Today,looking at Tata Motors' association with Lionel Messi as the Global Ambassador, I am reminded of a personal #madeofgreat story that I witnessed.
My dad is a bookworm and so is my sister but I never was. I was one of those kids who scream and make a fuss everyday before going to school. I did not like books, I did not like studying and I could not understand why these grown-ups wanted us kids to go to school everyday. Then when I was in 2nd class, my dad was transferred to Varanasi and I had to enroll in a new school. Here I met my English teacher, Manjula Ma'am who changed my whole perspective on education, studying and life itself.
She was the most soft spoken, sweet tempered and loving teacher I ever met. She taught us in such a low voice and there was just something about her that everyone went into pin-drop silence mode when she entered the class. There was a quiet dignity in everything she did and it was easy to see why everyone was so respectful of hers. She never gave any of us punishment, even for not doing our homework! Just a simple 'do it tomorrow please' and nothing else. In fact, we always made sure that we did all our work in time just so we would not disappoint her. In class, she would not just teach us from books, but tell us amazing stories beyond our syllabus. She brought heavy books of Shakespeare, O'Henry, Jane Austen and taught us their stories in simplest language thus helping us understand the basic story and not get scared of the width of those books. Then she asked us to paint whatever we felt like based on the story we heard. How amazing! Painting to teach us English? And it worked wonders. We got so enamored by stories,we went to library on our own and poured over these books. She never asked us to simply write answers but to think and make up our own answers. There were no rights or wrongs in life, she said, only what you make of it.
It was much later that I came to know she came from a poor family and was the sole breadwinner of the family. Her quite personality, her dignity, her intelligence, they never even made us suspect of the dire conditions of her personal life and that was how she taught us the values of struggle, discipline, dedication and using our brain to get ahead in life.
Till date,I am in touch with her and I hope that she gets all the happiness in her life.
Tata Motors has entered into a legendary partnership with Lionel Messi and in this contest they are giving away an amazon voucher of Rs. 750 for simply telling 'What do you think of this association of Tata Motors with Lionel Messi?' This ends on 26th Nov before 11.59 PM.
It is marriage time at home! My cousin is getting married so here I am at home,surrounded by family and friends,in sweltering heat of Mumbai and have been picking up some really great tips for my blog,even though won't be able to devote a lot of time in days to come to actually updating it! Anyway,here goes the one topic I really wanted to talk about-taking care of one's skin before marriage desi ishtyle!
- My grandmother has been making this mixture of rose water and almonds every second day and all us ladies in the house apply it on our face,let it sit for half hour and then mildly scrub it off. Just 1 week and our skin is already glowing like a 100 watt bulb.
- Bathing is a luxurious ritual for us as we are using a real sandalwood -turmeric mix to scrub our bodies with-and I can already see 40% of my tan reducing in past 2 weeks alone!
- Honey and Sugar mix, my cousin has been using this to not only scrub but take care of her ingrowth! Did you know you could do that? It also makes skin soft like a baby-but don't use it on face much,at least my skin got all red when I did,so test first!
- Finally,we cousins were in a fun mood this morning so we took a bunch of fruits and smeared it all over each other for a quick facial-strawberries, grapes and bananas-now our faces are oh so sweet and soft!
After a long time,I spoke to my mom again today and told her I have started to chronicle her tips in an online blog,she started laughing and said she has something new for me today-tips on baldness. I was surprised,where did this topic come from? She said she was just talking to her dad (my grand-dad) who still has his hair intact while many of his friends are going for hair transplants! So here from the main source,how to prevent/ cure baldness at home!
- OILING,oiling,oiling. My grand-dad,my grandmom and my mom (and thanks to my mom,even my dad) oil their hair every night without fail. No shampoo or conditioner will do permanently what this simple act of massaging oil in hair roots every night will do. Choose an oil. My mom prefers coconut, my grandmom prefers Amla and my dad & granddad both prefer castor oil. Massage it nicely in hair every night for 15 minutes, it is okay if the pillows get stained, think of how much money will be saved later in life when you won't need hair transplants!
- My granddad says that 2 hair oils are especially good-Jaborandi and Bhringraj. They are both like real nectar for hair growth and the only important thing is that they should be bought pure from some ayurvedic store because most of the packaged brands add preservatives etc. which apparently lessen the efficacy of the oils.
- Use as little shampoo as possible as they contain harsh chemicals designed to strip off the oil from the scalp,use gentle shampoo and never use conditioner on hair. That is one of the major reasons for hairfall. Try using natural products like amla and shikakai for cleansing hair rather than expensive shampoos that simply put chemicals in our body.
