The Hair saloon or "cutting shop" as it is commonly known is an interesting place where sometimes life gets summarized in the 30 minutes of your presence there. You expect something and get something entirely different. But my last visit was a little special though since the barber had done my hair exactly as I wanted him to.
How clearly i remember staring right at the mirror and into the eyes of Balu anna(the barber) and saying the exact words "mottam teesei" (remove it all). And i sat there silent and still for the next five minutes like a tibetian monk as the blade grazed my scalp removing every strand of hair that stood in it's way. Every other visit to the barber is accompanied by this moment when you come home with high expectations of your haircut, look into the mirror and go 'Oh crap!'. This time however i didn't experience that part since i got exactly what i wanted...'A clean Headshave' more commonly known as 'Gundu' or 'Chikni'.
Getting your head shaved atleast once during summer every year was somewhat of a custom in our house. Those summer visits to get my head shaved were like war missions, painfully executed on the express orders of my parents. Once the deed was done, the teasing would follow, kids with their hair still on would make the 'gundus' go through a huge amount of pain and embarassment. From nicknaming you 'Gundu' or 'Chikni Handi' (popular in old city) to unleashing their tabla playing skills on your head. Kids with hair did guarantee you a hard time.
Well i'm 19 now and it's been atleast 8 years since i've had my head shaved. This time i expected things would be different. I wondered what reaction society would give upon seeing my exposed scalp. Since my peer group was composed of people who are roughly the same age as me I expected things to be quite different. So here's a summary of the reaction i got:
A. Confused looks from people who immediately after seeing me asked this question "Where have you been to?" And I go like "Where else? The Hair Saloon of course!". It's like society expects you to have a very strong justification to loose your hair. People in this category were mostly the religious type. Those who barter their precious strands of keratin for good fortune. Or get rid of them because a pilgrimage warrants it.
B. Those who were really surprised that I got this done in winter.
How clearly i remember staring right at the mirror and into the eyes of Balu anna(the barber) and saying the exact words "mottam teesei" (remove it all). And i sat there silent and still for the next five minutes like a tibetian monk as the blade grazed my scalp removing every strand of hair that stood in it's way. Every other visit to the barber is accompanied by this moment when you come home with high expectations of your haircut, look into the mirror and go 'Oh crap!'. This time however i didn't experience that part since i got exactly what i wanted...'A clean Headshave' more commonly known as 'Gundu' or 'Chikni'.
Getting your head shaved atleast once during summer every year was somewhat of a custom in our house. Those summer visits to get my head shaved were like war missions, painfully executed on the express orders of my parents. Once the deed was done, the teasing would follow, kids with their hair still on would make the 'gundus' go through a huge amount of pain and embarassment. From nicknaming you 'Gundu' or 'Chikni Handi' (popular in old city) to unleashing their tabla playing skills on your head. Kids with hair did guarantee you a hard time.
Well i'm 19 now and it's been atleast 8 years since i've had my head shaved. This time i expected things would be different. I wondered what reaction society would give upon seeing my exposed scalp. Since my peer group was composed of people who are roughly the same age as me I expected things to be quite different. So here's a summary of the reaction i got:
A. Confused looks from people who immediately after seeing me asked this question "Where have you been to?" And I go like "Where else? The Hair Saloon of course!". It's like society expects you to have a very strong justification to loose your hair. People in this category were mostly the religious type. Those who barter their precious strands of keratin for good fortune. Or get rid of them because a pilgrimage warrants it.
B. Those who were really surprised that I got this done in winter.
C. Those who went " Nice haircut! Looks good on you". And then asked the reason for the unusual timing of the haircut. To which my reply was "aisich".(no reason). The sad part is, none of the people in this category were girls :(
Well, it's been an hour almost since I've sat down to type this (slow typing speed da) so this is going to be the last paragraph( you didn't heave a sigh of relief, did you?). So, this is how life was like for the first few days after getting my new haircut. The looks of confusion and surprise stopped after that. People got accustomed to it I guess.
And the reason why I got this haircut done is well, you know...aisich!
