In the depths of love, pain takes its toll, Like shards of glass that pierce my soul. With every beat of my heart, it aches, Embracing sorrows, my spirit breaks.
Love is a melody, sweet and serene, But pain lurks beneath, unseen. An ethereal dance of joy and despair, Leaving my heart tangled in its snare.
Your love ignited a fire deep within, Yet my heart also bears the pain, akin. For every moment of pure bliss, A bittersweet ache, I cannot dismiss.
Love, a tapestry woven with threads, Pain, a shadow that relentlessly spreads. Bound together, they intertwine, A paradoxical symphony, both divine.
Through love’s pain, I find strength anew, For it deepens my love, pure and true. In the darkest nights, I learn to endure, Knowing love’s pain is but love’s allure.
So, I embrace love’s exquisite agony, For it molds me into what I’m meant to be. In the tapestry of love and pain, I find, A love so profound, it’s one of a kind.
In love’s embrace, a delicate dance had begun, Two souls entwined, beneath the morning sun. But fate, capricious, weaves its tangled thread, And soon the tender words are left unsaid.
Passion’s fire, once ablaze, now turned to ash, As whispered promises fade into the past. Heartbreak’s bitter sting, a cruel refrain, Echoes of love lost, lingering in pain.
Yet in the darkness, hope begins to bloom, A seed of resilience amidst the gloom. For from the ruins, new strength can arise, And healing whispers echo through tear-stained skies.
Though love may falter, and hearts may break, It’s in the shattered pieces, beauty wakes. For in the depths of sorrow’s endless sea, Love’s true essence finds its way to be free.
So let the tears fall like gentle rain, Washing away the echoes of the pain. For in the cycle of love’s ebb and flow, We find the courage to let our hearts grow.
Last week, my friend forwarded a facebook post in our whatsapp group saying that it was one of the best posts she had read in a while. I was curious, so I read it and realized that it was a response that a woman gave to an advertisement outside a gym somewhere. The advert read, ‘This summer, do you want to be a mermaid or a whale?’
This is her response :
Initially it may seem like a fitting response to a silly and misleading piece of advertisement, but logically it isn’t. It is a smartly articulated emotional retaliation and come to think of it, is misleading too. I will explain how.
But, first things first, a disclaimer: I have nothing against fat people. I don’t mock or ridicule anyone based on their body shape but since I am a health and fitness enthusiast, I advocate health and fitness and if at all, it’s only concern that I feel.
Now let me elaborate the ‘concern’ part –
Coming back to why the lady’s response is misleading – She gives the impression that we must be okay and even proud of the excess fat in our bodies. It’s a debatable topic this one and I disagree. This post will tell you why. [Please read on and don’t give up on me, I can guarantee some really helpful information].
Whales are supposed to look and be the way they are! There are no slim whales unless they are acutely malnourished. Humans on the other hand are humans and we are supposed to store fat only as reserves for whenever there is food deprivation. The reality is that the urban human or people like us are never deprived of food. So because the body knows only how to store fat or burn it, the latter doesn’t happen as long as we are replenishing it with carbs all the time(the body uses carbs for energy and fat keeps getting stored).
Now there is a magic hormone called Insulin that stores fat and helps move glucose into cells. Hormones work only in spurts(when there is a need) and not all the time; so the minute we eat carbs which turns into glucose in the body, insulin is stimulated and released in the bloodstream. Therefore, and it’s only logical that when we stop eating refined sugars and carbs, insulin doesn’t get stimulated and the fat in our body burns.
So, if we understand and control insulin, we can then control whether we store or burn fat and whether we gain or lose weight. The problem is that many of us are in a state of near constant insulin production (Hyperinsulinemia). How do you suppose this happens? You are right! We eat carbs all day which in turn leads to insulin becoming a constant instead of getting stimulated in episodes.
