Simple changes that transform how you look in a Lengha!

Hey guys!

Well if my love for Lengha's isn't apparent by now it should be to you after reading this post. I absolutely adore them for many reasons:
- easy to wear when you're on the go and changing at events
- no pre-pleating or difficult long wearing process like with sarees
- skirts and tops can be easily mixed and matched with other things
- can be perfectly fitted to your sizing
and you just simply will look cute in them, there's no way it can go wrong. I'm gonna struggle to wear anything else but lenghas when I'm in my 40s and probably too old for them oops.

As beautiful as they're you need to do it right! There's things you need to pay attention to when wearing a lengha.

1. The Fitting

The fitting is so so important with lenghas! As easy as it sounds to just buy it and wear it, you shouldn't! Get it perfectly tailored to your body - I mean perfectly! It makes such a difference to how it actually looks on you. Let me show you.

Left - not tailored to my size, just used the ribbon to wear the skirt
Right - after tailoring

Do you see the huge difference it makes?

These pictures were taken with a day apart so now it's not a weight loss picture.
If you don't get it tailored, to make it cling your waist, you will end up looking much broader than you actually are.

Here's another example! I look very out of it this day and tired so ignore my face it had its reasons but look at the waist! such a lovely lengha skirt but I personally think it didn't sit as well as it should've because I was too busy to go to the tailor!

2. The Flow

If it's not fitted to your waist the skirt will simply not flow. It will hang down like in the picture above and not flow like a princess.

I mean look at this picture. It flows perfectly and all I had to do is get the skirt and top tailored. But I think you get the point now...moving on to the next point.


3. Mix and Match

Just because the blouse comes with it doesn't mean you have to wear it. The blouse that came with the pastel pink skirt above wasn't nice at all. I hated it. It was not nicely fitted, the material was weird compared to the skirt. So I went and bought a ready made saree blouse for £20 and got it tailored which made the outfit look the way it did.

Here I am wearing a simple crop top from Boohoo with a lengha skirt! Sometimes simple can actually look soo nice, I find it nice anyway.

Don't be scared to try new combos! They might work out so nicely!

I hope you enjoyed this post and I will be back with more very soon.

How You Can Lose Weight With Me This Summer

Hey guys!

My uni exam results are coming tomorrow and that got me thinking about the most difficult 2 months I had this year. April and May were 2 terrific months for me, my stress levels were at its peak, I was stress eating, my body started giving up on itself and the stress and my stress related eating habits led to me developing health conditions. Now that I stand in front of the mirror the consequences are visible. Sitting in the library everyday for 12 hours straight with hardly any walking can make you gain some serious weight. At that point it seemed worth it and well tomorrow I'll know. My logic was - weight I can maintain anytime but my grades, I've only got one real shot at it. 

Today I had the courage to get back on the weighing scale and see how much I've actually gained -

6 kilograms! That's dangerously close to my old weight, if you don't know about my previous weight loss transformation you can read about it here.

If I've done it before I can do it again and if any of you would like to lose some weight join me on this journey let's do it together! We'll keep weekly updates via my blog. I will update you on my progress.

Eating Habits 

From last time I know more than exercising your diet is KEY. So what has changed recently for me to gain weight? I've started eating mum's Tamil food on a daily! As delicious as it is I really can't afford to eat like that, Tamil Food can be seriously unhealthy but delicious I must say.

During the exam period I have learnt to drink fizzy drinks and eat packs of sweets which I never did before. Now that I'm back home for the holidays I've started eating dinner at ridiculous times. 

Main Dietary changes: 

1. Only eat Tamil Food 2 times a week 

2. No more fizzy drinks in the home only when I'm out at a restaurant

3. No sweets to be bought 

4. Cut down on the dairy - especially milk

5. Must drink 2 litres of water a day

6. Eat on time - no dinners after 8 pm 

Punishment fees for not following, will be put in my savings account

1. £4 per extra Tamil meal a week

2. £2 per fizzy drink

3. £2 per chocolate bar or sweet pack

4. I'm going to trust myself with the milk and not set a fee

5. £1 for under drinking water - anything below 2 litres

6. £3 for a late dinner 

To make sure I do all of this I'm going to set a fee for each time I lie to myself and act outside the rules. I'm going to take advantage of my stinginess and make sure I charge myself in case I don't follow. At least the money will go to my savings.

