For ages, I took pride in not having a single grey hair. It was a trophy of my winning against all the junk food, the roller coaster metro lifestyle , pollution, stress and everything else branded as "not good for health". Add to it the fact that all my friends, juniors, my dear husband...everyone around me has heads full with gray and white hair. Not having a gray hair really made me feel so special as well as strong and confident (Afterall, inspite of all the odds I was able to keep away the white strand). I remember confidently replying to hubby's "Oh! see the comb has a gray strand of hair" as " definitely not mine!".
And then one fine morning, I wake up with my first gray hair. I am getting ready for office as usual..combing my hair in front of the mirror and all of a sudden...that gray strand of hair glares at me...right in front of my head. I concentrate...I blink my eyes several times..I move closer to the mirror, basically I look out for any sign that would defy the horrifying observation I just made..but to my disappointment and horror...its true !!!
Anyways, I had to gather my strength and carry on with rest of my chores for rest of the day. With thousands of trains of thought unleashed concurrently and running uncontrolled in my mind, I somehow went through the steps of getting ready, finishing my breakfast and packing my bag for office. But of course, the distress couldn't remain hidden from loved ones for long. They empathized, and tried comforting me. Mom said "lets talk over it once you are back from office!"
On my way to office, through the long and juggling drive, with my mobile internet, speed as bumpy as the roads I travel on, I tried to look for causes of premature white hair, prevention and cures. Unfortunately, it didn't give me much respite, only worsened my fear. It seemed, to prevent grey hair, or to keep hair healthy, I needed to do yoga and exercise which would mean waking up at 5 in the morning and cutting my sleeping hours by half an hr or so, where I am already getting 7 hrs of sleep. But to have a healthy body and healthy hair I need to have a good sound sleep of 8 hrs! I need to eat more fruits and vegetables but then the loads of pesticides in those fruits and vegetables might play with the Ph and acidity levels in my body and lead to more hair fall. The solution is to go organic. organic edibles can cost anywhere between two to three times of the normal ones and to being the whole family of 5 members on organic products would mean double or triple the grocery bill...well I will have to take up a new job or promotion or work harder for that extra cash. that would bring in more stress and less sleeping hours again!!!! My mind started forming pictures of me with bigger patches of white and gray hair, slowly outgrowing all my black hair and dominating my head!!
After juggling through all this for the day, slowly my subconscious realized that the best and most convenient way out is to accept the gray strand of hair as a part and parcel of life and adjust with it instead of stressing myself out to the level of turning all the rest of my hair gray within a month!
Well, I am trying to harbor a positive attitude, I have decided to move on with the believe that one day the karnataka state pollution control board will wake up and check the pollution levels of the city, the world will go organic and the organic products will be more accessible at reasonable prices, my baby will grow and I will get long sound sleep again, I will say no to junk food and get a nice cook who will cook nice healthy food for me without making a mess about it. Life will be beautiful again. I am waiting for that fine day...till then, I will do a patch-up job applying heena to my hair!
