Eyetex kumkum.

Kumkum is used in Hinduism as a protective mark for the sixth chakra or the ajna chakra. The powder is actually safrron that turns a brilliant red after slaked lime is added to it.

Kumkum is also worn religiously by good Hindu wives. Which explains why Eyetex here has used the actress (Deepika) who played Lord Ram’s wife in the epic-super-dhamaka-hit-television-series, Ramayana.

Pii love the jasmine in Deepika’s hair. Heavenly jasmine and earthy kumkum scents. Someone bottle ’em, please!

Picture courtesy: Pii.

 

Rooh Afza.

A bottle of Rooh Afza is a bottle of concentrated goodness. Filled with water lily and rose extracts, raisins, fruits and a whole lot of other exotic goodies. It’s best had with cold milk and one ice cube. My mum used to make me drink it and give me the bottle to hold so I’d be distracted by all the colours on the label.

This picture here was taken  on the streets of Haridwar where Rooh Afza is used in a cold sweet dish that I refused to taste!

Charminar

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Being seen with a Charminar pack in the 70s and 80s was the coolest thing next to being seen in an open-top jeep. The pack carries a line-drawing of the charminar, a monument built by one of the sultans of Hyderabad to keep evil diseases away. Ironically this monument sits on a cancer-causing cigarette pack …

De Dabba

Presenting a lunch-time favourite. The classic Indian three-tiered tiffin box or dabba. Used by office-goers and school-not-so-goers all over the country to have full meals from 1 to 2 every day (except weekends when the quantity is much more). The dabba comes with separate compartments to carry different types of food in. Chapattis in one, sabji in another, rice in one, dal in another, and so on and on and on, depending on the number of tiers you have been blessed with. All made at home with a lot of love and the warmth still there when you open it at 1. Sigh. Also, read about the Mumbai dabbawallas here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dabbawala and http://www.mumbaidabbawala.org/

(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dabba.jpg)