Some things I loved about India – and 10 I did not.

Tags

African hair, Deserts, Elephants, Hair loss, India, Jupiter, Obesity, Taj Mahal, Tropics, Women on motorbikes

First, the loves. In no particular order.

1. I was popular. No, really, I was. On a couple of occasions I actually stopped on the street and waved like a Hollywood star – and got wave-backs too! People stopped me requesting me to take picture with their babies, mothers and wives. Pretty little girls and grown-ups a like. Did I mention it was insisted I carry the babies in my arms while the pictures were getting taken? In their defence [why am I defending them, I'm a pretty awesome person that deserves all the popularity the universe may send her way, aren't I] : i) For most people, I was the first African they had ever seen. I really hadn’t anticipated that, what with TV, the recent World Cup in Africa and all the talk about Global Village-ism. ii) At 5’11, I naturally stand out (and not just in India). iii) I religiously never go anywhere without my red YSL lipstick on. I’ve noticed that gets a few more heads to turn my way. Not my intention but hey, when life gives you lemons, et cetera. I promise I’m not vain. Just frank. 
2. Soan Papdi – a certain spongy type of sweets. There are about a zillion types of sweets in India. There’s one called Gulab Jamun. Put simply, these are balls of milk (yes!) floating in a sugar syrup. Yeah, how about that? And no, obesity isn’t the greatest non-communicable disease there; it’s actually hair-loss. Seriously, I checked.
3. Swings inside the house – this is a very Asian thing. I wondered, did these swings have anything to do with the hot (painfully hot!) climate – you know, a breeze is generated as you swing to and fro, bringing on a cooling effect – or were they just for the love of comfort and love for palatial comforts that’s common in Asia? I concluded both.
4. I made some great friends. And met a kindred soul, too. The most thoughtful, selfless, generous girl I ever met.
5. The shopping malls weren’t bad at all. At all.
6. The roads – way smoother and wider than those in my native homeland.  Ever heard of the pot-hole capital of the world?  
7. The Taj Mahal. This should probably be higher up in this list but like I said, in no particular order. The Taj is truly a work of splendour. It’s beauty is amazing, and so is the love that inspired it.
8. I got to see a real-life fort. Make that two. The Red Fort and Agra Fort. I love fairy tales, princes, knights and all that. So seeing some real-life forts was pretty awesome.
9. The number of women riding scooters and motor bikes. I still aspire to join that elite league.
10. India is the only country in this big wide world where each state speaks it’s own language (in addition to the common national language – Hindi), has it’s own unique cuisine and dress type. Now there’s one huge dose of unity in diversity for you.

Hair Story I

Tags

African hair, Hair, Hair Care

My Indian Voyages earlier this year came with joys and pains.The greatest of these pains being the loss of my beloved tresses. I’m still weeping for my beloved hair to this day. Here’s how it all happened. I prepared for my journey well (not well enough, in retrospect, seeing as I lost the hair) by taking my African hair products. Relaxer, hair pomade, et cetera. Little did I know that I would not find a single salon capable of handling African hair. It was the biggest disaster of my several months trip, this damage to my hair.

If you know anything about ‘relaxing/retouching’ as regards Afro-hair then you know that it’s a thing one shouldn’t do to her hair by herself. Result = Your hair comes out half-done = Massive Breakage. Why? Because you can not clearly see what you’re doing as you retouch, even if you use four mirrors. The hair that suffers most is the hair at the back of the head. I regret the decision to retouch my own hair with all my heart. I knew my hair would break some, I did not know how much. Now I have to wait months before my hair will grow back, and every time I see old pictures of myself with my old hair length I feel genuine pangs of pain. Sigh.

My hair before (left) and now (right). The picture on the left was taken at the airport on the actual day I left for India. Picture on the right , after I left India. Shocking, I know.