Tuesday 25 March 2014

Bathing Is Like Blogging! Blogging Is Like Bathing!

The following post is part of a campaign sponsored by the mentioned company. I have written this post as a challenge for my skills of articulation and creativity and do not necessarily endorse all the information provided in it.

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Bathing is like blogging and blogging is like bathing. ‘Bath’ and ‘Blog’ both are four letter words. Both don’t start with ‘f’, and none of them is a taboo. Blogging and bathing both require solitude to perform. It is an accepted norm that bathing and blogging is done at home and never in office. Both require you to open-up. You need to open up to take bath, and you need to open-up your mind to Blog.


Here is more on why bathing and blogging are same……


Both Bathing and Blogging have a history,
The stone-age ‘blogs’ on cave-walls,
Stones, and tree-barks are no mystery!
The pre-historic baths were done in ponds and lakes,
While the modern one with Racold is such cakes!
Image courtesy fina and  staticflickr
                      Bathing in ancient times                          Blogging in ancient times             







Both Bathing and Blogging are signs of civilization,

A means to attain happiness, without aberration!








Bathing is a great way to begin a Monday,
Blogging is a great way to end a Sunday!
Bathing drives away the Monday morning blues,
And Blogging lets your creativity ooze!







Each of them is a good way to start the day!
You can do both any number of times,
But minimum once is a good healthy way!

The hot water bath gives you a fresh start,
And blogging thereafter, warms up your heart!







Warm water bathing is great for your skin,
And warm hearted blogging is salvation akin!









A warm water bath cleanses the hair
And keeps frizz at bay,
And blogging is good for you
After a bad-hair-day!








Bathing with hot water relaxes muscles and relieve stress,
And blogging helps you clean up your mind’s mess!










A hot water bath in the eve’ helps to unwind,
And blogging after that is a treat for mind!










The hot water bath helps to get good sleep,

And blogging allows you to get into your dreams deep!











The hot water bath makes you as fresh as dew,
And blogging brings out the child in you!









The hot water bath clears phlegm and bring healings,
And blogging relieves you of your bottled-up feelings! 








The hot water bath gives you relief from Cold,

And blogging make you fearless and bold!








A hot water bath makes you reborn
And blogging let your creativity adorn!








A warm water bath soothes the body as a whole,
And a warm hearted blog is soothing to the soul!







Bathing keeps your body warm,

And blogging ups the life’s charm!











Blogging’s future with Indi is just right,
Bathing’s future with Racold is bright! 



Go to facebook page of Racold here

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This post is written for 'Close Encounters of the Smelly Kind' contest organized by IndiBlogger in association with Racold

Pictures are symbolic, only for illustration. Their source is mentioned near the picture with a backlink.



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Sunday 23 March 2014

The Smell That Changed (Pre)History

The following post is part of a campaign sponsored by the mentioned company. I have written this post as a challenge for my skills of articulation and creativity and do not necessarily endorse all the information provided in it.
The following post is part of a campaign sponsored by the mentioned company. I have written this post as a challenge for my skills of articulation and creativity and do not necessarily endorse all the information provided in it.


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They were human look-alikes, but much more strongly built than Homo sapiens- taller, heavier, stronger and mightier in many aspects.

They were Neanderthals

The Neanderthals 
Image courtesy source1  and source2
They ruled large parts of Europe and Asia. They hunted, ate, bred and lived in families. They had already started to socialized, make tools, cook food, and do thing better.

They started doing all the good things which were going to help them survive better as a species, like living in families, forming groups, hunting in groups, and harnessing nature’s powers like fire.

Neanderthals were far better than the Homo sapiens in every aspect. They had bigger bodies, bigger brains, better muscles, better height, better eyesight, a far, far better smelling power, and most importantly, a bigger brain. They were all set to leave the Homo sapiens far behind in the race of evolution. They were all set to be crowned as earth’s number one species who would rule over all other species, including Homo sapiens.

They did all good things accept one. They did not take bath.

Somehow, their genes did not make them feel like having bath. A Neanderthal’s typical day began with pooping, eating, running, screaming, hunting, fighting, lovemaking, sleeping, and sometimes singing and dancing too, but never included bathing. It’s a mystery why it was so, but so it was.

‘Bath’ was a four letter word in their society. Although it didn’t start with the letter ‘f’, yet it was a taboo.

The Neanderthal race flourishes and started spreading all over Europe and Asia. It seemed to be just a matter of time before they took over the world.
At the same time, a species similar to Neanderthals, ‘the Homo sapiens’ also developed over a small region in Africa. Their number was very small as compared to the Neanderthals.