When we stimulate insulin production by eating carbs all day long, we are putting immense stress on our body’s ability to deal with the hormone and as a defense/repair mechanism which our bodies are inherently designed to do, it starts to correct the problem by becoming insulin-resistent. By this time we know that insulin signals our cells to open up to sugar(glucose) and convert it into energy. With insulin resistance, the cells don’t react, and don’t open up, resulting in excessive sugar in the blood. Over time, the pancreas keeps producing more and more insulin in its attempt to regulate the blood sugar, until it wears out and can’t produce large amounts of insulin anymore. As a result, blood sugar levels increase to the point of being in the diabetic range and this is the primary reason and what causes type 2 diabetes.
Now the carbohydrate supply doesn’t stop so the body can only keep storing fat and the fat cells start getting bigger and bigger, the person fatter and fatter. Since the cells are becoming insulin resistant, there is glucose everywhere and the cycle continues. Hyperinsulinemia also causes the body to crave for sugar. When glucose dips, the body will start sending signals like fatigue, craving for carbs, dizziness etc. The body is so used to burning glucose due to the constant supply of carbs that it cannot switch over to burning fat efficiently. This state is what causes people who are trying to lose weight give up the idea as they feel hungry more often and eat food at regular intervals and in turn, continuously fuel the insulin-carbs-glucose cycle.
So, in order to lose weight, we need to become efficient fat burners and this happens only when we restrict carbs and sugar intake aided by intermittent fasting*. If you’ve wondered why you are working out regularly but still not LOSING WEIGHT… exercise alone plays a very small role in weight loss, the majority is the food that we eat. However, exercise and physical activity are very important for our overall well being, to aid our bodily functions and to keep our muscles moving because if we don’t move them, they stop moving.
– *What is intermittent fasting? ‘Intermittent fasting is an eating pattern that alternates between fasting and time-bound eating periods.’ There are several types of intermittent fasting patterns of which the 16:8 intermittent fasting is the most common. It is 16 hours of fasting followed by an eight-hour eating period.
–What does intermittent fasting actually do? Restricting food(calories) intake for extended periods forces the body to break down stored body fat to generate energy (when the body uses the fat reserves for energy due to carbs deprivation, it is said to undergo ketosis). ‘This promotes weight loss, enhances metabolic health and supports balanced hormone levels.’ I try to do the 16:8 intermittent fasting on most days but it ends up becoming 15:9. Initially, I used to get hunger pangs but once I got used to it, I didn’t.
At the end of the day, the takeaway is that ‘we were never meant to be fat.’ Well, it is wonderful to be confident about the way we look and not be stressed about achieving the perfect figure or size zero (if there is anything like that!). But, our confidence shouldn’t cost us our well-being, as excess body fat is often an easy gateway to lifestyle diseases and other complications. We must strive to be healthy and take care of ourselves no matter what. Having said that, ‘most people are overweight due to an imbalance of hormones,’ coupled with bad advice from family members, friends, sometimes doctors and nutritionists too and the media.
The good news – our body posseses a wonderful mechanism to aid fat burning. However, the first step is to understand basic human physiology. My intention to write this post was to help you do that; along with a small hint on how to lose weight😉… after all, and as rightly said by someone, ‘Take care of your body, it’s the only place you have to live.’
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On a lighter note, I enjoy the ocassional chocolate… ice cream with my kids, a yummy meal, samosas, pani puri with friends and many other things. But to be able to enjoy these simple pleasures of life wholeheartedly and for long, I strive to persistently look after myself.
Now why am I sharing the recipe for an alcohololic beverage in my blog?
Apart from the fact that it tastes great and is one of my favourite classic cocktails; it is quite popular and sought after among my friends and among my family and my husband’s family members/relatives who’ve had the one made by either him or me. And also, they always ask, ‘How do you make it?’
So I thought, why not share the recipe this way.
Traditionally, hot toddy is made with whiskey but we prefer using brandy. It’s great when you are feeling cold or have a sore throat, cough and cold and ofcourse as a cocktail for any party or get-together.
