TRESEMME Ramp Ready Hair

Hair has been a part of history and culture for almost all cultures. The german tale of Rapunzel is one that all girls have grown up. Waiting to be locked in towers with my Knight In Shining Armor coming to rescue me is a long unfulfilled dream. Sigh... However the tresses are not a dream anymore.
TRESEMME Ramp Ready Hair, as i recently found out, is one such product that finally hit the market. Its not as if you have to go to the salon every other weekend. Just these magical products from Tresemme.

The magic created is Ramp ready, you can create various hairstyles. my favourites can be seen in the link, but i also like a simple knot tied at the back with flicks on the face.
the second hairstyle that i have taken a liking to recently is the BouFont a la Sharmila Tagore of the yesteryear's.... Oh man she had the oomph and she could carry the look with elan.
My hair being so straight has always been a problem as well as a blessing. I love the bangs that I get everytime that frames my face perfectly... so here the look....
Not really in the best frame... but i love this look...

18 things you need to do... to grow up!

I read two posts. One in HT brunch yesterday and one today on http://thoughtcatalog.com about advice on growing up. So here I am throwing in some of my own!

1. Live alone, on a restricted budget. Don't let your parents pay every penny cause they can afford to, learn to take up odd jobs, it will teach you humility as well as learning to live and make the most of small things. 
2. Take responsibility of your actions and decisions. Learn from your mistakes. Build on your success. If it has turned out to be a mistake, seek help, rectify it. If you are unable to... don't run away, face the consequences. Try not to let it affect someone else who was not at fault. 
3. Let go of your relationships, if they don't make you happy, it is not worth all the effort of pining and being miserable. 
4. Throw out junk. If your favourite pair of jeans don't fit you anymore, throw it out. When you are the same size again, you will have a chance to buy new ones... Eliminate things if you haven't used them for over 2 years. Applies to gifts from exes and exes that make you miserable as well. 
5. Lose the friend who does nothing but make you feel unhappy about yourself. You cannot chose parents, or bosses... But friends are for you to choose. If a friend doesn't value or respect you, no use trying to keep that friendship alive. 
6. Learn to live with yourself. You cannot keep asking for your friends to give you time. Everyone has a life, a job, relationships. You are not the center of the universe. Read, write, listen to music, take a walk, take dancing classes... But for yourself, by yourself. 
7. Pamper just yourself occasionally. You don't need friends/ bffs to go shopping with you... Or go to a spa... Or have a cozy lie-in in your duvet on a warm winter morning. 
8. Learn how to cook and clean up after yourself. Its important. 
9. Stop drinking and driving. No matter how sober you think you are, you have no right to be a threat to anyone else's life, let alone yours. 
10. Say NO. Just learn it. You don't need to please everybody all the time. 
11. There is always going to be someone in your life who smugly tells you that what you are doing is completely wrong. Whether you have high paid corporate job, or whether it is a low paying artistic job you love. Whether you live in the suburbs, or in the heart of the city. Whether even you keep your fridge stocked up with cola or milk. If you know what you are doing - do it. Take advice. Don't let them smite you all the time. You don't need judgments. 
12. Speak up when you have to. Its such a shame that people assume things and let everything go out of hand, instead of just speaking up and getting it over with. 
13. Friends are not forever. Friends leave. They get jobs, get married, move on to another city. And some of them may not even care to leave you behind. It is absolutely OK... Just be happy for them. and move on yourself. There will always be more friends to make along the way. 
14. Stop being the baby in your relationships. It gets tiresome after a while. Friends and your partner wont keep taking care of every problem you face, and every upset you have. Nor should you expect them to pamper you all the time. They are not your punching bag after every hard day. Learn how to fend for yourself. Learn how to lend a shoulder too. 
15. LISTEN. Sometimes people are trying to tell you things, maybe good advice, a problem they want to share. Maybe even for advice they need. Just listen to them at times. 
16. Stop throwing tantrums. So, your best friend did not get you the gift you wanted from her visit in Hong-Kong. So, your boss did not coo in your ears and give you a raise this time. And your mother screamed for not living the way her best friends daughter does. Things are not going to always go your way. Big F**king Deal. Why the name calling? Learn to battle your problems instead of always crying hoarse over life not being the way you want. Head on. Think of solutions, and way outs. Think of alternatives that can help. Ask for advice... Not attention!! 
17. Stop breaking up with your GF/BF because of something like a unanswered phone call. and then posting it all over FB. 786 of your friends and acquaintances don't need to know about your love life. 
18. You will gain weight/lose weight and all other things when you reach the fag side of 20s. You would probably not even be able to stay up all night and look fresh a daisy with that hangover. Live with it. And change your lifestyle, this was bound to happen - sooner than later.

