for months i've been living in every girl's nightmare -the horrors of living with a great infestation of hair-lice. these horrid insects won't simply get off me. what makes matters worse is the fact that my hair has the right environment needed for lice to breed rapidly (at times i go... scratch! scratch! scratch!). so finally, when i came back home after college was done with, one of the first resolutions that my mum made (for me...mum's always doing good things for my sake) was to totally eradicate all those crawling pests in her poor baby's head. i gave in, ofcourse. even i was eager to lead a free life again. but the price i had to pay for it was big. mum got to know from an aunty that neem is good for eradicating lice. putting that tip into practice, would mean to make a paste out of the neem leaves and then apply it on the head for atleast half an hour. since mum knew that walking around with green gooey stuff on my head for half an hour is simply not practical in my case, ("it'll drip down and make the entire place dirty?") she compromised on making me have a hair-bath with it every morning(as in, using the neem leaves' paste as a shampoo). we tried it, and it worked. soon the lice and it's eggs started decreasing in number and it reduced so much that it was difficult to even find one. mum became euphoric when she found how effective neem was and she told it to everybody she interacted with. "all's well that ends well", one would say. but it does not end there....
it so happened that last week i read in the weekend magazine about the different uses of neem, it's importance in ayurvedic medicine and the like. it seems neem is good for the stomach, for mouth hygiene, the skin, the hair,etc....(you wouldn't believe the big list of advantages). i tore off the 4paged article and gave it to mum for keeping (mum beamed at it, the way a child would if a stuffed xmas pappa gave him a present). a few days later, i unconsciously scratch my head while deep in thought and my mum's sharp eyes notes it.
mum: you are scratching your head again.
me: huh?....yea, i was just thinking...you know...scratching my head while deep in thought...to keep my brains working...
mum(doesn't listen to my explanation): i was thinking...maybe you should apply neem on your hair for a few more days, just in case it comes back...we should make sure we've completely eradicated it.
i gloomily look at her realising that she might be right (as always) and at the same time feeling lazy to go through the ritual again. the next day, i wake up to a chirpy morning and go to the kitchen where i catch my mum red-handed munching on neem leaves ("mmmmph...guoof for da fomacch....mmmmfmph"). while munching on the leaves she hands me a bowl with "neem shampoo". i go for the bath and i'm soon covered with green, slimy,gooey stuff, feeling very much like "swamp- thing".
12 comments:
Now, try this. brush your teeth with a neem branch! Yummy! And your teeth is also healthy. And you must know i was being sarcastic about the yummy part!
Oh, I'vr had mum make neem paste for "glowing skin"...and i have just one word for the concotion...YUCK!!!
I think it smells like crap...I'd rather have normal skin than PUKE anyday...!!!
to ram,
i'd do dat as a penance 4 any mortal sin i've committed...
to shrutz,
hey, didn't u wash it off?!!
Hehee...happy hair-washing girl!
I meet Mr.Neem only once a year - on ugadi day, where we are supposed to eat it along with jaggery. Yuccccks!
i remember... when i was a lil kid, there used to be this small garden in my granny's place... she grew neem sapplings once and made me go there everyday, pluck few leaves... and made me eat em raw.... ufff... unbearable.... so bitter... i would immediately sneak to the kitchen and stuff my mouth with sugar.... :)
to equilibrium,
wid jaggery, huh?i can feel da bile in my mouth just thinkin abt it....
to kedhar,
bless her soul! my mum's plannin 2 grow 1 too...i can c a dark futur ahead...
In my Clinic Plus All Clear worked :)
to peenuts,
but dats 4 dandruff, not lice...tis not 4 eeny weeny creatures dat crawl on ur head, eat ur hair follicles n threaten 2 b a social hazard...
OFCOURSE I washed it off!!! Couldn't stand the smell for more than a min!! And after I had washed it off, the smell kept haunting me from my memory still!!
EEECCHHHH!!
Nice dispatch and this mail helped me alot in my college assignement. Thank you on your information.
Post a Comment