Let’s start making it:
Ingredients: – Boiling hot water: 330ml – Brandy: 60ml(1peg) – Honey: 4 tsp/to taste – Lemon juice: 1 medium size lemon/to taste – Tea masala(magic ingredient): 3/4th tsp – Star anise: 1 – Cinnamon stick : 1 inch
Method: – Boil water – Put a little cold water in the glass in which you are serving the drink and microwave it for 30 secs. This is to make the glass hot so that the drink remains hot for longer. You may skip this step. – After the glass is heated and while the water is boiling, put all the ingredients except lemon juice into the glass. – Add the boiling hot water, add lemon juice, stir, taste and adjust the honey and lemon juice. It should be tangy with a hint of sweetness. – Voila! Your glass of ‘Hot Toddy’ is ready to be sipped!
Tastes best when it is HOT!
I re-heat and have it sometimes as I like to savour every sip and when I do that it tends to get cold.
Our version doesn’t taste anything like the ones available outside. It is way better in every aspect – taste, texture, quality and quantity. That is why I don’t like having hot toddy anywhere else… it is bad! Also, my husband has mastered it and no one makes it better than him.😊
Teetotallers can skip the alcohol and still have it… I call it the ‘kaadha’ version.🤭
Preparation and pic courtesy: Husband🙂
Well, whether you have it loaded or virgin… enjoy it… and cheers!
‘If u look inside your heart, You don’t have to be afraid, Of what you are, There’s an answer...‘ – Mariah Carey(Hero)
Indeed there is! A hero inside every one of us. We either fail to acknowledge its presence or we get influenced and intimidated by our environment and various other things to even take a peek in and find it.
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This is a story, and this is mine. But the funny thing is, I don’t have a story to tell. I have had the most ordinary life anyone could imagine, with not many drastic ups and downs. I say drastic because like everyone else I have faced several unfortunate situations, be it the death of a parent(dad) at a fairly early age, abuse in a relationship, also at a fairly early age, failure, heartbreak, betrayal, worthlessness, acute financial crises, unemployment and so on. But everyone goes through all this and my circumstances weren’t any different. What was different was that I didn’t allow these situations to change me. Also, I was resilient enough to overcome all adversities without damaging myself. That is why I say, my life has been nothing but normal.
I was the last of five siblings, born into a big joint family of ten. Actually, I have a poem written on my childhood and family. Here it is if you’d like to read it… My poem. I had a modest upbringing in a small hill-town. I was a simple girl and so was everything else around.
After college, I lived my life on cross-roads; I went wherever my heart took me, and sometimes the need for a job took me to places. In the eleven years of my career, if I can call it that, I became a jack of all trades. I had stints in an NGO, call centres, a tour operators’ association; I was a teacher too for two years and in the last leg of those eleven years, I was a trainer in an MNC. I loved being one! Being in the training room and delivering whatever I had to and realizing that I was making a difference in my trainees’ lives in some way, gave me a high. I really really loved that! But, I hated the other aspects of my job – like the corporate politics that came with it, like having to keep my mouth shut and then being in deep shit if I opened it, like the bell curve rating system that I haven’t understood till now, like tolerating the nuances of my micro-managing, ‘I need to save my ass no matter what and be in the good books of the leadership’ bosses. Oh God! Please don’t make me go back to that world again, I seriously hated it, and that’s why when my elder daughter was two years old, I decided to quit!
So I quit, to stay at home and become a full-time mommy. I quit when our financial situation was quite bad, but we sailed through somehow and I continued to stay at home.
I was content!
I still am, and that by far is my greatest vice and virtue. I am content and I am also too laidback.
Being a mother to two wonderful girls and managing the house kept me busy for several years and since I had decided that I would dedicate myself to my childrens’ care until my younger daughter could go to play on her own, I mostly stayed home. But, as soon as she was able to tag along with her sister, I emerged like a dormant volcano.
Now, here’s the twist. A lot of us become ‘extinct’ at this stage in our lives. We kind of give in to the dull, sluggish monotony and do not shift the spotlight from our kids back to ourselves. I am thankful that I chose not to do that. I made a conscious decision to have a life outside my home.
My time to change course and focus on my passions came only in the second innings of my life… after I turned forty! I refused to get caught in the humdrum at that age. On the contrary, the opposite happened! Doing the many things that I had never done before gave me the much needed kickstart to renew my journey.
So for all the women out there who have hit mid-life and who feel hopeless and think that their lives are over, read on and think again.
I ran and completed my first Pinkathon 5K at forty. I joined my first kitty party group at forty. I became a core member of our residential society’s charity group at forty. I made several new friends at forty some of whom are now my friends for life. I started partying late nights at forty. I danced on stage after ages at forty. I shed my inhibitions and started to sing(recreational) at forty. I, along with my bestie, participated in and won a cooking competition at forty. I enrolled into a driving school after forty. I smoked my first joint after forty😛🤫. I joined a fitness class and became a health and fitness enthusiast after forty. I donned a bikini(for the first time) and posed for pictures like a model after forty. I wore braces after forty (there were so many people who’d ask me, “How come at this age?”). I started blogging after forty. I fearlessly did bungee jumping after forty. To fulfill a ‘once in a lifetime’ wish, I did bangs(hair) and surprised the whole world with my new look after forty. Heck! I even wore my first red lipstick after forty!
Unbelievable? Believe it! And as clichéd as it may sound, ‘Life does begin at 40!’… albeit, only if you let it!
Then again, and it should be true for everybody, there’s still…
‘Miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep.’ – Robert Frost
And the past held only this wisdom: that love was a damaging mistake, and its accomplice, hope, a treacherous illusion. – Khaled Hosseini
💕💕💕
When days are dull and joy is rare, When warmth is replaced by the chill in the air, I sit at my corner and fix my gaze, Where you sat everyday, at my favourite place.
I already know and I don’t care, That I’ll keep looking and there’s no one there, But this flicker of hope takes time to go, Makes me high sometimes, sometimes low.
I wonder if you think about me, The way I do whether busy or free. I wonder if you feel like I do, This love that’s everlasting, pure and true.
Days have passed, months and years too, Only my heart can’t stop feeling blue. Will I succumb waiting to see your face? Should I let someone fill that space?
I sat on the edge of the couch with my head pulled down meekly, as my aunt frantically paced the hall yelling and shouting at me. She left no stone unturned in telling me that I was the most stupid and foolish person she had ever come across. She was red-faced and enraged, partly in anger and partly in frustration.
As I saw her walking back and forth, for once, I felt that I should not have dropped the bomb!
After my graduation, much like many small-town folks, I had decided to go to Bombay(now Mumbai) and try my luck at landing a job there. For sheer convenience, resting on the fact that my aunt lived there with her family and my elder brother was also working and living there, I chose Bombay.
The ‘average in academics’ person that I was and with a simple Bachelor of Science (Zoology) degree, I had no idea what I was going to do in the most ambitious city of India. In fact, it’s funny that the reason why I took Zoology was not because I was interested in the subject, but because it gave me an opportunity to travel to the beaches of South India. That’s how frivolous I was in matters related to studies.
Bombay was everything my hometown wasn’t (not in a positive way) and since it was my maiden venture outside of my home, I was lost! I longed to breathe the fresh air of my hometown, smile back at the cheerful faces of my neighbours, engage in pointless banter with my friends and most importantly watch sunsets with my boyfriend.
Of course, I had my share of good times with my aunt’s family. My cousins tagged me along on all their day and night-time adventures with their friends and I accompanied my aunt everywhere she went. But all the fun I had did not compensate for what I felt inside.
In the meantime, my aunt whose strong network of contacts ran as far and as wide as the Mumbai inter-city railway system, word had spread that I was job hunting. And as luck would have it, I was offered the opportunity to fly in a reputed Airlines in two months while I would be working as an intern at the front office of a five-star hotel for those two months.
I have to mention here that I belonged to the time when the job of an airhostess was a very happening, lucrative and fruitful career option and what most small-town, middle-class girls dreamed of. Although it wasn’t what I aspired to do, the prospect of travelling abroad did lure me. Moreover, there weren’t many airline carriers in India at that time and the compensation and benefits of the aviation industry were huge.
So yes, I was job hunting when there were no MNCs in India… and yes, I started my career in that era!
I was scheduled to start my front office internship the next week and I had already visited the hotel once for an induction sort of formality. It was three days after this that I dropped the bomb one May morning.
