, including endometriosis, ovarian cysts, ovarian cancer,or uterine fibroids. . Back pain is also common in pregnan-cy. Between a half and three quarters of pregnant womensuffer from back pain at some stage. Pregnant women reportlumbosacral pain during their pregnancy, as changes in theirposture and center of gravity cause muscle and ligamentstrain.

Back ache which was known as ancient curse to erectposture is now well known as modern day epidemic. Eightypercent of population is affected by this symptom at somepoint of time in life. In 2%of population, back ache is the mostof times presenting complaint in bone and joint clinic.

Classification of low back acheBackache has affected human beings throughout record-

ed history Low back pain or lumbago Low back pain (oftenabbreviated as LBP) may be classified by duration as acute(generally pain lasting less than six weeks), sub-chronic (sixto 12 weeks), or chronic (more than 12 weeks). The condi-tion may be further classified by the underlying cause asmechanical, non-mechanical, or referred pain. For mostepisodes of low back pain, a specific underlying cause is nev-er identified or even looked for, and the pain is believed tobe due to mechanical problems such as muscle strain or

joint sprain. Impairment of back and spine are ranked as most fre-

quent limitation of activity in people younger than 45 yearsof age

Among galaxy of causative factors both spinal and extraspinal the most common cause of low back ache seems tobe lumbar disc disease.

Bad posture seems to be very common cause and playsa significant role in genesis of this disease so much is con-tribution of bad posture towards this problem that one cancategorically conclude that LBA is all about disc degenera-tion contributed by bad posture

Posture of hip is key to that of whole body because it deter-mines the pelvic inclination and secondarily effect posture ofback and if abnormal can lead to abnormal curve of spineleading to fatigue of back muscles and strain of ligaments allcontributing to back ache

Tests are available to look into the cause of the pain if itdoes not go away with conservative treatment. Althoughuncommon, if low back pain is accompanied by unexplainedweight loss, significant problems with feeling or movementin the legs or groin or unexplained fever, these "red flags"may indicate a serious underlying condition. In most cases,imaging tools such as MRI are not useful and carry their ownrisks, so generally they are not needed unless red flags orother unusual conditions are present. Despite this, the useof imaging to investigate low back pain is increasing in pop-ularity.

Sign and symptomsIn a common presentation of low back pain, an individual

will develop pain after exercise or labour that involves lifting,twisting, or forward-bending movements. The symptomsmay start soon after the movements, or upon waking up thefollowing morning. The description of the symptom itself mayrange anywhere from tenderness at a particular point to dif-fuse pain, and may or may not worsen with particular move-ments, such as raising a leg, or with certain positions, suchsitting or standing. Pain radiating down the legs ( sciatica)may be present. Chronic low back pain is associated withsleep problems, including an increase in the amount of timeneeded to fall asleep, disturbances during sleep, reductionin the duration of sleep, and decreased satisfaction withsleep. As well, a majority of those with chronic low back painshow symptoms of depression.

Doctors advice * keeping back straight* maintaining a proper posture not only during sitting but

also during standing, walking, or driving a motor car* maintaining a proper posture while sitting in office.* proper way to get out from bed while waking up in morn-

ing.* eating a healthy diet * prevention of weight gain and if overweight proper advice

regarding weight reduction* proper exercise regimen ( spinal flexion or extension as

advised by your doctor) to strengthen your back muscles (no need to go to gym just 10 minutes of exercise at homeis more than sufficient for Prevention of weight gain.

Most cases of low back pain do not require urgent care,but patients should seek a doctor immediately if they expe-rience low back pain as a result of severe trauma, or if lowback pain is accompanied by any of the following:

* Fever and chills* Unexplained recent weight loss, or recent weight loss

due to trauma* Significant leg weakness* Sudden bowel and/or bladder incontinence - either dif-

ficulty passing urine or having a bowel movement, or loss ofcontrol of urination or bowel movement (cauda equina syn-drome)

* Severe, continuous abdominal pain (abdominal aorticaneurysm)

Every case of low back ache is different consult your doc-tor before resorting to home remedies.

The author is Registrar Orthopaedics Skims medical college)

drzameerajliortho@gmail.com

Taran Adarsh

Having collaborated on two films in the past -- the criti-cally acclaimed THE LEGEND OF BHAGAT SINGH andthe commercially successful AJAB PREM KI GHAZABKAHANI -- producer Ramesh Taurani and director Rajku-mar Santoshi join forces for their third endeavor PHATAPOSTER NIKHLA HERO. From the looks of it, PHATAPOSTER NIKHLA HERO falls into the same genre as thelatter, while the motive is crystal clear: to offer infinite hilar-ity in those 2+ hours. The question is, will Taurani and San-toshi experience triumph yet again? With a catchy title, pro-mos that emit accurate signals to its target audi-ence and a genre that's the flavor of theseason, will PHATA POSTER NIKHLAHERO have a heroic run at the ticketwindow?

