How wigs are made from donated hair

A wig is a head of hair made from horse-hair, human hair, wool, feathers, buffalo hair, or synthetic, worn on the head for fashion or various other aesthetic and stylistic reasons, including cultural and religious observance.

28 year old Rupa getting her head shaved so her hair can be donated to the Gods at the Thiruthani Murugan Temple, India. Following are the words of that photograph who took this photograph for Getty Images:

All of us are familiar with wigs and weaves. A lot of women use them, and it was fascinating to see where the hair comes from. Before I started this project, I never would have thought that a lot of these expensive products originate at a small hilltop temple in rural India! I met Rupa who has her hair shaven to donate to the Gods, a process known as tonsuring. Rupa donated her hair with the wish that her daughter’s illness is cured. It is common for Hindu believers to tonsure their hair at a temple as a young child, and also to celebrate a wish coming true, such as the birth of a baby or the curing of an illness. The 'temple hair', as it's known, is then auctioned off to a processing plant and then sold as pricey wigs and weaves in the US, Europe and Africa. During the project, I visited the Raj Hair International processing plant. There were hundreds of women working in a dozen different rooms, combing the hair, washing and drying, de-licing, curling, and making wigs by hand, strand by strand. I was told that it takes a full month to hand make a full wig. No wonder the price tag for these products is so high! What I think makes this story so interesting is the contrast. The women tonsure their hair for spiritual reasons, to show their love and appreciation to God. Meanwhile in the West or Africa, women shell out a hefty sum for their hair to enhance their physical looks.

The Love Story of Taj Mahal

Shah Jehan and Mumtaz Mahal. Everybody knows about their love story and it was Shah Jehan who erected the famous Taj Mahal for his wife, Mumtaz in her honor to express his love after she died. Did you know? Mumtaz was the 4th wife of Mughal king Shah Jehan and she gave birth to 14 children of him. Imagine 'how much' he used to love her that during their 19 years of married life, the couple had 14 children and she even died giving birth to their last child. Also, Shah Jehan used to invite his writers, poets and historians to document their sexual life, romance and erotic tales so their tales can get immortal in the form of books and notes. 19 years of marriage, 14 children and Taj Mahal. Also, since she used to stay 'pregnant' all the time, she used to stay sick but they still used to make love like anything. Damn.

Smog in Pakistan

What's SMOG? It's not fog.

The current smog with toxic air is very unusual in Punjab with main concentration in Faisalabad & Lahore. This smog contains toxic air, compressed of ground ozone also called bad-ozone. Ground Ozone is not emitted directly into the air but is created by chemical reactions between oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of sunlight.

Lahore falls among the worst smog affected cities in the world. After effecting Lahore now smog hits Islamabad. 

Main Sources of Smog

NASA Reveals the real culprit behind the smog in Pakistan is India

According to New York Times, the farmers in those areas burn the left over straw instead of getting rid of it through other means. The left over straw is as much as 32 million tonnes, which would explain the cause of the smog. The farmers say that they cannot afford to buy expensive equipment to clear the land so they resort to burning it instead."

Emissions from industries & motor vehicle exhaust are the main sources of NOx and VOC. Breathing ground Ozone can trigger a variety of health problems, particularly for children the people of all ages who have lungs diseases such as asthma. Due to stable atmosphere (persistent dry weather) during day dry winter months, Ground Level Ozone is very common in New Delhi (INDIA) and Shanghai (China) but first time observed in Lahore.

Wear Mask & glasses while traveling. It's better to avoid traveling.

My Message of Peace for India

You know, dear neighbor
There is a wall between our homes
But it is not thick enough
On most days the noise in my home drown everything else
But when it is quiet here, I can hear you
Your good days and your bad days
And when it’s really quiet inside me, I can hear you
As well as I can hear myself
It is said that, what is seen fills the vision completely,
We don’t notice the mirror hanging that shows what we truly are-- A reflection of each other!
We have similar homes, similar lives, similar worries and we are similar in so many ways
I am writing this letter to you today because doors are attached to walls
And the only true open door is the lack of wall
DEAR NEIGHBOUR! “The wall between us is not thick enough. We don't see each other, doesn't mean we can't hear each other or feel each other. Our visions are blurred, now we need to "PAUSE" to see who we truly are. Once we do so, we will definitely realize that we are the reflection of each other. We believe, our future need not be same as our past. We hope this letter reaches to the right destination. If you too PAUSE to think, then let's chat up!
I pray that this letter goes over the walls and finds A person like me who believes that a future will not be a past repeating itself, A person like me who believes right now can be the beginning of a World where conflicts are resolved with words not weapons & A person like me who want what I want to--quite days at homes with no worries.