Only my aunt and I were at the house when I told her that I had made up my mind to go back home. I had thought hard and long for over two days and had decided to give up this career opportunity… an opportunity that would give me the chance to travel the world, live in luxury, meet new people, upgrade my standard of living and most importantly give me financial freedom, loads of it! Everything a normal person would want from life, and yet I decided to kick it all and return, the way I had come… broke and jobless!
Obviously, my aunt’s hostility and rage weren’t uncalled for.
That day, more than two decades ago and now! When I look back, I realize that I didn’t then and haven’t ever regretted the decision I made. Well, except for the time when I thought that my aunt would pass out due to the stress and tension welling up inside her.
However, one thought never left my head. Something that was gnawing and ate at me time and again. It used to prop up when I was idle and pondering over the decisions I’d made in life:
– What gave me the courage to go against my entire family and make that decision? – Why didn’t I regret it? – Why wasn’t I lured by the prospects of a successful career and greater still, the money that came with it? – Would anybody else have done the same?
All my life I had been seeking answers for these questions and many others like:
– Why was it so difficult for me to survive in the corporate world(I quit when my elder daughter was two)? – Why am I not ambitious like others? – Why don’t I get motivated by money and financial assets and the high life? – Why do I make choices that others don’t appreciate?
Like me, I am sure there are many others who often or sometimes wonder why. Their questions may involve different aspects of life and not necessarily job and career… mine did too!
My questions were answered some years ago in a way that of the six most important things that make me, affluence, career, ambition, professional success and the likes don’t feature anywhere. What does and in the order of importance are: Love, health, happiness, freedom, integrity and balance.
I totally relate to the concept of each person being uniquely built around his/her own set of core values and how each one should operate in life based on those and make all choices based on those. And that’s why I had done what I’d done, albeit unconsciously! And that’s why I’d had no regrets!
It was the biggest breakthrough ever!
Pic Courtesy : Google
Now that I am aware of my core values, I am at peace. It’s much easier to accept the person I am, what I want from life, lead my life accordingly and not get anxious or bogged down by peer pressure or the world around me.
Not too long ago I saw a meme about this mystery man called Orry. Since I am not on Instagram, I didn’t know who he was so I googled him but still didn’t know who he was!😀
After a few weeks, a friend in one of my whatsapp groups was fussing about Koffee with Karan hosting Orry in its season finale episode and said that it was ridiculous and he was undeserving of it. A few others made similar comments about him and the episode too.
I was curious and since I was following Koffee this season and was enjoying it too, I watched the episode. To be honest I didn’t like the jury’s decision on most of the winners and to an extent I thought it was rigged. Given a choice I would’ve chosen Ajay Devgn and his piquant episode as the best as I absolutely loved it and him in it. His matter-of-fact promptness and wit was totally unexpected and stellar! Saif in his suave best was okay too but nothing close to AD in my opinion.
Anyway, that was the whole episode, but today we are talking only about the first half and Orry.
From the time he made that flashy entry and sat on the couch till the time he exited rather modestly, the only thing that was playing in repeat in my mind was, OMG!
Orry’s distinctive character, his resoluteness, his sharpness, his lucidity, his courage, his eloquence, his ideas, his entrepreneurship and his boldness all blew me away.
To be so clear about what you want to ‘do and be’ and execute it with mastery… commendable! I mean what are the odds of coming across someone with an unwavering attitude and aplomb (no matter how ridiculous they may seem to the world)… and the ability to harness them to achieve your dreams and goals and be successful at it?… rare? and Orry is rare!
His answer, “I do my best,” to Karan’s clichéd question, “What do you do?” was totally dope, and like Karan, I have decided to copy it.😉
I could watch his section of the final episode infinitely and still enjoy it everytime.
Till before the episode, my opinion of Orry from what I had heard and seen here and there was a ‘silly wannabe.’ But boy, was I wrong! He is everything but that! He is sassy, smart, shrewd, steadfast, spirited, sincere, sociable, sensational, scintillating… and I can go on and on.
Orry with his ‘orrygis’ printed ensemble on Koffee. Pic courtesy: Google
I wish Orry the best for his future endeavours – the minions, the orrygis, his digital demise and his comeback and if I ever join instagram, he will be the first celebrity I will follow!
