The Oil Wars

When I was young I had witnessed a lot of Oil Wars and just so that you don't get me wrong I am not talking about the actual middle eastern wars.

I thought about those wars as I was combing my hair today, and man did they get nasty over the years! Desi people share a very special connection with Oil so it comes as a no surprise that for my mother it was a serious crime if I didn't let her apply oil on my hair. She would keep saying how my hair were getting thinner because I am not applying oil on them and really they were not. Back in the day I'd just have a couple of hair strings broken after I'd comb unlike now where there are millions of them


When I was a teenager (wow that really seems like ages ago!) I use to cry, I mean real tears when my mom would apply oil on my hair. Prior to me surrendering to her, our home would be like a place of war with me storming off from one room to another, me running for my life, me screaming how I'd never let her oil my hair. I'd usually try to avoid it, make excuses and try to find my way out of it. But my sweet mother, god bless her soul, when she sets a goal then it doesn't remain unfulfilled. So just like that, she'd be behind me until my hair were properly soaked in Oil.

Despite the fact that I don't live with her anymore, every time I visit my home in India she makes sure to apply oil on my hair once a week and although I hate oil, being away from her has made me realize how I miss this very nagging and head massage while I am away. Nobody would care about it, not even me but this is the kind of thing that makes it to the 'TOP 10 PRIORITIES LIST' of desi mothers.

Since we desis have such a deep connection with Hair Oil it should come as no surprise that we have a humongous variety in it.

To show you a few, I'll start with my personal favorite 

Parachute Hair Oil

Before the other brands bombarded the market, parachute was the choice of Indian Hair so in a way it's a legend on its own. Then started the phase of Vatika 

Nobody would have cared about this product due to its weird smell, color and unlike parachute which only concentrated on coconut oil, this product went an extra mile with amla and nimbu aka lemons but the marketing team did a splendid job and soon the classical Parachute Era was replaced by the Vatika revolution (at least in my home). This was followed by the 300% more hair growth claimant Dabur Almond Oil and for a nation that admires long hair who wouldn't want this product!

Now with 25% Extra!

This product was introduced in my family for a short while and then a new contender was introduced by my brother. It has the weirdest smell and color ever but apparently it is very soothing on the scalp, I love my hair but just not enough to experiment so drastically with it.

So despite all the oiling that has taken place on my hair growing up, what's the state of my hair today?

I am sorry I can't answer that question it's a ''Don't Ask Don't Tell'' policy :P

Holding on to the Good

A Big Hellooo to my readers along with the greetings of Peace! I apologize for the lack of new notes on the blog it's just that I have been on and off with the classes due to some personal reasons and just had some food for thought lingering in my mind for quite sometime wanting to be shared here on blogsphere.

A friend of mine has been having quite a lot of low points in eman these days just like the rest of us her eman also keeps going high and low to the point where she complains like she's been too long on this roller coaster ride. So the other day we were talking about Hijab and she exasperated ''Whats the point of me doing this? I am not even a Good Muslim''. Sometimes we reach to such low points in our eman that we constantly keep questioning whatever little amount of good we are doing..That's the time we really arrive on a point from where we just want to give up and can find ourselves constantly asking ''how much more?'' and to answer, just a little bit.

In my humble opinion, everyone regardless of how bad they are or how many sins they do, they should hold on to that one good thing or things in them because it is through that one thing that they can find their way back into the faith and grow into it. About my friend, despite whatever she did, she didn't leave her hijab and it was only a matter of time before she realized that she had to stop doing whatever she was, get a hold on yourself and establish her heart back into the beautiful deen that we have.

I Heart BW Images

I love Black & White Images, they add a classic feel to it.. So I thought of sharing some of them with you over here  :) I would be regularly posting them on www.theworldinblackwhite.blogspot.com

Moments of Nothingness

Chai break at the souq!

Strangers linked together

Talk in the souq

New Father

Photography Announcement

Salamalaykum lovely readers!

As you know I've been trolling this blog of mine with few photo posts here and there. I finally created a separate blog just for my photography (as an amateur ofcourse). If you are interested you can check the blog out on www.shireenbaigphotography.wordpress.com