its only because of you, selsun blue.
said the girl in that long ago shampoo ad we watched on ptv when we were kids. the ad was supershort, so short in fact that you could either note the face or the hair. but for supershort ads the award goes to husn-e-bemisal vanishing cream. it was a five second thingy with a a shot of a guy walking up to a woman in a park or something – shown in practically fast forward mode – while the voice over featured a woman’s voice saying at full speed “wo agaye. dekha aap nay kamal? husn-e-bemisaal.”
somewhat worryingly, for a typical macho minded-alpha male-homophobic trapped within a mild and meek nerdy wimp exterior, i’ve always been a red man. that of course does not mean i wear red – though i had blue tracksuit with red piping once – only that i like the colour red. and in extremely desi style, i like red on women. and you freudian profilers needn’t interpret that as an ohh he associates women with danger thing because its not. its just the subcontinental origins talking. and hell, its not that wierd either. show me a guy not turned on by the image of liz hurley in a latex devil costume and i’ll show you a guy who needs a visit to the guys who put up those aaya bengali – chaaya bengali – mehboob ko qadmon mein laaya bengali posters.
but sometimes something not within your normal peference range just clicks. like the colt 1911 0.45 that was so awesome to handle and even felt amazing tucked in my waistband despite my belief that hand-to-hand is the only sort of combat that is real combat. or the time that i ended up buying the funky yellow tie which i never wore. or the texas instruments ba2plus which gathers dust on my table but i refuse to part with while i end up using my trusty old casio all the time. or her pastel blues with light brown shoes and bewitching eyes and sudden smiles…..
dammit this is not the time to fall for someone!!!!
there is something incredibly irresistable about women who look as good in vein blue as they do in arterial red.
Filed under: fashion issues, the sweet stench of life | 32 Comments
Samandar-e-Bemaina - The Abbasnama 
Yup….. there’s something about Red on women….. is it a south asian culture thing or is it worldwide??? Cuz I think the red shadi ka jora has something to do with this as well 🙂
The selsun blue jingle rings in my head at inappropriate moments – it is a bloody curse. Short, unrelentlessly repeating ads on PTV still give me nightmares. I wake up screaming about Younus Fans, Waves~Naam he kaafi hai and the goddamn Guy soap advert. Sod the ad agencies behind such demonic retail messages. There’s a special place in hell for that lot.
Aww! Your blog remembers me. It says Welcome Back below the “leave a reply” thing. Hehe.
And THIS time I’m going to snigger. Just tiny snigger. Not-a-mean-snigger. But a I-thought-so-snigger. And a he-finally-realizes-snigger.
*sniggers*
Ignore me. I just got back from university. Like that explains anything. But khair.
the desi romance with colors! you put to words what almost all of us feel here yaar!
thankfully though, i dont really remember the selsun blue theme all that much :p was too young then 😀
i also cant recall the ad……i was too young back then…..lolzzzz…..the red color looks very nice on gals…even the color has made inroads into men fashion….nice red pullover, t-shirts bla bla….
@ zag: i have no clue. i just like it that way 🙂
@ oream: you’re forgetting lado kay lashkaray, jagmag kapray saaray, lado sabun.
@ samar: so sob. so thats how you repay a guy who’s blog remembers you. by sniggering. one day you will be walking towards mr right in nisar shaheed park and step on dog poo. then you will remember this sniggering. so let it be written, so let it be done. 😛
@ baby mansoor: dude you’re not even a full year younger than i am!
@ sobia: ***in husky, flirtatious voice*** so, girly, what do you look like in red?
***In crisp n saucy voice**** Excuse me dude…..Do i know u????………shrugging shoulders…….lolzzzzzz
and its still amazing how much you remember from back then! 😀
dude! ur romances really grew early na! didn’t u get to play with toys or anything? ya shroo say hee larkiyan theein?
oh, and sobia looks quite nice in red 😉
vein blue , arterial red??? Very vampirish. The subcontinent’s Panache for bright colors is really celebratory. In bw i really really like a guy in pink kurta with tons of kajal in his eyes – nay kajraraey naina….Good god , like olive ream, i recall those “bhatta soap banane walon ke janib say ahal-e-watan ko eid mubarak” rant, wot nightmarish drones. These jingles were one of the few reasons, which made me switch to cable.
Ughh ghastly guy soap ads, that porker of a cow lighting a canon with its bloody hind legs and that chick with eyebrows reaching into her hair and exclaiming sexily “watta GUUUUYYY!”
*shudders*
Lol!!! I don’t think I mind the dog poop part as much as I mind the nisar shaheed park part 😛 Or (and here the feminist in me takes over) the fact that u project me as walking towards mr right instead of him wooing me! or at the very least walking toward me.