The Neanderthals hunted, and hunted well. They preyed on every species found on earth and ate them. They not only hunted the deer and rabbits, but tigers, leopards, and the lions too. Their strong body was built to hunt. Their keen sense of smell was their asset. Neanderthals’ sense of smell was way better than any of the animals they hunted and that gave them strategic advantage in hunting. They could smell a tiger from hundreds of meters away before the tiger could smell them. The Neanderthals would pinpoint the location of their prey by its smell, gang up against it and pounce on it before it could react.


The extra-ordinarily powerful sense of smell made Neanderthals excellent hunters
Image courtesy source
On the other hand, no animal could prey on Neanderthals. Even if a tiger or a lion came within a few hundred meters of a Neanderthal, the Neanderthal would know by the tiger's scent, exactly where it was. He would either get away from the tiger or kill it before it pounced on him. The Neanderthals, and not the tigers, were the kings of the jungle. 

No wonder the Neanderthal race flourished, helped with the nature’s gifts bestowed on them, including their olfactory prowess.

However, nature’s ways are strange. With time, strange things happened in Neanderthals’ evolutionary process. And their habit of staying away from bathing played a vital role in this.

With time the earth’s climate became warmer. As the climate became warmer, the Neanderthals sweat glands became more active to help keep their bodies cool. But with this, came the foul smell. Their sweated bodies started to smell horrible. And since the Neanderthals did not bathe, their bodies used to emanate foul smell all the time.

And with this, two things happened-

First, the nature came forward to protect the Neanderthals from their own body stench. The nature has creative ways of doing her work. The stench from a Neanderthal’s body bothered not only him but his family and fellows too. The nature kicked-off an evolutionary process over the next few generations, weakening the Neanderthals’ sense of smell, to help them tolerate the smelly surroundings created by themselves. With time, the Olfactory bulbs located in the temporal lobes of their brains (part of brain which gives the sense of smelling), shrunk in size, and with this, shrunk their sense of smell. 

(A scientific evidence of this phenomenon has been recorded in the history here).

With time, the Neanderthals' sense of smell diminished
Image courtesy yoursacredcalling
Although the Neanderthals’ diminished sense of smell helped them to tolerate their and their fellows’ foul smell, yet it had some unwarranted consequences. 

The entire world was nothing but a jungle at that time. The Neanderthals’ keen sense of smell was their advantage in advantage in surviving in the jungle, and especially in hunting. The earth was full with predatory animals, ready to prey on anyone and everyone who couldn’t protect himself from them. Having lost their smelling prowess, they lost a natural advantage which helped them in hunting.

Secondly, the strong stench emanating from their bodies helped the predators find them easily. This made the matters worse. Now they were an easy prey for all other predatory animals. Wherever they went, their smell revealed their presence to the predatory animals. The tigers, lions, and even the bears or pack of wolves would attack and finish them.

Soon the Neanderthals’ numbers started to shrink. They were on the verge of extinction.

In nutshell, all this happened because the Neanderthals did not bathe and bore an awful smell. The nature’s evolutionary process had suppressed their sense of smell to help them cope with their own smell.

All this happened because they did not bathe.

On the other hand, a similar species called Homo sapiens had a strange ritual called Bathing. Homo sapiens went everyday to some source of water like a pond, or river, or a spring and take a dip into water. They played in water, rubbed their bodies, made strange gestures, sometimes sang too, and in general, looked happy doing this. The whole ritual was called ‘Bathing’ in their language.

In due course of time, the Homo sapiens started using some scrubs such as stones, tree barks, sea-shells which they rubbed on their skin while bathing.

The ritual of bathing was considered very important among Homo sapiens. They would miss on eating or lovemaking, but would never miss on the bathing. The elders in the tribe inculcated in the young ones, a deep sense of respect towards the ritual of bathing, from a very young age.

The Homo sapiens loved to bathe, and 
it was an important ritual for them      
Image courtesy fina

This strange habit of Homo sapiens bestowed them with unexpected advantages which helped them to survive better as a race. First, their clean bodies bore hardly any smell. This made very difficult for the predators to prey on them. Without any signature smell, no predator could sense their presence.

And secondly, bathing and lack of body smell resulted in further enhancement of sense of smell in Homo sapiens. Over time, Homo sapiens developed much stronger than their counterpart Neanderthals. This happened because of nature’s evolutionary process. Lack of smell from their own bodies encouraged the evolutionary process to enhance their sense of smell. The law of evolution works like this- if you need to see in the dark (like the nocturnal animals), the evolutionary process would make your eyes extremely sensitive to light, capable of seeing in the dark. In the same way, when there was no smell or very little smell, the evolutionary process tried to enhance the sense of smelling to be able to detect the little scents available around. In Homo sapiens, the size of Olfactory bulbs located in the temporal lobes of Homo sapiens’ brains (part of brain which gives the sense of smelling), increased in size, enhancing their sense of smell. The evolution happened over generations, but it did happen.