Santoshi has proved his versatil-ity ever since he made his debutfilm. Though he tastedbig success in variedgenres, you can'toverlook the factthat films likeANDAZ APNAAPNA andAJAB PREMKI GHAZABKAHANInot onlyw o n

hearts and brought smiles on our faces, but also havetremendous recall value to this date. PHATA POSTERNIKHLAHERO too abounds in clean, inane humor that willhave you rolling with laughter. One of the prime reasonswhy PHATA POSTER NIKHLA HERO also works is thesuperlative performance by Shahid Kapoor, who goes allmassy with this one. More on that later…

PHATA POSTER NIKHLA HERO narrates the story ofVishwas Rao [Shahid Kapoor], an aspiring actor, who aimsto make it big in Bollywood. However, a chance encounterwith Kajal [Ileana D'Cruz] and Vishwas, who is dressed upas a cop, is mistaken to be a cop in real life. What ensuesis a series of crazy escapades which turns Vishwas' lifeupside down. Let's get this straight! There's nothing in PHA-TA POSTER NIKHLA HERO that you haven't watchedbefore. It has a standard theme, several clichés that you mayhave encountered in earlier films, but what works is the factthat the journey to the destination is full of amusement andentertainment. Although Santoshi has helmed comediesearlier, the humor in PHATA POSTER NIKHLA HERO ismore unabashed, in your face, goofier and physical. Thesole similarity between Santoshi's earlier works and this oneis that the wit and humor is just hard to disregard. You can'thelp but break into a smile or guffaw at the most absurd,ludicrous situations, which is what the intent is.

PHATAPOSTER NIKHLAHERO brings back memories

of old-fashioned comic entertainers. There's not much of aplot here, but you go with the flow without making mucheffort. You laugh, celebrate the silly gags and by the timethe story reaches its conclusion, you realize that the filmhas won you over with its unfussy plot and basic charac-ters, who don't have a serious bone in their body. It's a frothycomedy that would have gone astray and misplaced its lus-ter had it been delegated to a lesser talent.

The lone hiccup is the villain's sub-plot in the second hour.The portions involving him and Operation White Elephantcould've been integrated far more persuasively in the schemeof things. Besides, a song, reminiscent to the one in AJAB

PREM KI GHAZAB KAHANI, could've easily been avoid-ed. Additionally, a few jokes and jibes in this hour

lack the wittiness of the first half. With Tips producing the film, one expects

the soundtrack of PHATA POSTER NIKHLAHERO to be top notch and Pritam lives upto the expectations. The stylish and high-on-energy choreography only garnishesthe tracks further. 'Tu Mere Agal Bagal

Hain' is easily the best track, followedby 'Dhating Naach'. In fact, Shahid'sdance in the latter is simply jaw-drop-ping. I'd like to make a special mention

of the witty dialogue, which bring asmile on your face persistently.

PHATA POSTER NIKHLA HERObelongs to Shahid Kapoor absolute-

ly. Completely. He nails it andhow. No two opinions on that.

He gets to portray the partof an entertainer, a char-

acter which is *not*everyone's cup of tea,

but Shahid makessure he carries offthe part with amaz-ing ease, display-ing his funny sidein severals e q u e n c e s .What's note-worthy is thathe's pittedwith [accom-p l i s h e d ]actors knownfor their com-

ic timing [Saurabh Shukla, Sanjay Mishra, Darshan Jari-wala], yet Shahid proves that he's a complete natural in thisgenre. Slapstick, dance, action, romance -- he seems to beenjoying it all here. For Ileana, who made her Hindi filmdebut with BARFI!, a film like PHATA POSTER NIKHLAHERO gives her the podium to play the conventional hero-ine. She lends a lot of grace to her character and the pair-ing with Shahid looks fresh and charming. It's a treat to watchPadmini Kolhapure on the big screen after a hiatus. She'swonderful. Saurabh Shukla is in terrific form. He's so so sofunny. Sanjay Mishra has an impeccable comic timing andhe proves it yet again. He's fab. Darshan Jariwala gets itright, stressing on the fact that he can handle comedy withequal flourish. Zakir Hussain is first-rate. Again, a welcomechange from the negative roles he has been asked to por-tray in film after film. Mukesh Tiwari is efficient. Rana JungBahadur and Navin Prabhakar lend decent support.

Salman Khan sparkles in a cameo. He is sure to bring thehouse down with his poker-face act. Nargis Fakhri sizzles inthe dance number, matching steps with Shahid.