😎😎😎
P.S: For the ones who haven’t watched the episode, please do… it is worth it! And the ones who have, it would be nice to hear your opinion about him in the comments section. As for me, and it may still sound unbelievable to many, I was in awe of Orry and continue to be!😊
On this sunny day, it is weirdly satisfying to suck the life out of the kaala khatta* which I realize is neither kaala** nor khatta°, just sweet and ice-cold. The exhuberant ambience sets in the mood for small talk. I want to talk about the hot sun, the swarms of adults, the smiling children, the stalls, the sellers, the sounds and the smells.
The human forms walking around seem like a mirage to me; they are there one moment and gone the other. My gaze shifts to an elderly couple sitting and enjoying potato twistatoes and laughing their hearts out. It is charming to watch them laugh. On the same thought… the senior citizen laughter club of our society does that too, laugh loudly at 7:30a.m. everyday. But that isn’t delightful; it is disturbing to many who sleep late after working the night or others who generally like to sleep late. Some residents even complained that they feel bullied by the act as the elderly are being selfish.
I guess everything done in it’s time and place feels right. But who will make our elders understand? It’s something they have great faith in, something that is exciting and is good for their physical and mental well being. So why is it bad they may think.
Goodness! I wasn’t supposed to do serious talk but how I get lost in my thoughts.
I look at my gola, its excessive sweetness and artificial flavour is killing me so I call my younger daughter and give it to her. She takes it away joyfully even after having her own… kids love these things! She is busy running from one stall to the other with her bestie. It’s surprising that children don’t get bothered by the intense heat, the dehydration or about getting tanned. Here I am sitting under this makeshift shed while my children are escaping it. At my age, a school carnival wouldn’t interest me anyway.
I suddenly remember that I have to call my cook and ask him to let himself in as we aren’t home. He has a Ram bhajan*** as his ring tone and after listening to it for half a minute, I give up and leave a voice note on whatsapp. I think about Ram. The whole country, rather the whole Hindu community of the country is gripped in his frenzy at the moment. I remember how I pissed off some ladies of one of my whatsapp groups when I politely asked them to refrain from spamming(they literally did that) the group with religious messages citing that it may not be comfortable to everyone. And how will it be? It isn’t relevant to all. For a non-religious person like me, this whole thing is a little too much. I woke up to messages that demanded that we ‘show solidarity to our faith’ by putting up letters of the alphabet as our DP… on a huge group of 400 plus ladies of all religions and beliefs… duh! Seems to me, when it is anything about religion, everyone leaves every sensibility aside. Are people of other religions feeling left out in their whatsapp groups?… surely! and intimidated?… maybe!
Pre-occupied, I fail to realize that my elder daughter’s been tugging at my top. She asks if we can leave in 30 minutes. Boy! I was supposed to be involved in the carnival.
You know, some ladies showed their disapproval of my message in the group (I had expected it) and said I was over reacting and this frenzy has got nothing to do with religion and that it’s a matter of pride for Indians. Well, I did feel like replying to say, ‘Pride yes, but only for the Hindus and India is made of Indians.. of all types!’
Some said things like, ‘How is our excitement uncomfortable to anyone?’ To this I felt like saying, ‘Doesn’t this sound like our laughter club issue?’ Like how an important activity of our resident senior citizens was a nuisance to the rest of us? In the same way, no matter how exciting, important or good(mental well being) the consecration of Ram maybe to devout Hindus, to others it doesn’t mean anything. Again, who would make them understand? ‘We are all a part of a larger group and we must act accordingly'(This is what was told to the members of the laughter club when they didn’t care less). Doesn’t seem to apply to the devotional aspect I guess.
One lady said that I didn’t have the right to interfere in their acts of faith or dictate terms… ouch! They certainly took my earnest request as blasphemy.
