That was the time when Indian market was newly introduced to anti-wrinkle creams and I, like many of us, implored my mother to come with me to a cosmetics shop to buy one for herself. It was a night cream which she duly applied before going to bed. However, she woke up coughing with a sore throat. She did not think much of it and applied again before going to bed. The next morning, she woke up with the same condition. She thought it must be the air conditioner so the following night she applied the cream again and slept in the drawing room with only the fan running. She woke up again with the same condition, coughing with sore throat. The only thing that was added in her routine was the night cream. So, this night she did not apply the cream and slept in the drawing room under the fan only to test if it was the cream which caused the coughing and sore throat. She woke up fine, no coughing, no sore throat. This was my first exposure to how harmful anti-wrinkle/anti-aging creams with synthetic ingredients can be.