Silver, pewter, witchy white—there are many shades of grey in the ageing spectrum. And some of us, in our path to unconditional self-acceptance, embrace our greying mane as strands of glittering goodness, a gift from the moon, a glorious crown of wisdom to be snazzily flicked and flaunted, whether you are 27 or 72.
For Nishrin Parekh, 53, who became a bodybuilder at 48, her short grey hair is her staunchest ally. “You would be surprised to know I have never oiled my hair. I have shampooed and conditioned it every single day. And I have the kind of bouncy hair which friends who are my age can only dream of,” says the Mumbai-based Parekh, who is recognised as India’s oldest fitness athlete by the Indian Body Builders Federation (IBBF). “This is what I do. I go up on stage, with my sixpack abs, in a bikini. I train very hard. I compete with women who are half my age, who toss their long, flowing hair this way and that. And when I, with my short hair, come up on stage, I cannot tell you the kind of respect I get. I am the only fitness athlete who is given a mike to address the crowd.”
Parekh, who comes from a conventional Bohra Muslim family and is married to a Hindu, dared herself to wear a bikini for the first time at the age of 50. “My hair has literally become a trademark,” says the mother of two. In September, she appeared in a Shoppers Stop commercial as an older woman marrying a man much younger to her. She also plays a cab driver in hipster yellow alongside M.S. Dhoni in a TVS Star City ad and a guest at a lunch hosted by Amitabh Bachchan in a Tea Valley ad. She was once the wicket keeper in an ad campaign for an IPL-associated company that insured people seated in spots likely to get pounded by sixers.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة November 03, 2019 من THE WEEK.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
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هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة November 03, 2019 من THE WEEK.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
William Dalrymple goes further back
Indian readers have long known William Dalrymple as the chronicler nonpareil of India in the early years of the British raj. His latest book, The Golden Road, is a striking departure, since it takes him to a period from about the third century BC to the 12th-13th centuries CE.
The bleat from the street
What with all the apps delivering straight to one’s doorstep, the supermarkets, the food halls and even the occasional (super-expensive) pop-up thela (cart) offering the woke from field-to-fork option, the good old veggie-market/mandi has fallen off my regular beat.
Courage and conviction
Justice A.M. Ahmadi's biography by his granddaughter brings out behind-the-scenes tension in the Supreme Court as it dealt with the Babri Masjid demolition case
EPIC ENTERPRISE
Gowri Ramnarayan's translation of Ponniyin Selvan brings a fresh perspective to her grandfather's magnum opus
Upgrade your jeans
If you don’t live in the top four-five northern states of India, winter means little else than a pair of jeans. I live in Mumbai, where only mad people wear jeans throughout the year. High temperatures and extreme levels of humidity ensure we go to work in mulmul salwars, cotton pants, or, if you are lucky like me, wear shorts every day.
Garden by the sea
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RECRUITERS SPEAK
Industry requirements and selection criteria of management graduates
MORAL COMPASS
The need to infuse ethics into India's MBA landscape
B-SCHOOLS SHOULD UNDERSTAND THAT INDIAN ECONOMY IS GOING TO WITNESS A TREMENDOUS GROWTH
INTERVIEW - Prof DEBASHIS CHATTERJEE, director, Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode
COURSE CORRECTION
India's best b-schools are navigating tumultuous times. Hurdles include lower salaries offered to their graduates and students misusing AI