this morning I stopped at a petrol pump and opened the car door and the attendent who was a filipino said "you smell good sir, where you from?" I said, "pakistan", he seemed surprised, don't mind me sir but pakistanis and indians, most of them smell, must be the food, I laughed, "no, try spelling the word 'deodrent' often to them !!!"

my mother is a clean-junkie, when we were growing up she was very strict over keep the house clean as we as ourselves. especially keeping the bathroom clean, floor must not be wet, clean the toilet seat after you are done, clean the sink with tissue after use, i.e. leave no water drops either on the floor or sink, and for a while it seemed like alot but now looking back, I am glad she made us all do that cause now I can see the difference when I visit other places or others come to my place.

& the way we eat, she taught us how to help ourselves with food, stuff like, when you are pouring rice, make sure it does not fall out, how to properly eat bread and how to avoid bread crums falling on you. and how much on your spoon is 'alot', stuff like that :)

normally we are used to wearing same cloth twice or but she would tell us if you wore it once, don't wear it again or you will "smell", and I used to think how come? now I know she was right!!!

since we asian sweat alot, I have noticed most of us do not pay attention to the sweat from arm pits which is shown on thier shirts, you can see people with good personality but soon you see that "sweat patch" and their image is lost.

back in the days. deodrents were not that common, I remember mother used to tell us to use "phatkari" for sweat, she would say, you will not sweat even when you are sweating alot. even now when I go out, she calls me up and say "let me smell you", cause smell is something that really gives you a bad image no matter what car you are in or what suite you are wearing.

some people are smelly even after use of deo, well that is because of the food they eat, change your eating habits and it will fix that problem.

Another thing, bad breath, the 'masala' food that we eat contributes to it alot, plus most of the people take tea or coffee alot, not only it has effect on your breath but on your teeth as well giving them a light brown color, so make sure after tea or coffee you goggle and clean your teeth with water & make sure to chew on gum after your meal, make it a habit. it elminates the bad breath resulting of food. & please !!! don't forget to brush after you wake up !!!

change your habits, try having mint-tea or ginger-tea, not only it's good for your stomach & health, it helps reducing bad breath as well. bad smell comes from the stomach, not teeth, mouth only contributes if you have gengivitis, but regular brusing and use of mouth wash takes care of it.

scratching in public, oh boy !!! that is so common.you may not notice but the public does and when they do, you become a big loser !!! the solution is easy, "keep yourself clean", wash off properly, use dettol or some similar soap & before you go out, put on some cream like "itch guard", it's an indian medicine but really works great. and you will not feel any itch at all due to sweating.