The evolutionary process enhanced the sense of smell in Homo sapiens Image courtesy wikipedia

Armed with the enhanced sense of smell, the Homo sapiens survived well in the jungle called ‘the earth’. 

And they survived well. Their clean bodies gave a nice natural odour which attracted males and females towards the opposite sex. The pleasant natural scent of bathed and cleaned skin signifying cleanliness and disease-free status, encouraged the males and females to come together physically, and indulge in an important biological process which was later called ‘copulating’ or ‘love making’. The Homo sapiens’ clean, pleasantly smelling bodies encouraged frequent lovemaking among them, which helped increase their population exponentially over the next few hundred years.


The Homo sapiens' clean, naturally scented bodies encouraged more lovemaking, leading to excellerated growth of population Image courtesy deviantart

Thus the Homo sapiens, gifted with the ritual of bathing, flourished; and flourished well. 

While in one part of world the Neanderthals, captive of their own habit of not bathing, were dying, being predated by other animals, then on another part of world the Homo sapiens started flourishing and spreading over newer and newer areas of earth.

Soon the Neanderthals became extinct, and the Homo sapiens took over the entire earth.
(A scientific evidence of this phenomenon has been recorded in the history here).

All this happened because the Homo sapiens bathed and the Neanderthals didn’t.

The Homo sapiens survived. while the Neanderthals became extincts     Image courtesy bbc


With the growth of civilization, the Homo sapiens, or the humans as they are called today, invented new means of bathing which ensured a hygienic, refreshing and pleasant experience. Invention of Racold water heater was one of them. With the advent of Racold water heaters, the ritual of bathing underwent a revolutionary change. Now the seasons like winter or the time of the day like morning, evening, night etc.  did not deter the humans from undergoing the all-important ritual of bathing. 


The beginning of Racold Age in the history of human civilization brought historical advancements in bathing rituals

The humans armed with Racold and their insuppressible desire to take bath,  are on an accelerated path of progress, poised to spread their species beyond the earth, on other planets, galaxies and may be all over the universe. And the time when all this is happening, is recorded as the ‘Racold Age’ in the history of human civilization.


Go to facebook page of Racold here
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Did you like reading this post? If yes, you have the option to express your like by voting here.

This post is written for 'Close Encounters of the Smelly Kind' contest organized by IndiBlogger in association with Racold

Pictures are symbolic, only for illustration. Their source is mentioned near the picture with a backlink.


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Monday 17 March 2014

The Smell That Changed Geneva Convention!

The two nations were at war. The two battalions were locked in a fierce battle. Today was the fourth day of battle, but no side was ready to move behind by an inch.


Image courtesy staticflicr
The nation A’s battalion was stronger in number, 500 men against the 50 of nation B. But the nation B had a strategic advantage. They were at a higher elevation and were surrounding the nation B’s battalion. That’s why they had been able to engage A’s battalion for four days despite being small in numbers.

The battle went fiercer and fiercer, with bullets raining, grenades exploding, rockets flying and hitting the enemy bunkers. Balls of fire rose to the sky. Smoke engulfed everything. Soldiers on both sides were high on adrenalin, full with patriotic feelings. They changed positions, played hide and seek, shot at the enemy at first opportunity, and were ready to lay their lives for their country.

A’s numbers and B’s strategic advantage made the battle equal. No one had budged from his position for last 4 days. Nobody knew how long this will continue.

Then they started running of ammunition; on both sides. First they ran out of rockets, then grenades, then finally even the bullets.

There was silence for a few minutes. Both understood that the other one had run out of ammunition. But this was a bad news for B. Because in war, once the ammunition gets finished, close proximity battle would starts. The soldiers engage in hand to hand combat and use the bayonets fixed on their rifle heads to attack the enemy. And in such combats, the number of men matter.


Once the soldiers run out of ammunition, close proximity batttle has to start   Imege courtesy wikipedia

A pal of Gloom descended in B’s camp. They knew that their 50 men would be no match for the 500 bayonet wielding men of the enemy in a close proximity fight. They will be run-over, crushed, torn-apart, and killed within a few minutes by the army of 500 men pouncing on them. Their defeat seemed imminent. Death seemed imminent.

Men in A’s camp were ecstatic. They knew that a without-ammunition-battle is won by the strength of numbers. They were 500, their enemy a meager 50.

Their commander addressed them “Men! Time has come for the hand to hand combat now. They are fifty, you are five hundred.  They are helpless in front of you. The time has come for you to attain the glory. Our victory is near. “I can smell the victory”.

“He shouted, “Go men! Go pounce on them. Put your bayonets through their throats and tear them apart”.

