When exploring a city, I like to take to the streets like a local. Sure, a fancy hotel stay is a much-needed rejuvenating treat but I had under 24 hours to backpack around Guwahati, the capital city of Assam (North East India) and ofcourse it involved a major eatathon!
Honored to be featured in a Wknd magazine article by the Khaleej Times today, and that too on natural beauty 🙂
Thank-you very much for the opportunity Janice Rodrigues. Do have a read on her in-depth article entitled ‘Get that Natural Glow’ (Friday 15th July, 2016). Click here for the online link.
I am in India right now, and just got back from a day trip exploring the streets of Guwahati (click here if you missed it). Walking about in the heat and humidity can take a toll on the skin, and so I decided to try out the OLEVA + Oxygen Activating Renewal Black Mask as soon as I got back.
The OLEVA + masks are brand new on the shelves of Sephora Middle East, and although the concept of sheet masks originates from Korea, this brand is made in China under the licence of Oleva France.
Guwahati is a maddening chaos. The streets are jam-packed with traffic, hawkers and bystanders.
We walked through its streets this monsoon-laden Monday. The air is hot and muggy, and the humidity shrouds the body with a permanent layer of perspiration, making my flimsy cotton t-shirt stick on like a second skin.
I really enjoyed playing dressup in the closet of Anisha Lalani, the creative genius behind the swimwear label Blue Ink Beachwear. We showed you how to expand the use of swimwear beyond the pool and the beach. With a little clever styling, you can take your swimwear to the boardroom, for a night out, and even make a fashion statement while lounging by the pool. Three looks down, I begged the girls to do a fourth. A boho chic at heart, I wanted to extend our play into this genre. It is really interesting to see how very different each of our 3 looks turned out to be!
Chef Carolyn Robb knows a thing or two about cooking for royalty. She was, after all, the Personal Chef to TRH Prince and Princess of Wales and their sons, Prince William and Prince Harry for an entire decade.
When asked which item she prepared most often for the royal family, Soda Bread comes on the top of Chef Carolyn’s list.
Yet another gem of a product to debut under the Sephora banner this summer, the Sephora Revitalizing Booster is a direct shot of essential minerals for waking up tired, fatigued skin.
I have always had a fascination with the eye-catching embroidery that comes from the North-Western Indian state of Rajasthan.
My father in-law has a very endearing caretaker who originates from the Garo Hills. Swing is a short, middle-aged man with a rather muscular stature and a deep, dark chocolate-brown complexion, and has been a part of this family ever since I married into it. Yes, his name is Swing! Given his fondness for the bottle and a very jovial disposition, this name seems pretty apt for him. Sparse teethed yet ever-smiling, Swing has formed a special friendship with my daughter who he last saw as a 2 year-old. My daughter does not speak any Indian regional languages, and Swing has very limited use of the English tongue. Yet the other afternoon, I saw him sitting there trying to tell her a story in colloquial Hindi.
Always keen on hearing some regional-style storytelling myself, I sat down to listen and offered to be the translator between the two. Swing narrated the story of Gangbo Raja, a folktale that has been passed down generations in the Garo Hills.
I am spending the last few precious days of Ramadan in India with the extended family. Iftars here are rather different from the UAE. When fasting in Dubai, we tend to focus on the socializing aspect of Ramadan, and are spoilt for choice with the plethora of Iftars and Suhoor buffets on offer.
In my husband’s hometown of Shillong (Meghalaya), Iftars are far more solemn and people prefer to enjoy them within the privacy of their own homes with close family. Neighbours exchange dishes, but mainly meet up in the mosque for the extended prayers.
I spent the last couple of days at my maternal aunt Zuleikha Hazarika’s place, and had the pleasure of watching her very talented cook, Ali, whip up a giant pot full of traditional Chicken Pulao (an aromatic chicken pilaf fragranced with the spicy notes of cardamom, cloves and cinnamon). In the true spirit of Ramadan, the pulao was divided up into boxes, and distributed across the neighbourhood to close friends, as well as the less fortunate.
The Tezzy Files 