How well does Sunsilk Perfect Straight work?

I recently received a pack of Sunsilk Perfect Straight Shampoo and Conditioner from Indiblogger as a part of their initiative with the company. I was quite unsure of the product because hair doesn’t always react well to shampoos other than the ones I’ve been regularly using.

My first hair wash with the product was satisfactory, though I couldn’t see how it really impacted my hair. The second time I used the shampoo and conditioner, my hair seemed to feel better. I have an unusually oil scalp. Due to this, I tend to avoid conditioner on all occasions other than those which absolutely demand it.

What I really liked about the Sunsilk conditioner was that it didn’t make my hair look heavy or give it an oily look within a day of the wash. Very few conditioners gave managed to helpe withy hair dressing habits and this latest product sure does seem to fit my-good-conditioner list. However, the shampoo has helped little in stopping or controlling hairfall. Also, if you expect your hair to turn into straight tresses, you’ll be disappointed. My hair remained quite wavy and curly but it just looked better.

Overall, the shampoo and conditioner work well, especially on the after wash effect.

“Just A Wish”: My entry for the Get Published contest

The Idea

Are fairy tales confined to the world of Cindrellas and Snow Whites? Are princesses always damsels-in-distress waiting for a prince charming to take them away from miseries of life?

Zoya’s life is a fairy tale*. But she is no damsel-in-distress. Rather, she is fierce and strong, smiling and willful. What, however, she did want (secretly though) was a handsome prince to complete the fairy tale her life was. But she feared. Not an evil stepmother but the consequences of all that she wished for.

After all, the result of Zoya’s wishes always turned tables on her. In class eight, she wished to take up Sanskrit and ended up failing her first few tests. When she first went to college, she wished to participate in a dance fest. The result: she spent the next few weeks in a hospital ward. And when she first joined an organization after quite a long wait, it turned out to be her worst nightmare, ever. So much so that she threw her idea for a perfect life out the window.

There was a small wish, nonetheless, which she slipped neatly into a drawer long forgotten. Her secret wish for a boyfriend who would take her to the ball; someone she could talk fearlessly to; and someone who would hold her hand while they drank coffee on the terrace under bright, shiny stars.

And suddenly, it seemed as if her wish was coming true. Every obstacle in the way of a perfect love life suddenly vanished, opening new doors and windows in her life. Was this wish, ultimately, a final success in Zoya’s long list of failures?

*Zoya’s definition of fairy tale is an upside down world where nothing every seemed to be going her way. Yet, it was miraculously perfect.

What Makes This Story ‘Real’

The story is a personal collection of experiences on a special journey. It glimpses into people, places and situations of everyday life, a leaf out of memories and epiphany.

This is my entry for the HarperCollins–IndiBlogger Get Published contest, which is run with inputs from Yashodhara Lal andHarperCollins India.

The Falling Star

He sat watching the star fall. The stroke of the silver glittering on the dark surface left no other memory alive in his young mind. Almost as if the sparkle had touched the depth of a valley never explored. The stream of his thoughts couldn’t gather enough steam to form an articulate sentence. It was a moment of joy for all that was lost and desperation in a moment’s uneasiness which had never ceased to exist.

“Do you plan to sit like that all night now?” said a voice in a monotonous tone.

“Do you really think my parents left me for the stars?” he asked calmly.

A moment of silence.

A ruffled response. “I don’t know. You should be sleeping now. None of the boys are allowed to stay up this late in this orphanage.”

A big thud of the door shutting behind him. But he didn’t seem to have heard it.

“Because if they did, they sure do live in a beautiful place up there.”

He was smiling at the beauty of what he had seen and the pain of what he had said.

The End Of A Dream

It’s difficult to keep my feelings about anything, everything under wraps. How else can I explain this column!

So I finally asked him. But he seems to have other plans. I wake up from this beautiful dream that has lasted for over two months. I have absolutely lived this dream and I loved it so much, it’s hard to believe that I have to bid adieu to it.

But then I know that life’s waiting around the corner. It’s for me to get over this beautiful dream and start living a new one that’s my life!

A Random Work Day

It’s weird how everyone other than him knows how crazy I have been going over him.

I called him this afternoon for some work. He didn’t answer. When he returned the call, I was talking to a friend. I call him back. He is at lunch. He says he’ll call back.

When he does, we talk work. He sounds like he’s done over the last few days. Tired and, and I don’t know what. I ask him if he’s mad at me for something. He denies.

I get to know he is going on a leave. An entire week without listening to him. I’m still getting used to not seeing him. Now not even being able to text him or talk to him. What’s New Year going to bring along?

Wish He Would Know

My life was a perfect mess. That was, of course, until I started caring for him. Why do I feel so bothered? How does it matter to him? Does it?

I have tried ways to keep him out of head. I try not to think about him and end up feeling sad. Every way that I can control I avoid him. And then my mind races up to him.

Does he even realize how has he been affecting me and my life? I had a life plan. I knew exactly what my life would be like. And this was nowhere in the blueprint, I’d assumed. Now, I can’t think of anything without his thought crossing my mind. I dream of him every night. He is disturbing my reading patterns.

Can someone tell him that I feel happy when I see him; happier when he smiles at me and I’m happiest when he talks to me?!

Wish he’d known. Wish he’d care. I don’t even know if he feels even an ounce of what I feel for him.

When All Things Go Wrong

I make up my mind. I need to tell him. It’s so difficult. Why can’t I simply put him out of my head?

It’s my last day in this office facility. He knows of it. It doesn’t matter to him, does it? Why should it?

I wait for an opportunity to talk. It never seems to arrive though. I wait patiently.

I am packing up. He is coming back, talking on the phone. I tell him we need to talk. A girl from some other department strolls around. He walks away.

I wait. And wait and wait for him to come back. Someone comes to my desk and starts a conversation. He passes by. Another chance vapourized. Gone.

He is in a hurry. I ask him to wait. Then I let him go.

A few minutes later, some girls huddle at my desk. I try asking them to leave. But they just don’t. I leave with them. I don’t tell him about it, anything.

My life looks like a sitcom and I’m the poor thing in a situation so skewed I have nothing better to do than laugh at it!

Need and Indeed

She walked ahead of it. Nothing seemed to bother her. Neither the rubble of the downtrodden roads nor the dust whizzing past them. They had walked together for hours. She was busy loving the freedom.

A car rushed past her. She was stunned. Lost in a world of her own, she had reached the main street. Suddenly, reality gripped her. The car speeding ahead sowed fear into her little mind.

Before she made a movement to turn around, he held her hand lightly and started walking alongside, crossing the road. As the school bell rang, she rushed into the campus. He walked silently with no qualms.

Is This What I Think?

I wish I had known it would feel this miserable. I convince myself that I’m better off on my own.

I don’t see him through the day and I feel sad. I realize that I probably like him. Like him like I haven’t liked anyone for a long, long time.

A tear escapes from the contour of eye. I look at myself in the mirror; fake a smile.

Does he even like me? Does he ever notice me?

I Can’t Stop Talking

A long holiday. And a weekend on the other side of this day. Office looks like such a barrier. I don’t wish to go.

The day passes by swiftly. I haven’t thought of him yet, except maybe once when I passed him on my daily walk for a coffee.

A sudden ping. It’s him. We chat. And I realize that I can’t stop.

I type a really, really long sentence, completely out of context. He sends a smiley. I stop.

I smile through the evening. And now I can’t wipe the smile off my face.