Exercise:

As I'm a part-time waitress and I work quite frequently during the summers I count that as quite a bit of exercise. 

In the extra time I find I shall go for morning swims and jogs at the park. 

Swimming is the quickest and most fun way to cardio! I'm also going to buy myself a bike if I don't follow. 

Sooo these are the things I will do and you guys are welcome to join me on this! 

Let's connect via instagram drop me a DM at @undercovermathu or email me at undercovermathu@gmail.com! 

Till tomorrow guys! 

Sleepover Time | ♥

Hello lovelies,

I'm in London at the moment chilling with my bestie Lux. As promised I will update you guys everyday about the little things in life.We are watching the Notebook. I've started reading the book in German but I never actually finished it. I'll let you know what I thought about it. This sorta feels like a diary entry...let me know if you guys enjoy these quick update posts. 

Oki dokes, gonna go back to the movie and snacks. Lux paused the movie just for me to write this post and she's patiently waiting for me to finish. 

Good night guysss...

My Prison Visit Experience

Hello loves,

so recently I realised that slowly I've lost the true meaning of blogging. A blog is not supposed to be a website, it's supposed to tell people your story so that they can follow it and enjoy it with you so that's what I'm doing to do. The aim is to update my blog as much as possible even if it's just an entry to update you about what I did that day. Moving on to what this post is really about...

The other day I got approached by a company with an interpreter job! Crazy right? I didn't even apply! I took it of course and at first I found it really scary. I hadn't really signed a non-disclosure agreement before and seeing all the paperwork with small print was a little scary so I got confirmation from my uncle who helped me out. 

My first task was in a prison! Amazing right!! I have always wanted to go inside a prison and to see what it is like without you know actually committing a crime myself. The client needed me to translate what a prisoner was saying and that's all I can disclose about it. However, I can tell you how it was on the inside! It was actually just like I imagined, if not a little scarier actually. I went to the HMP Elmley on the Isle of Sheppey. The security within the prison was crazy and there were so many gated doors! I'm pretty sure we walked through 15 doors at least to get to where I needed to. 

On my arrival I had to sign myself in the staff bit and I had to hand in almost everything - phone, valid trains tickets, deodorants, USB etc. and I gave them my passport.Then I waited for a prison officer to take me through all those doors - he had to open every door with a lock and unlock it! 

While in there I saw a few prisoners in there on the passing. 

It was a very interesting experience and I am so glad that I got the experience. Definitely something I'd like to talk about in an interview if relevant. 

I'm gonna have some dinner while watching an episode of 13 reasons why and then head to bed.

Till tomorrow! :) 

Good night lovelies xo 

How KFC Taught Me About Life!

 Hey guys!

You see how there's always a friend that just needs to be in a relationship and would at most have a 6 month break between each relationship? Well that has been me but with jobs. Since the legal age of work - age 11 - if you're wondering I have always had a job. There has not been a period since then where I've been unemployed. Yes 11 year old children can work on the weekends up to 3 hours each day and I know that because I have always wanted to work and been going through websites to see whether I was eligible. That's when I got my first ever job at the age of 11, I was babysitting my close friend at the time's baby brother. I earned £3 an hour and to be honest for a kid that is an amazing salary. 

From then I have had so many mini jobs and so many jobs at once but only one job has taught me life. This one job changed everything about me and the way I viewed life and I am very glad that I did it. 

KFC! Yeah so I worked at KFC during my A Levels which I deeply regretted when I got my A Level results as I struggled to maintain the high grades that I know I am capable of getting but now that I am almost done with uni and look back at it I have no regrets. There was no better time in life for me to work at KFC. I was a cashier and I went in having never eaten anything from KFC, I really knew  nothing about chicken. While working there I picked up a mop for the first time and really learned what it's like to clean. I've cleaned disgusting toilets and I've dealt with cruel customers on the tills.  While working there some of my classmates would come in and I'd hide and feel humiliated. I shouldn't have! I was making money and stood on my own two feet. 

What really impressed me at the job was that no matter how stressful and tiring the job was the people that worked there were the happiest I've ever met.  I reckon I will sit in an office one day where the people there will be earning twice the salary and work half as hard but are just way more miserable. The people there had been working in KFC for many many years and they had such a positive outlook on life. They work hard and earn little compared to other jobs yet they are so happy. 

The job really taught me a lot about humans - I didn't even know customers could be this difficult!

