8 Indian Habits That We Should Go Back To | Divya Toshniwal |

Since the COVID-19 has hit the world hard, there is one Indian habit that every country has gracefully accepted and that is our way to greet each other. Rather than shaking hands we Indians fold them and say Namaste. Thus avoiding the spread of any bacteria or virus and preventing the spread of infections. But other than that there are a lot more such habits which had logical bases and also which were highly beneficial.

Here I have listed down 8 such Indian Habits that I think we should all go back to:

1. Washing hands and legs before we enter our homes: 

In the past, we had a little place with a tap or a tubewell (sometimes well if you are that rich) just at the entry of the house. Every person was supposed to leave their shoes at the entry and wash their hands and feet before they entered the house. This helped in keeping the house clean and also keep bacterial and viral infections at bay. This one habit has become a compulsion for us to follow now but what I want to say is that we should probably keep this habit on even when life is back on a normal track.

2. Using bar soaps:

We Indians have forever been using homemade soaps or bar soaps for bathing purposes. We also used 'MultaniMitti', 'Besan-Malai ', and various other kinds of ubtan instead of soap. Though it is not possible for us in the cities to go back to the natural cleansers entirely, what we can definitely do is switch to bar soaps. Recently this has been found that most people are opting for body wash/shower gels instead of soaps in their home. Every month a new plastic bottle is being produced for you and it keeps piling up increasing the waste to a lot more than you can imagine. Sometimes I wish India would also have refilling systems for shampoos or have good enough shampoo bars but that is a topic for another day. Today what we can definitely do is move back to bar soaps. Also, they are cheaper and cost-efficient(though the luxury versions are also available. 

3. Having a bath with a bucket and mug:

I am not telling you to have a bath with just one bucket of water if you need to have two or three. What I am telling you is to avoid taking showers (or fill up a bathtub every day). The level of water wastage because of taking showers is now heavy on our souls. This is clearly a western invention and is causing a lot of water problems in our country. It is ok to fill up a bath as a treat to yourself once in a while but doing that every day is just not done. Even the smallest bathtub uses up at least 150 litres of water and the average size bathtub takes up 250 litres. A 5 minutes shower takes up 75 litres of water. So now you can estimate how much water you are using up every day for your bath.

4. The forms of punishments:

Originally, in our education system, the punishment used to be very beneficial. The teachers would pull your ears( pulling those nerves relaxes and focuses your brain and helps it work better), they would tell you tho sit like a chicken( excellent posture to increase the flexibility of your body), they would punish you into doing sit-ups(excellent exercise to increase your blood circulation). Today we have punishments which have no other benefits other than letting the students feel they did something wrong and most of them would not even try to correct themselves as the punishment do not actually feel like punishment. What is the use of suspending a student from the classes?  Why would a student not enjoy their break? What is the use of making them stand outside the class or just send them to the principals' office? What is the benefit of imposing fines on students? and there is definitely no use of beating them( that is not ethical). So I think going back to the ancient punishments would be a better option.

5. Drinking water the way we did:

Indians had a habit of drinking water without touching the glass or the bottle to their lips, thus preventing the spread of bacterias through saliva exchange. It is definitely more hygienic. 

6. Practising Yoga:

There have been many cases reported having issues with their knees and back with people who opt for the Zumba-aerobics and gym routines. Yoga, on the other hand, is the age-old tested fitness regime that works well not only on your body but also on your mind. 

7. Eating Indian Food:

The Indian food is not just about chilli and the world has now accepted the fact too. We use various kinds of spices in our foods to enhance its flavour but little do we know that each spice plays a specific role in our body. Like turmeric has anti-bacterial properties, ginger strengthens the immune system and also helps in improving heart health, cloves helps improve liver health and also is rich in anti-oxidants and so on. There are so many varieties of spices and so many benefits that I can just go on and on about it. So rather than having pizzas and burgers all the time we should probably go back to our Indian food.

8. Having dinner before sunset:

Though many would counter this point by saying it is due to lack of electricity that in the old times, people had dinner before sunset, but our ancestors had a very good reason to do so. Our body works in sync with the sun and so does our digestive system. Thus when the sun sleeps so does our digestive system. That is why the saying-eat your breakfastlike a king and lunch like a prince but dinner like a beggar. Many dieticians have also agreed to this and recommend to have your last meal before sunset and thus we should also probably go back to it.