- My granddad says that onion juice is really nice remedy,use it on bald patches or patches of thinning hair for about an hour before washing it off! It works!
- Eat as much amla as possible and if you are non-vegetarian,also eat seafood. In my home,only my granddad eats fish,so he says that eating fish,salmon is really good. So is Amla and almonds, eat them everyday and see thick head of hair!
- Again,if you are non-vegetarian, use egg on hair every week at least. It stinks but make sure to apply it all over scalp and hair for at least 2 hours before washing it off , see how soft and nice your hair becomes. If you are vegetarian,do the same with curd or dahi! It works the same way.
I used to have really thick hair in childhood when all my mother did was put a lot of oil on my head and use shikakai soap to wash it off every alternate day. But then I grew up,got in the fashion world of ponytails, no oiling, using all the big shampoo brands in the market and today I have got hardly 1/4th of my original hair left on my head :( My mother on the other hand still has thick,long hair till her waist! She STILL does not use a single shampoo available in the market.
- Oiling is the savior of our hair. My mom oils her hair every night with coconut oil and my grandmother oils with Amla hair oil. Every Night! They do not care if their pillows get stained. They massage it vigorously and go to sleep peacefully.
- For washing off excess oil,both of them use only natural concoctions involving amla, shikakai, reetha. Nothing else. Curd is used as the base and amla/ shikakai/ reetha powder is mixed, a thick paste is made, applied all over the hair, let it seep in for 2 hours and then washed off. Yes it takes about 3 hours altogether and a big mess is created in bathroom too,but again my mother does not care. She does this religiously 3 times a week and still has completely black,naturally thick head of hair.
- Hibiscus flower and aloe vera gel are very important additions to my mother's hair care routine once a week. She would pluck flowers and then crush them and make a fine powder,mix with aloe vera gel and loads of curd and applies on hair. Then washes off after 2 hours,again it creates a big mess and hibiscus is very difficult to remove also as it becomes very sticky. But after that hair becomes so soft,no conditioner or hair spa in this world can achieve that!
I just realized that I have not yet devoted a post on the wondrous gift of turmeric given to us by the great mother nature. Not only is this amazing turmeric used in different skin care products to make us fairer,brighter, it is a major part of the ubtan that we use before marriage for giving that enviable glow to newlyweds, it is also useful in all kinds of other situations. Did you know turmeric is now also reckoned to be effective against cancer and even Alzheimer? Oh,but wait,usually we just say turmeric. Remember that the turmeric that we use in eating is a bit different from the one used for beauty. Actually,many people use the same turmeric for both uses,which is fine too, but usually if you want to use turmeric for beauty purposes,do buy 'amba haldi'.
- Most common is using turmeric with sandalwood powder, curd or milk to make a wonderful body glow treatment, ubtan, it exfoliates,moisturizes, makes one a shade lighter with regular use. Honestly, you do not need anything else in life if you can just use this everyday for the rest of your life.
- Turmeric plus aloe vera gel is a wonderful remedy against sunburn and tanning,something I can say with personal experience
- Turmeric + besan + curd is also a natural stretch marks remover. Well,not completely,but apparently it does help a lot. So my grandmother says. I haven't been pregnant yet so cannot vouch for it but maybe someday :P
- Turmeric + sugarcane juice is a natural wrinkle remover. Again, something I have not used myself but my mom says it works (she doesn't have any wrinkle on her face) so I believe her!
- Turmeric + besan + atta (flour) when applied on skin and dried for 15 minutes helps a lot in taking out unwanted hair, even though be warned, it also hurts a bit but I suppose it is preferable to waxing! I tried this is college, now I just go for laser :P
- When it comes to turmeric,imagination is the key! Use it with whatever you want,depending on your skin type and see your glow and smoothness increase exponentially!
My grandmother and mother both have great skin and that is a result of them following a very disciplined diet and beauty tips that they have gotten from their ancestors. I have never seen any of them use any anti-ageing cream but even then,they both look at least 10 years younger than their natural age. Here are some of their favorite tips that they have shared with me (in the hopes that I can ever live a disciplined life as them,haha!)
- Stress is useless. Running after money,getting so immersed in commercialization that one simply forgets the art of living is the biggest culprit (according to them) of our problems. It is this stress,all this worrying,all this competition that is ruining our health from inside which clearly shows on our faces. So always try to be calm, do yoga, meditate, join a laugh club, have some hobbies to indulge in, switch off gadgets once in a while, surround yourself with friends and family to feel happy and look good! (This had nothing to do with any beauty tip but my mother forced me to put it in!)
- Eat naturally. Load up on vegetables, fruits, nuts, stay vegetarian as much a possible. Eat at home freshly cooked stuff rather than going outside and having oily,fat-filled stuff. My grandmother has never even entered a restaurant. Talk about mission impossible! But this is true. In college,I had given up eating outside for a month when my mom had put me on a dare and I could see then how eating oily food outside lead to increase in my pimples and my skin so much better and I felt more energetic too. This is true even for packaged food. Ready to eat food, chips, sodas, burgers, pizzas are actually loading our bodies with the most horrible stuff that is killing us slowly. The sad thing is,our lifestyles sometimes make it almost impossible for us to not eat outside. Even then,I try as much as possible to have food at home,using as many fresh ingredients as possible.
- Choose your oil. Almond oil, castor oil, olive oil,coconut oil. These are just some oils that are really awesome for our skin and hair. I love almond oil since it gives visible results to me. My mom loves coconut oil. So does my grandmom.Try around and see which one best suits your skin. Use it in your face masks, to moisturize or just dab a few drops at night before sleeping and wake up with plumped skin in the morning. This is one of my mom's secrets. At night,she cleanses her skin using a homemade neem + turmeric mixture and then just puts a few drops of coconut oil to massage lightly and then goes to sleep. She doesn't have a single visible wrinkle on her face till date!
- Drink water as much as possible. Do not become crazy and just drink litres of water at once or else you will destroy your kidney! But drink water at regular intervals and better still, drink warm water to keep your digestive system perfect and also cut down on that obstinate fat deposit in the body.
- Take care of whole body. Do not focus on just face. Use oil to massage not only face but whole body. Use exfoliators all over body too. Use moisturizing lotions on hands,necks and feet liberally or else what happens is that our face looks great while other areas start looking aged!
- Rose water, yoghurt, milk cream, almonds, multani mitti,chandan,turmeric and so on -our mother nature has given us so many natural products to work with so there is no need to run after so many expensive creams and potions that actually load up our skin with chemicals so much that our skin gets addicted to all that. It becomes a vicious circle then!
Fruits are my favorite kind of dessert. I don't worry about binging on anything unhealthy when I am having an apple or an orange or a bunch of grapes or a box of strawberries and I am always assured of my body getting vital nutrients and staying healthy. Also,sometimes I can feel more luxurious by using them for face masks and such treatments. This is actually something that I have taught my mom also :)
- Strawberries are amazing for exfoliation. I remember reading this in some magazine some years ago and thinking this must be some rich celebrity saying some nonsense,but then I tried it and it works! Apparently,just like lemon and tomato,these strawberries also have some acid (mild) that exfoliates the skin,revealing fresher,brighter skin and then there is also the very texture of these fruits that leads to mild scrubbing. I actually mash them in my mixer and then mix with a little bit of curd before applying all over my face and then let it sit as a face mask for 15 minutes before scrubbing and washing off. At first,my skin used to be little red-patched because I got over enthusiastic while scrubbing but now it is perfect. Remember-do not treat your face roughly and don't use those chemical laden scrubs!
- Bananas are great for dry skin. You may even read somewhere that they are great as hair mask. I tried it but found it too messy. But my mother has tried using a simple mashed banana as face mask and loved it. She says it stinks a bit but also makes her face nicely hydrated without making it oily. Try it!
- Almond + Milk/curd -a great exfoliator for face and even body. Remember all the almonds and walnut scrubs available in the market? Why go for synthetic stuff when you can make it at home? Just crush some almonds in a mixer, put it in curd or milk depending on your skin type and go ahead,scrub your face. It won't be visible at first but after a few times,you can see the difference it makes to your skin. In my case,I can see my pores have shrunk,my face has much less blemishes and even oiliness is reduced. I feel refreshed.
- Grapes can be used for anti-ageing! I had no idea this could be done until a friend at work told me about it. Just mash a few grapes and apply this pulp on face. Keep it on for about an hour and then wash off. I asked my mom to do so and when she washed her face,it was completely clear! I am not kidding,her face looked as if she had out on some foundation,it was so smooth! To be fair,my mom already has a great skin but this made her glow even more. Now she uses it every week and it is her go-to mask when she has to go to any party :)