Germination

It's a rally out there, Shouting:
Silence the lone shrill voice of protest!
Long live the noble thoughts!

Wipe out the blots,
Slowly build up the slogans-
Sharper, finer and focussed.
One stroke should be enough
To open up the skull of dissidence.
Let it live till it is on the screen
Let it be in headline for sometime.
Once it goes to the archives
Who bothers?

It's a crowd out there;
The lonely corpse in a bolted room,
The bullet hole on the saffron robe, or
On the widow white cloth,
Or blood stained sharee of a virgin
Spread over the bush on a barren land.

It's a procession of ghosts out there.
Come together from each corner of the earth;
Holding each others' hands in a chain.
The awakening of the dead soldiers of freedom.

It's a chorus out there:
All singing in unison in a moonlit night.
It's the warm lap of rain drenched earth,
Dark shadows of leafy trees guarding the fence.

It's the kingdom of ghosts.
It's the only hope of the chained souls;
The misfits and the weaklings
Who also inherited the earth.

- Amar Mudi

an old poem by my father and I will put some of his other poetry up too. 

He is now writing a english fiction "The savages" I shall keep putting some extracts and a link for people to buy the book.  Not that i think he wants to make money out of it, but he loves writing and im sure some of you will really like his stuff. 

aham bramhasmi

बड़ी दुआयें दी तूने,

बंजर आसमानों पर थूक दिया, 

और खून बरसाया छाती पर। 

बड़ी प्यास बुझाई आज।।

बड़े दर्द उधेड़े तूने, 

कुछ बोटियाँ नोच ली सपनो की, 

कुछ भूख मिटाई अय्यारों की।

बड़ी आग बुझाई आज।।

बड़ी लौ जलाई तूने,

सन्नाटों में चिंघाड़कर, 

हजूम बुलाये मज़हार पर।

बड़ा मरहम लगाया आज।।

शमशीर की नोख रखी मेरे स्तन पे!
और मुस्कुराके दूजा हाथ उठाया।
मांग मेरी सिन्दूरी करी,
तन धोया मंजिष्ठ से।।

बड़ा रंग चढ़ाया आज।।

Outlook

When the bat whacks the ball with perfect timing
And footwork it is a sixer!
Rukmini, you are Chris Gayle of literature.
Taslima is at best a Sehwag-
Tried to touch a ball
Outside the off stump,
And was out caught behind.

That legend of a bowler was past his prime,
Lost his guile and the googly;
Many a stump had been uprooted in his heydays
Even before the batswoman could retract her foot.

But, sixer is a sixer!
The bowler has been dropped from the team.

Padma

You sailed in your boat alone on the river Padma,
Crossed the turbulent river rowing your boat with all your might
And carried along a generation of reptiles,
Who tugged their rope around the hull of your boat.
They knew the foolish, drunkard voyager well enough
And you knew these vultures too.
They wanted to cross the river in the comfort of the mast,
For you they were the jesters adorning the Court
You presided over, shouting "All is Well", "All is Well".

You sailed along the riverine course
Charted within you like the palm of your hand;
When you heard the rumblings of the sea
Didn't you know the hungry tide awaits you?
Everyone else knew.
Your ears warned you, so warned your eyes.
But the blood of Chand Banik revolted within,
Marshalled the remnant of the strength

To put up the last fight.
The birds had picked up the crumbs by then,
And left the mast to set out for another boat.
The foolish voyager was all alone in the leaking boat.
He looked up at the sky before drowning and smiled.
The heaven is full of voyagers down the ages,
foolish enough, and perished like him, fighting the hungry tide.

Amar Mudi

One of my favourite poems by my father. Please do read and comment. You can also email your response to amarmudi@yahoo.com to tell him your opinions.