In the summer of 2025, I travelled to Marrakech on a family holiday. I was carrying only cabin luggage. As is the case nowadays, one cannot bring a shaving kit in carry-on luggage. Therefore, next day I dropped by in a grocery store in al-Madina (the Old Town). The woman at the counter did not speak English. I cannot speak either Arabic or French. It, therefore, took me some effort in sign language to explain that I needed a shaving foam. Finally, she managed to convey back with a grinning face that she did not have shaving foam in store but shaving cream was available in ample supplies. A shaving cream would work for me, I responded by upping my thumbs. As she placed the shaving cream on the reception desk, I was blass window, assuming the Bollywood celebrity was also holidaying in al-Medina. I could not spot him. “Not out there”, my daughter said. She directed my attention to the shaving cream. A smiling Shah Rukh Khan was flashed on the packet. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2025.