Anyway, am back to looking around. The children are joyous, their cherubic faces revealing that they are loving every bit of this day. I stop thinking about the comments I received, but not without smiling while this fleeting thought plays in my mind…
I too am a believer by the way; I am a woman of faith. I have extreme faith in the supreme power and divinity that resides in me. My faith doesn’t get threatened, needs no protection from external factors nor constant and rigorous validation. It is the almighty – imperturbable, unwavering and uncompelling! It is all encompassing and doesn’t divide, discriminate, demean or delude. That is probably why I am never proud of my faith; I am always only humbled.🙏
“Aama, why are you smiling?” My daughters ask as they head back to the shed. I quickly gather myself back to the present and get up to go. My amused inner voice says, ‘So much for the small talk that never happened… chuckle chuckle… shhhh!’ But I reply, “Nothing, just thinking what a lovely Carnival day it was!”😉
🎪🎪🎪🎪
*Kaala khatta – cola flavoured snow cones ** Kaala – black | °Khatta – sour|***Bhajan – devotional song
– Are you the type who does not wish to colour her hair permanently yet but doesn’t like greys? – Are you the type who doesn’t want to colour but wishes for a way to hide those strands of greys popping up on your hairline? – Are you the type who likes little life saving beauty hacks?
If your answer is yes to even one of the above questions, you are reading the right post.
Pic courtesy: Google
Some months ago, while I was applying mascara, my gaze shifted and I noticed prominent strands of grey scattered over my hairline.
Now I knew that I had grey hair but they are on the inside and go unnoticed. I realized that this doesn’t apply to hairline greys, they pop up in plain sight and ruin my look. That day I was wearing a bun and they were visible… quite stark that too!
Without giving a thought I just touched up those greys with the mascara dip stick… and voila… i made a great discovery! They got tinted and they seemed to stay that way… well until the evening and it must’ve gone when I washed my face in the night.
Isn’t that cool? Maybe some of you are thinking, ‘Why didn’t I think of it before?’ and maybe some of you makeup lovers already know/knew of this. But for a novice like me, it was an astounding discovery.
There is more… I don’t remember talking about this to anyone, but the overly smart AI of my phone probably started to work in the background because the other day a product popped up on my YouTube… ‘Cover Your Grey, Hair Touch-up Colour.’ Upon research I realized that there are several types of touch up products available, some are in powder form, some cakes, some sprays etc. But this one is the mascara style.
So you see, this and several others are out there in the market and it is neither the regular mascara nor the hair finishing stick gel; this one is meant for tinting hair and comes in colours. That’s real good news!
I am tempted to buy it as I am sure it will work better than the mascara and give a non-stiff finish… and I will have colour options too! But, my mascara is doing the job right now, so I’ll probably wait until I have more greys(I wish I don’t). Nonetheless, it looks like a great option to me.
Some FAQs:
1. How do I use mascara on my hair? Just like you apply it on your lashes, in upward strokes but keeping it close to the scalp and not touching it. Watch the video at the end of the post(My hairline greys are few so they are not clearly visible in the video, but the technique is pretty much the same).
2. Does the application stain the forehead? If applied incorrectly, it does but it’s just mascara so can be wiped. If you are a regular makeup person, it’s safe to make it the first thing in your routine.
3. How long does the colour stay? As long as the mascara on your lashes does.
4. Can I use any mascara? Yes, but a waterproof, good consistency one does the job better for obvious reasons (I am assuming that you use a good quality one for your lashes).
5. Why should I use it only for greys on my hairline and not the rest of the head? For the simple reason that applying it is a tedious process and an expensive one too if used on more hair. For the rest of the hair, sprays work great.
How to apply
So my dear readers, that’s about my small little big discovery. I am very happy with it and I hope it benefits you all too.
It caresses like a gentle breeze, But like a raging tempest it uproots too. Unannounced it appears and enraptures you, Sometimes cradling you like fragile porcelain, And sometimes puncturing your core with its menacing harrow. It brings sunshine, poetry, songs and beauty one day, And on another, leaves you desolate in loneliness, longing, misery and pain. It overwhelmes and overpowers, A potent melange! It is enchanting, illuminating, eluding and beguiling. And whether you rise in it or fall, is obscure! But LOVE it is and love alone… That gives all, Takes all, Makes all, and Breaks all…
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