Food companies and their misleading labels

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Food is for nutrition and to provide the body with energy and vital nutrients. Names of foods help us to know what the likely ingredients might be in it. But often, we notice that food names are misleading. They can fool a person into buying only to realize that it did not meet their expectations and imagination. For instance, take the example of samosa. An ideal samosa is refined wheat flour (maida) wrap with mashed potatoes and boiled peas inside. And when we say paneer samosa (cottage cheese stuffed fried dumplings), the picture that comes to our mind is of a wrap of refined wheat flour dough with paneer inside. But to your disappointment, you will find that these samosas are nothing but the normal samosas with mashed potatoes with or without boiled peas and just 1 small piece of cottage cheese at one corner!!! If we talk about rusks, most of these are made of refined wheat flour or maida which is not healthy. Maida is stripped of all the vital nutrients such as fiber, vitamins,
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Awful and bizarre rituals and customs of India

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 India claims to be cultural, religious, and spiritual. It has a host of weird traditions and rituals that stand to no logic and are a waste of time, efforts, and money. It is unfortunate that education has not changed the mindset of majority of the educated people there and they continue with these 'dead' and meaningless traditions even today. The last few years have seen more of such regressive rituals that benefits no one and harms people and environment. 

1. Marriage with animals

In this, particular people are made to marry animals such as a dog or goat or a tree. After this, they can marry a human being. Such weddings are done of people who are said to have an ill-luck due to their birth date and time. They are born at some wrong time when the astrological combination was supposedly not good. They are called Mangliks. It is said that whomever they first marry will die. Hence these people are first married to animals or trees so that the curse befalls on the animals or trees!!!! And after that they can marry the human being of their choice. It has not been studied whether the poor animal whom they married died soon after the 'fake' wedding or whether the tree that they were married too withered away soon after!!! If not, then what is the need and role of such a bizarre practice?

2. Baby throwing or dropping from a tower

This is a risky practice and continues in Maharashtra despite bans. In this, parents drop their infant from a high tower onto the ground where villagers are holding a sheet of cloth. It seems this bestows the child with a healthy life. This is a type of child abuse. It is not known whether any infant died in this but then figures of crimes in this land are always suppressed. 

3. Alcohol as offerings to God

There is a place in Punjab near the village of Bhoma where there is a tomb of a fakir. People go to worship at this place and couples go there after weddings. The offerings is alcohol. You guessed it right. Alcoholics throng the place to lay their hands on the free alcohol there. During times when many people visit the shrine, alcoholics get a larger share of alcohol each and some of them are seen dead by drowning in the river that is flowing beside the tomb. 

Read here: Social isolation and its impact on health

4. Bani festival and self-hitting

At the Devaragattu Temple in Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh, during this festival, people hit self with sticks the whole night. In the past, they used to use spears and axes for it. Police and medical people are at standby to help the injured. 

Thaipoosam (Source: Alamy)

5. Thaipoosam

This is done in Tamil Nadu. After 48 days of fasting,  devotees pierce their body with hooks, lances, and skewers. They pierce their cheeks and tongue with it. 

6. Aghori and cannabalism

Aghori is a community that subsists on dead people. Their clothes come from that of dead people, their firewood from the wood used in pyre, and food from the Ganges river. They also eat raw meat of dead bodies found floating on the river. 

Will there be a ban or stopping of these bad customs? No sign of it! The politicians themselves are a superstitious lot and intellectuals reduced to a minority there!


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