Nirvana bhai's life is eventful. In his latest adventure - he describes how moving to a new country has created unique new challenges - such as the search for the perfect hair styling product range. The description below is of a graphic nature (and a tad self-obsessed?) - so reader discretion is advised.
But before Nirvana bhai describes the tale of the hair-care treasure hunt - he does have an update on his room lighting (see right and previous post). Nirvana bhai has gone with the advice that 'bigger is always better' and 'if you can't beat em - you
must top em'. Hence and therefore - he proudly reports that he has gone ahead and installed a lighting fixture worth a glance. And he has been enjoying his new improved surroundings with much aplomb. Many thanks are communicated henceforth and thereby to all friends who were kind enough to send in their useful remarks.
Moving on to his latest adventure. Now, Nirvana bhai has always found it chalenging to provide his hair with the high standard of care that it demands. Being of extremely sensitive nature, his hair has been known to react very badly if treated the wrong way. Moving is taxing for Nirvana bhai for this very reason. It takes him a very long time to find products that are ideally suited to his hair type.
First, Nirvana bhai was tasked with finding an appropriate supermarket. There aren't too many options on UVA campus and the biggest supermarket here is called
Harris Teeter. Nirvana bhai finds the name most strange. Apart from the name though - the supermarket is quite ok and Nirvana bhai found quite a well stocked hair care section at HT. Almost too well stocked...
Now you see, I've (yes Prof Proper English - I realise I'm changing 'person' here...) come across some studies recently that say that when presented with too much choice - for e.g. when staring at 250 new flavours of Potato Chips (or in this case hair conditioners) - the multitude of choices available actually impedes the process of making a choice. I found this to be very true. I've never tried any of these products and they're all quite expensive too. What do I do?
What did I do? Well I looked hard and tried to read the ingredients list on the back of each product but soon I got sick of this process. So I purchased the tried and tested name - a product from P&G's Pantene Range - that hopefully would provide the much needed leave-in conditioning that I was looking for. Problem solved? Not so fast...
This gel did little else besides turning my hair into a lump of mush and provided no conditioning whatsoever. My scalp was just getting drier by the minute.
What do I do? I go back to the supermarket and decide to go experimental. I wasn't going to find a P&G version of my favourite Ayurvedic hair oil here so I had to try something new. I thought I had found what I was looking for when I saw a '
petrolatum' based leave-in Hair
Condidtioner. Now I should have used my head a bit more - but then again - how was I supposed to know that petrolatum is just another name for Vaseline! Damn these marketing guys are smart (but not honest eh?). I discovered the truth soon enough when I tried to apply the thing to my hair when I got home. What happened? Yes yes, I can hear you launghing... Why don't you try and rub a handful of vaseline into your head tomorrow morning. Cruel I tell you...
A subsequent internet search soon informed me that the product I was holding in my hand was a derivative of petroleum jelly called
Pomade that was much in vogue in WW-II europe but something that no normal person has used for the last half century. Well let me correct myself - Pomade is still used by "...subculture groups such as punk, goth, and rockabilly" and "...in the United States [it] can still be found in stores or sections of stores containing hair products marketed to African-Americans". Let me double check now...no - I don't belong to any of these groups.
So was it all pain? Ummm...almost but not completely. I think this kind of experimentation is typical of the kind done by any immigrant who travels away from a land and people he knows well to a place that he doesen't. The new life is hard and full of unknowns. But then why do people do it? I guess most do it in search of a better life. Some do it to gain access to work or study that could not have been carried out at home. Some do it to come closer to people they love (could be a religious or social group etc. or a specific person). Either way - I think immigration is a painful process. Especially for the first generation of immigrants.
They always (at some level) yearn for the language, the music, the food, the bazaars ...etc etc that they have left behind. For e.g. one only has to walk through the streets of Delhi and talk to people forced to migrate to India during
partition (the largest recorded human migration ever) to see the love that lives on in their hearts for the dusty streets they played in as children. I come from a family that moved to Delhi in 1947 and grew up hearing stories of 'our lands' that were left behind.
Immigration is painful. At the same time - I think immigration is a process that has always been, and still is, vital for the rapid progress of the human race. Both for the immigrants and the new land that they choose to make their home.
Now - if only they labelled bottles of hair products more clearly - wouldn't it be just so much easier?
Woke up in the morning, opened the window and found that it had snowed the night before.
Here is a view of the famed woodlands that Nirvana bhai has written about before here. Nirvana bhai wonders if its cold under all that snow? :-)
Nirvana bhai flies to Hyderabad soon and he hopes that the flight will be able to take off on time and without any trouble. The thought of trouble reminds him - it is time for prayer and thinking about dinner again.