The moment I stood behind the tills wearing a red staff shirt some customers belittled me and spoke to me as if I had no brain. The assumption that I must be uneducated was all over their faces. The truth is, life could happen to any of us! Any of us could be working in KFC or McDonald's no matter how much we've studied. 

So thank you very much KFC for having me because that job really has shaped me to be the way I am. 

Well looks like I go through with the things I say....

Strict Asian Parents - unlocked!

      c.a. 2000. The great lady that raised my mum, my grandma. Hats off to her because she clearly did something right for my mum's parenting to be this good.

Hey guys!

Parents within the Asian community are different to the typical "white" parents and that is a well established fact. There's plenty of memes out there if you  need to get a gist of what it is like. So I've actually had someone message me asking how my parents allow me to go travelling with friends, do things by myself and to go out to events. I can assure you that my parents are identical to any Asian parents however, I would say over the years especially my mum and me we have met half way. My mum's parenting is 100%. It is based on one main thing - trust. 

The key to a functional relationship with your parents is to prove to them that they can actually trust you to be fine in the big complicated and dangerous world. I've been doing a lot of little things while growing up that proved to my parents that they can trust me to be fine. 

It is small things that add up, I tell my mum everything - literally every detail. While I am at uni I tell her everything that happens, I mention my friends names regularly, she knows most of my close friends. This is not because my mum is overprotective and I have to tell her but because she is like a best friend to me and it's just a habit. This habit however does impact trust in a positive way. Never have I lied to my parents about my whereabouts. When travelling with friends, even to this day I send my friends' numbers over to my mum. Not because she'll check if I'm saying the truth but for security. If anything ever happened to me she'll know for sure where I am and who I'm with and how to contact them. 

I don't hide anything from my mum. Given that this is the Asian community we are talking about there's going to be an aunt showing her typical aunty behaviour and try to jump to conclusions or tells my mum something that she thinks that she doesn't know. Aunties do happen but my mother is never shocked by anything because she's always informed about everything. My mum doesn't have Instagram but I always show her my posts, profile and youtube videos.

She knows where I went or where this aunty may have seen me with a "boy", who's probably my best friend that I've already introduced to my mum.  

Its come to that point in life where I can't even attempt to lie to my mum, I naturally feel the need to tell her everything, she's actually my best friend. Her parenting went the right way - why? I don't make bad decisions or anything sneaky. I wouldn't do anything my mum wouldn't be proud of. Because her trust in me is far too strong to be broken. 

My mum always says, if you're too strict as a parent your child is likely to go behind your back and do far worse things. In the same way, my mum's trust in me has prevented me from ever doing anything too harmful. 

Now moving on to dad, he is the typical traditionally strict Tamil dad. Especially when it comes to clothing. You've got to remember that our parents grew up surrounded by a majority different culture, expectations and surroundings so you can't blame them for having different rules. I sit down with my dad and do politely explain and talk back to him when we face a culture clash. It took much longer and it is a working progress but the point is if I can get my ultra strict dad to understand and agree so can you.  

It's down to you to make your parents "less strict". They will trust you and allow you if you give them reasons to. Soooo kids, teenagers, adults anybody. If you're still dealing with strict and overprotective parents, remember they mean well and it is down to you to gain their trust in you. Don't do anything behind their backs! 

The fear of tanning | Colourism in Asian Cultures

Sun's out legs out! Well for most of the western world only. For others it means carrying an umbrella around and always looking for shadow. When you ask why the response is - "I don't want to tan" Why? "Because I don't like how I look when I'm darker." Is a darker shade of brown not beautiful?

We live in a society where we want to change this colourism. You’ll hear “Dark is beautiful” yet they’ll fear the exact same thing. When the sun comes out “let’s find shade, I don’t want to tan” but why? Because the fear of being dark is still deeply rooted within our cultures. That's taking one step forward and then taking one back again so we aren't actually going anywhere. Yes you do support the melanin embracing movement but saying isn't enough, your actions speak otherwise. 

I'm sorry but I'm not sorry, the sun isn't Satan and I'm not hiding from it. 

The same applies for casteism, we can all say we want to get rid off it, but our actions say otherwise.

Don't get me wrong, worrying about your skin health because too much sun exposure can lead to cancer is totally acceptable. Wearing sun cream even when your skin colour is brown or black is vital.   However, don’t be scared of tanning and becoming darker because ANY colour on you is beautiful! Colour doesn’t define beauty.