A’s men, running high on adrenaline, ran ahead like mad; shouting, screaming, wielding their bayonets, ready for the hand to hand combat, ready to kill.
Smelling victory, batallion A's men charged towards B's post for the final hand to hand combat

B’s men braced to be swarmed by the beasts running towards them. They prayed their last, vowed to fight till last breath and lay their lives for their nation. They huddled close together for the final combat of their lives.

A’s men closed in towards them. But just before a few meters away from battalion B’s men, they froze. They didn’t move any further. Al the A’s men stopped in their track, discomfort visible on their faces. Wind was blowing from B’s side to A’s side. Positioned in their places with gun in hand, the men on B’s side hadn’t bothered to bathe in last four days. The wind blowing from the Bs towards the As brought with it, a filthy stench, which overpowered the mighty men of A. A’s men threw their rifles on ground and covered their nose and face with their hands. Some of them coughed, sneezed and started nauseating. A few put their helmets over their face to escape the filthy stench, while some fell to the ground feeling giddy, unable to tolerate.





Batallion A's men fell to the ground unable to tolerate the foul smell emanating from batallion B's men


The wireless operator of A radioed back to their commander “Alfa calling Beta! Alfa calling Beta! A strange unidentified smell coming from the enemy’s side has affected our men. Unable to tolerate, our men are falling one by one. Please give further orders. His final words were “What’s that smell? What’s that smell boss?, before he passed out.

A’s commander analyzed the situation. The words flashed in his mind “Chemical warfare”. The enemy must be using chemical or biological weapons. His men, without any protection, would be helpless and die one by one. 

He at once ordered “Retreat! Retreat immediately!”

As if A’s men were waiting for just this order only. They immediately scrambled to go back, go away from B’s camp, away from the filthy smell about which everyone was asking “What’s that smell, boss?”

They retreated as fast as they could, leaving their rifles. Returning to their post, they rounded up their vehicles and abandoned the post immediately. They fled as fast as they could.
A's sodiers ran away as fast as they could 
Image courtesy staticflickr

Battalion A’s commander radioed to his headquarters “Biological or chemical weaponry usage by enemy suspected. Men ordered to retreat”.

In Battalion B’s camp, everyone was perplexed. The five hundred brave and mighty men of battalion A were running away from fifty scared men of battalion B. It took them some time to believe what was happening.  Then they realized that the victory was theirs. B’s men, who were sure of not being able to see another day, were watching the enemy running away from them.

B’s commander understood the situation quickly, “It’s the smell! It’s the smell my men, who haven’t bathed for last four days, are giving off, which has made the enemy run for their life”.

He declared, “The victory is ours”. “Go men, capture the enemy’s post,” he screamed.

B’s men rushed into A’s land, destroyed the bunkers, and captured the deserted post.

*  *  *  *  *  *  * *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Soon after the fall of their post at border, A’s government lodged a protest with United Nations alleging usage of chemical and biological weapons by nation B, and thereby violating the Geneva Convention which prohibits subjecting the enemy to atrocities in war.


Image courtesy thebookwheelblog  and  loc.gov 

The UN took it seriously and sent investigation teams to site. After collecting evidences and interviewing the people, the United Nations team concluded that-

-There was certainly a usage of chemical weapons by nation B. The foul smell emanating from unbathed soldiers could have contained harmful chemicals as well as disease causing bacteria.

-Usage of such harmful weaponry had resulted in severe psychological stress for the soldiers of nation A.

-The act on part of nation B was not only a violation of Geneva Convention but also against humanity.

UN warned nation B against indulging in such illegal and inhuman acts in the war. Also, the Geneva Convention was amended in 2014 to incorporate following-

- Usage of foul smell emanating from men who have not bathed shall be termed as inhuman and illegal in war.

- No nation shall use soldiers who are unbathed to indulge in to war activities.

- All nations shall ensure that the soldiers participating in war shall take bath twice daily.

- To facilitate compliance of above rules, all nations shall ensure that warm water bath facilities consisting of adequate number of Racold water heaters shall be made available at all war fronts.

- In independent delegation from the UN will carry out inspections at battle locations at the time of war to ensure availability of Racold water heaters. Any nation violating the rules may be subjected to condemnation by the UN.



Image courtesy pfannenstielfamily

The UN directed warring nations to ensure that their soldiers take bath twice daily     Image courtesy wikipedia

Since then the nature of wars changed. The Racold water heaters became the major purchases for the armies all over the world.

Any nation suspecting violation of this rule by enemy could report to United Nations by e-mailing a code phrase “What’s that smell, boss?”, and the UN would come heavily on the erring nation.




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A few more short stories are here
This post is written for Close Encounters of the Smelly Kind contest in IndiBlogger in association with Racold

Pictures are symbolic, only for illustration. Their source is mentioned near the picture with a backlink.

#WhatsThatSmellBoss



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