On the whole, PHATA POSTER NIKHLA HERO is anentertainer all the way. If you relished AJAB PREM KI GHAZ-AB KAHANI from the team of Taurani and Santoshi, chancesare you will also lap up this vibrant, kaleidoscopic, light-heart-ed entertainer.

http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/

Ayodhya Nath Kerni

Charles Robert Darwin was of theview that all species were descendedfrom a common ancestor. Religiousopponents opposed Darwin and con-ceived the belief that evolution denieddivine creation of human beings; it madepeople and animal equal. Darwin notedduring his scientific expedition that eachspecies in each Island was slightly dif-ferent. There may be controversy inaccepting the theory of evolution by nat-ural selection. Darwin's critics pointedout that he could not explain the mech-anism that caused life forms to changefrom generation to generation. Newmolecular biology techniques comparethe genetic structure of different species,enabling scientists to determine unde-tectable evolutionary relationshipbetween species. As of now evolution isrecognized as the corner stone of mod-ern biology, As far as monkeys are con-cerned one has to admit that thesmartest mammals are primates. Mon-keys found in India include guenons,mangabeys, colobus, macaques, lan-gurs and baboons etc.

Monkeys are not domesticated ani-mals like cats and dogs. They do notmake good pets. Monkeys are verymessy and destructive. They behaveimpredictably and even pose a dangerto people. Biologists assume that mon-keys possess good memory. They canrecollect where the different trees areand when do they ripe. Monkeys com-municate with one another by gesticulat-

ing with parts of their bodies and call oneanother by vocalization. They use theirintelligence to protect themselves fromenemies. They urinate on enemies fromtop of the tree. They also jump up anddown to make dead branches fall on theenemies on ground.

It gives hilarious joy to tourists whenthey start their road journey from Jam-mu to Katra to visit Mata Vaishnoo DeviShrine. As and when city area is crossedover the cool breeze blowing throughlush green forests is enjoyed even at thetime when mercury starts soaring allaround, After paying obeisance to KolKandoli pious shrine devotees approachthe steep turnings of Bantalab, Nandiniand Domel. The journey is oftenly inter-rupted with the panic of larger groups ofmonkeys on road side, The tourists offerthem bread, grams and other eatablesperhaps owing to certain religious reser-vations. Langurs are considered as theincarnation of the God ape Hanuman.This small monkey is famous for its abil-ity to leap 9 meters between trees. Incase when it jumps from one tree andfeels that it is unable to reach anothertree can turn back from half the way inthe air. It has come to notice that roadbeing busy with vehicular traffic facesjams due to presence of large number ofmonkeys. The presence of monkeys onroad is dangerous and prone to acci-dents. Many monkeys succumb todeath with vehicle accidents because oftheir frequent movement on road. Mon-keys found on this road are very cleverand they have learned how to blackmail

the people. They would pick up forciblylady purse or shawl and sit on the highbranch of tree. They will only return thestolen articles in case some eatables areoffered to them. Few months back atourists while offering eatables to mon-keys group sustained injuries due toattack of other monkeys.

Some years back a monkey catchingsquad visited the area but desirableresults were not achieved because of notcarrying out the programme continuous-ly for a long period of time. Some timesprivate parties also catch the monkeysand sell them as pets. A programme tothis effect be conducted by governmentagency to catch the monkeys from roadside and leave them in dense forests.This would enable monkeys to return totheir original habitats. Most of the world'smonkeys live in tropical and sub tropicalforests. Monkeys can even share theirhabitats with many other wild animalsincluding lion, bears and tigers. Mostmonkeys live in warm climates, some dosurvive in extreme environments. A fewtropical survive on high mountains wellabove the snow line. Snub nosed lan-gurs are also seen on Trikuta hills whilevisiting Mata Vaishnoo Devi shrine. Theother monkeys leave their habitatswhere ever langurs are present. Thetourists visiting the area need to bebriefed by displaying hoardings not tooffer eatables to monkeys so that theymay flee towards forests for search offood and road is cleared of the horror ofmonkeys.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2013 (PAGE-4)

Entertainer all the way

Suffering from LBP ?

Home care with neem

BEAUTY TIPS

HEALTHLINES

MOVIE REVIEW

Food

that

kills

them

NATURE

THE COOLING AND SOOTHING ACTION OF

NEEM HAS MADE IT INVALUABLE FOR THE

CARE OF OILY SKIN CONDITIONS LIKE ACNE,PIMPLES, RASHES AND SPOTS, AS WELL AS

SCALP CONDITIONS LIKE DANDRUFF.

Excelsior/Rakesh