How many of us can say that we know our skin, what works for it and what doesn’t; across ages, seasons and locations? I’m sure we all think we can, but truly none of us can, not even a part of the whole. This realisation dawned on me at a ‘Skin Awareness Month’ panel discussion organised by the skincare brand Galderma. The awareness month is aimed at educating consumers about skin and skin types, and more importantly skin issues and what efforts are required to keep skin healthy and beautiful. 

As personal experiences were shared during the discussion, one thing became extremely clear - eight out of ten women self-diagnose their skin issues and try home remedies that may or may not be helpful. It became abundantly oblivious that as influencers who talk about beauty and skincare we have to take forward the main goal of the initiative and encourage readers to avail access to experts and science-driven recommendations to help improve the overall quality of their skin and resolve their skin issues.

Over the years, I have travelled to Thailand for quick time off, a family holiday or a solo sporting trip and just early this summer we travelled to Thailand for a kiddie trip, an entire article coming up on it in a couple of days. 

One thing that I've noticed is that the Thai Government has time and again tried making small but meaningful alterations to travel guidelines to make it convenient for travellers from across the world. However in the wake of the pandemic when we travelled to Thailand, I received a lot of queries so here's a quick update on the new guidelines to travel to Thailand in 2022:

Now that you have a document checklist, start putting your travel itinerary together. 

Until next time, 

~ Heena

Makar Sankranti is just around the corner and this gujju household is in full preparation mode. Makar Sankranti or Uttarayan as popularly known in Gujarat is a day of fun and celebration complete with lights, colours and challenges. The sky is dotted with different hues of colourful kites that become a bone of contention between youngsters looking to soar into the sky. Similarly inside the house one can see an array of colours in the form of mouth-watering delicacies. 

Year-on-year my mother has celebrated this festival with aplomb in our homes, even though we have been far away from our home state. Just like every other festival, the first thing done is a thorough cleaning the home and most importantly the kitchen. So this year Heer and me, did clean and decorate our home with the assistance of our house help making sure it is festive-ready. Whilst cleaning we cleared out things that we haven’t used in a while to share them with those who need them. 

No celebration is complete without food, ‘undhiyo’ preparation will dominate our kitchen like every gujarati kitchen. Undhiyo; a green vegetable curry full of assorted beans, roots, seasonal vegetables and methi tikkis is a huge hit amongst all young and old. And since kite-flying is a day-long adventure, fun foods like puffed rice balls and dhoklas are also prepared. The other two dishes that may also make the cut are Daal-Bhatti Churma and jalebis.