Cough - Home remedies.

Cough has been my loyal companion since childhood. After having tried many different medicines and remedies, I met a Ayurveda doctor who prescribed some simple diet restrictions for me. The day I don't follow the restrictions, the cough is back, but leaves in a couple of days.

As a result of my long association with cough, I have had a lot of people give me different remedies. From auto drivers to maids, from college lecturers to bus drivers, from aunts to neighbors, all have advised me. Most of them have helped. Below is a list of some of them which helped me.

• The best home remedy for cough is gargling and steaming. Gargling with warm salt water or even with mouth wash helps. Steaming with a little eucalyptus oil added to the water does wonder for both cough and cold.
  
• Tulsi-Ginger tea soothes your throat and clears chest congestion. In two glasses of water add generous amount of tulsi and some squashed fresh ginger Boil till water becomes 1 glass. Add jaggery if needed. Drink hot.
• Fresh ginger juice mixed with honey is good to clear chest congestion.
  
• Honey with freshly ground pepper powder gives relief from throat irritation.
  
• A piece of clove or some sugar crystals suppresses the cough. Not a cure though but helpful nevertheless.
  
• A glass of milk with honey/turmeric in the night is also a decent cure.

Make sure that you have warm liquids only.

This is just a compilation from my experiences. Hope it helps.

Om Shanti Om

Its the 1970's. Subhash Ghai is shooting the now hit and classic song Om Shanti Om. Rishi Kapoor flings his jacket and it land in the audience right on Shah Rukh Khan. This is the opening sequence of the latest Shah Rukh Khan movie - Om Shanti Om.Shah Rukh plays Om Prakash Makhija, a junior artist. He, like all junior artists dreams of making it in the big league some day. His dreams are asserted by his filmi mother Bela (Kirron Kher) and his side kick Pappu (Sheryas Talpade). He also is deeply, madly in love with super star/dream girl Shanti Priya (Deepika Padukone). One day in typical Bollywood style he saves her from fire and gains her friendship. He also learns that Shanti is already married to the producer Mukesh Mehra (Arjun Rampal). Mehra once gets Shanti to the set of their new movie and sets it on fire with Shanti trapped inside. Our hero attempts to help but is killed in the process.Now he is reborn as Om Kapoor to a super star Rajesh Kapoor. All the dreams of his past life have come true. Thanks to some cancelled shooting, he remmebers his past too. Now he wants to avenge his and Shanti's death. Deepika is also back as a fan of Om Kapoor.

There are some enjoyable sequences in the movie. Watch out for the Tamil super star sequence, the first sence between Kirron Kher and Shah Rukh, the references to Sooraj Bharjatya and Govinda, most of the comic sequences and many more.

Shah Rukh is a super star and plays one. He is great in the movie, but looks old in some of the 70's sequence. Deepika is good in her debut. Half of Bollywood make special appearences in the movie.SRK and FK have half of Bollywood in the movie. Missing noteable are the 70's heroines.

The story is cliched and you know whats happening next. No suprises come your way. The comedy is good but nothing compared to the one in Main Hoon Na. The music is enjoyable.

The movie is total masala and paisa vasool only if you leave your brains and logic at home when you watch it.

Madhuri is Back!!!!

The million dollar smile is back on big screen. Yes, the gorgeous Madhuri Dixit is back!!!!!
The promos of the new Madhuri Dixit movie Aaja Nachle are all over the small screen. And she looks drop dead gorgeous - a little old but yet gorgeous. And from what I read about the movie, she plays her age and a dancer in the movie.

The movie is releasing on November 30. I might not be able to catch the movie for at least a week after the release. (We are moving houses that weekend) Will surely catch it as soon as possible.

Another 'After a long time...'

I'm back after another sabbatical. The sabbatical was wonderful as it was filled with my Master...I attended Navrathri completely, almost all the homas, did seva during Navrathri, assisted and organized an Basic course in Kaggadaspura after that, then went for an Advanced course with Guruji during Diwali. I also had the house warming ceremony of our new apartment in between all this.

The advance course as usual was amazing and its timing couldn't have been better. I had a lot of doubts, apprehensions and botherations and all of them were taken care by Him in His own unique way. Bhakti, Seva and Knowledge were reinforced.

The house warming ceremony went well. We over estimated the guest count and so some food went waste. Also Arvindh was at his elemental best - present only for the important part of the function and absent for the 'back-stage' work. My patience was tested again.

Work front - nothing much. Work isn't as interesting as it used to be few months ago. Looking for some options.

Jab We Met...

There were many reasons why I picked up a ticket for Jab We Met - I loved the promos and songs, I loved the previous movie from its director, Imtiaz Ali, it had been quite a while since I watched a movie in a theater, etc etc...I did enter the movie hall with some expectations and the movie lived up to all of those and more.

The story is simple. Dumped by his previous girl friend and lost in business guy, Aditya (Shahid Kapur) meets an overtly talkative and bindas gal Geet (Kareena Kapoor) on a train. She irritates him to the core and he makes her miss the train. She insists he drop her home - 'Sikhni hoon main Bhatinda ki'. Their road trip to reach Bhatinda is filled with many enjoyable sequences - like the 'Decent Hotel' one. Family is overwhelmed and arrange wedding bells for Geet with her childhood love Manjeet. Geet loves another guy and plans to run away. Aditya helps her and returns to his life, with new found enthusiasm. Months later, family comes to Aditya asking for Geet. Now our hero has to find her and get her back home.

What makes the movie wonderful is the script and the direction and the actors and the characterization and the chemistry and just everything. Even the ending has no rona dhona, its just simple and lovely. Some memorable scenes include - the Decent Hotel one, the badbad of Geet in the train (Mujhe bachpan se he na shadi karne ka bada shauk hai by God), the way Anshuman is treated when he reaches Geet's place, Geet acting that Aditya is her boy friend and many more.The music also is great and all songs are lovely. My favorite is Tumse hi and Yeh Ishq hai.

Kareena for once is lovable. Shahid is great. The only chink in the armor is Tarun Arora. He is a pathetic actor, but I laughed at his stupid looks on screen.

I put this movie among the sweetest love stories made by Bollywood. The list now is - DDLJ, Maine Pyar Kiya, Jab We Met, Love Story and QSQT.