The other day I had been to Bob’s at Shasthamangalam for a long overdue haircut. The boys there were beaming with welcome.

“Ma’am, haven’t seen you for quite some time!”

Wow, sure felt nice to be remembered even after almost a year of absence. I hadn’t been in, for the past one year having had my hair cut elsewhere in between. I have been cutting my hair at Bob’s regularly for the past three years. It had been 3 years back that, the haircut bug bit me again this time around!!

What’s with my hair and me?? I would be having these long tresses one minute when the urge to chop them off would overcome me. A few years of short hair, and then again the urge to grow it back to its old glory overpowers me! This has been going on for quite some time now. But from now on, I think I will stick to my short shoulder length hair. No more Rapunzel tresses for me. Too difficult to manage. Anyway, soon these dark hairs will start graying and whoever has heard of a Rapunzel with gray tresses??? Absurd! So, short it will be!

In fact I have this idea brewing that I will make it real short. Still mulling over it and trying to get feed back from husband and children. Not that the children’s view counts when it comes to my hair. It’s like the blog comments. All ones friends can comment. But if I wish to, I can delete any, with a click of the mouse. The same goes in this situation. Views can be expressed. But if it doesn’t appeal to me the views will be ruthlessly brushed aside. The only one that counts and will not be brushed aside in a cursory manner would of course be my better half’s view of the matter. But would he commit one way or another? Oh no, Siree!

“It’s your wish!” he says and leaves it to me.

Hmm…Dilemma of sorts here. To cut or not to cut??

It’s funny when I remember how I longed to have really long hair as a kid. While 7-8 years of age, mother one day decided, she had had enough and decided to give us (me and sis) a short summer haircut. I was crestfallen as my tresses kept falling to the ground! No more could I make pigtails even. I prayed daily, diligently, that my hair would grow back to pig tail length in 2 months time so that I could go to school with my hair tied with blue ribbons as before.

But God of course thought differently. He perhaps, did not think miracles were of necessity in such cases and that things had to be left to Mother Nature. He had enough on His hands without little school-girls wanting Him to interfere with the natural course of events. With no miracles forthcoming from God, my hair grew the normal way. Worse luck! I plodded to school with my boy-cut hair, dreading the looks and the friendly unkind remarks of my friends circle. Ah bliss of childhood. Such things but take the attention of the critics for what, five minutes? Ten minutes? After that it is forgotten and put aside for other, more up to date matters.

Come sweet seventeen and I had grown my hair long, and wore it in two plaits. But before long, I got it into my head that I wanted to cut it to a shoulder length. U-shaped, that’s how I wanted it. I went right ahead. Boy did it create problems or what! I had not reckoned to contend with my maternal grandfather, who had these iron clad rules.

Through frequent teenage rebellion having surfaced in such areas of hair and dress, my parents left me alone in these matters. But grandfather was a different kettle of fish (or so he thought). He nothing short of ordered that I should never cut my hair again. NEVER, was that understood??!? The reason?? He had this great love for long black tresses, having fallen for my Grandmother for her beautiful hair. Now how fair is it that ones Grandfather wants the bunch of females in his family to grow their hair long because, that’s what attracted him to his wife, our Grandmother?? Silly reasoning, if you ask me. No one did ask, by the way. But still I thought it silly. Catch me obeying silly diktats! I was staying in the hostel, and I would keep my hair just as I preferred! I avoided trips to my ancestral home instead.

The long tresses made a come back again in my early twenties. I was married soon and accompanied my husband to our new quarters in Punjab. On the way we hatched this plot of cutting my hair shorter. Once there, snip-snip-snip went the scissors and my hair was back to shoulder length. The next day the husband-wife team, meaning us, decided further modifications were needed.

“Let’s make it a U-shape.”

I was all for it. So, my husband armed with scissors, was back to snipping off more of my crowning glory. Suddenly I found that my hair on one side was pretty short. I opened my mouth to protest.

“Keep quiet and be still!” came his response.
“I know what I am doing!”
Did he now??
Well, if he knew, then who was I to object?? After all, he is the one who has to look at yours truly every day. I mean I need look myself in the mirror only now and then. Isn’t it?

So I kept my counsel. He finished and I was left with hair just a fraction of an inch below my ears! But it was looking good. All the ladies wanted to know where I had had my hair cut as it was known that the only beauty parlor in the place was closed for a few days. Catch me lending my hero to cut their hair. Aha!

Soon I had to return home as my husband had to attend one of those study courses. Imagine the shock on the faces of all and sundry when they saw me thus on my return. While leaving Trivandrum, my tresses were the envy of many, but I had come back with almost all of it gone. Shocking, what?? Since I returned on my own, without my husband in tow, I had to face the music by myself. But did I care? Two hoots!!