And it wasn’t even a mean snigger!
May your lady right make you woo her to the moon and back 😛
@ sobia: baji darr gaeen! baji darr gaeen! lol 😀
@ mansoor: i grew up a little earlier than most 😉
@ tanzila and moizza: there was one which wouldnt stop on ptv during the 99 world cup.
ay boy, jeib mein kya hai
meri jein mein eik rupya hai
eik rupay ki sweet chahiye
eik baree see treat chahiye
mayfair
mayfair treat…
on and on and on ad nauseum.
@ samar: the moon’s too close for her 🙂
errr…what bengali again?? :S
no comments on red 😉 as a mater of fact, i, wearing one right now!
Red Rocks
Red is the color! I have my hair dyed in a shade of red:-D
@ psyched:
you don’t wanna know. 😛
@ nadia and unaiza:
i agree i agree 🙂
I agree with suganspice: Red Rocks.
By the way, I hope you don’t mind: I’ve linked to your blog on my Bookmarks page as well as linked my 5:55 post (which does rock out the red) to your 55fiction which I responded to. Links make the blogworld go around, they say…
Red looks good on some chicks…personally darker shades of red are hot…they can make anyone look irresistible…you know what I have noticed lately…for men…pink is the new black…but it looks hot on some guys…yeah I saw some guys at work wearing a nice light pink shirt…and I liked the fact that they looked so confident and gorgeous wearing that color…anyhow…laters.
ok now with that reply….i really wanna know! 😛
@ samar: the moon’s too close for her 🙂
Oooohhh! Someone’s got it baaaaaaaaaad!
*sniggers*
=P
I love red and blue and yellow. They make all the other colurs, and women look beautiful as they are, since God made them that way:P
Men with a hint of kohl lined eyes and pink shirts look really awesome too.
i don’t know about guys in pink shirts – too govinda for me – but i could write volumes about how kohl has beautified women’s eyes.
woman’s eyes. not that she needed it but still.
and samar its only bad bad not baaaaaaaaaad bad.
yet.
Hahaha…..what a funny post. Really enjoyed it, despite it ruffling my politically correct feathers with talk of armed and unarmed combats.
Love your memory for these wacky ads and equally zany Hasan Jehangir songs, I thought I was the only one who got these weird pak-pop-culture references, good to know there are others. Waisay quite a catchy jingle that Selsun Blue waala.
abbas!! i agree with sabizak! whats witht he armed stuff huh? tsk tsk!
and whats this bengali thing? im completely intrigued! I never got to enjoy those ads u mentioned but i was watching ankahi with my mum last yr and it was shalimar recording company – first in anti piracy or soemthing. Anyhow they had these super funny, once-upon-a-time old dentonic and kala kola hair colour ads. My hubby and i were on the floor laughing. Specially the round headed character in dentonic. most ridiculous.
@ sabahat:
yes we are definitely not alone. apparently every other paki is a nutcase. how cool.
achchi si eik garee ho
larki us mein pyari ho
us say apni yaari ho
eik dabaa… shahi supari ho!
@ sheza:
chill. i was on security detail and it was a licensed weapon and i didn’t even try to kill anyone even though there were at least two guys named saleem over there…
and do not dis the dentonic circle guy!
by the way did you know that the girl who went lo saba agayee in the ridiculous charlie talcum powder ad was in our school? and that all the kids in that ringa ringa ringa ringa ringo, ring kay shakal kay ringo… ad were in my class? no wonder i remember all this crap.
mizaaj aur wo bhi itne rangeen shoqeen 😛
kya karein? apna to ishtyle hi alag hai! 😉
ever wonder why the worst of songs and the worst of jingles get stuck in our minds for eternity?
remember the hindi song “chumma chumma dae dae”?
ewwwwww…..
such songs are the ones we memorize the quickest.. no matter how much we hate them…
btw were u in that ad too?.. along with your entire class?
nah. i was never biscuit model material.
i’ve starred in dozens of cartoons though…. 🙂
‘i’ve starred in dozens of cartoons though’
err….Shrek 1 & 2, Beauty and the Beast…???? Sorry sorry, couldn’t resist. Am in a yukh mood…it’s raining and I hate that the ex is with someone else!! 😦 So I might not be that pleasant this week! 😉
My favourite was the Na Na na na achha nahiin baalon ka girna
Hai girne se baalon ko bachana
To eden roc hair tonic lagana
Too bad they don’t make eden roc any more. I need it badly.
The one’s they are making these days for fairness creams are so funny.
Baaqi sab baatein banayein
English Fainess Snow dulhan banaye
LOL
where is Eden Roc hair tonic it was very good and now it is not available any where …………we need EDEN ROC hair tonic BACKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK.