Cut and Blow

“When we meet real tragedy in life, we can react in two ways--either by losing hope and falling into self-destructive habits, or by using the challenge to find our inner strength.”  ― Dalai Lama XIV

I looked at the lady and wondered whether I had taken the right decision. Nestled among the green trees is a stark yellow and green building which opens on all the four sides into the bare land in our neighbourhood. There are two gates on either side that resemble alcoves leading the long paths into an underground parking. It has a series  of steps all around that lead to huge shops on the peripheral side. The  shops on the inner side have a ceiling which is high, and most of them have a spiral staircase to the loft room making it look like a mini retreat. Our long walks in the evening helped us discover this place. The shops are still non functional hence our eyes could not miss out this lonely new beauty parlor for women with its shining new hoardings.

There are two communities in Ravet who are making the most of the progressive technology, they are the Dentists and the Beauticians. Perhaps there is a greater awareness in sprucing up to make themselves effectual lookswise. The shop is named ‘Sparsh’ which means a ‘Stroke.’ The board  has added qualifications specifying that the beautician was a student of Jawed Habib, her years of experience etc. I wondered whether Jawed Habib was a researcher in hair cuts as we also have an  explicit Jawed Habib’s saloon and many other beauty parlours that never forget to use his name. The Jawed Habib’s Saloon in our area is a unisexual parlor, the boys and girls wear  uniforms in black lined with red. When they come out of the glass doors, they look dispassionately towards people like us who love plaiting our hair. I have tried peering in through the glass doors to see what was so special in a haircut there. When I was a young girl my mom gave me a blunt cut above my ear, my oblong face with a tuft of hair made me look funnier than ever, but she could give a cut only once in three months. The front had a Sadhana cut, a few flecks of hair covering the forehead that was an initiative of the Bollywood Star named Sadhana. These days, young mothers get great haircuts for their kids and themselves at Jawed Habib’s where the beauticians oil the hair, wash it and only then  restyle the hair for around six hundred rupees.

The first time I saw the door open at Sparsh, I casually ran my eyes around to find it clean, new with a number of modern equipments and electrical gadgets kept well. The place is not luxurious yet it is attractive making me go ahead to ask them for a haircut the next time I crossed the place. After I uttered my request, I kept looking  at a beautiful  young girl who I felt should give me the hairdo. I explained to her all the details patiently, she smiled and disappeared through the doorway. I kept looking at another lady who was getting a hair massage. Then appeared this petite lady, she was lean,  with very short arms, frail with a peculiar look on the face that definitely gave an understanding that she suffered from a disability related to the mind and body. She quickly tied the plastic sheet around my neck and began combing my hair, she sprinkled water and began the haircut. I wondered why I had chosen the place just a week ahead of Diwali, the festival of lights when everyone wishes to appear their best.

As I saw the stubby fingers run through my hair, I remembered Mr. Amitabh Bacchan’s new show on Star Plus named ‘Aaj Ki Raat Hai Zindagi’ that applauds goodness in man. Last Wedensday, the show pictured  Divyanshu Ganatra  who became the first person with a sight impairment to paraglide in India. He moved smoothly in the skies of Pune for a full minute and a half alone. He could dive and play drums and perform many more feats than a normal person.  On questioning  him about his ability to manage all these things, he told the audience that when he came to know that he was going to grow blind at the age of sixteen, he wished to use what he had rather than what he had lost. Ganatra, a clinical psychologist by profession said, "My livelihood is to change people's mindsets and witnessing their transformation, this time it was mine".  

Perhaps this young lady  was trying to do the same. It was tough for her, yet she held the scissors delicately between her stubby fingers and when the lock of hair slipped, she pulled it with greater delicacy and intricacy. She tugged the hair gently, marked the length in a disciplined way and kept doing her job passionately. Her little body, sometimes could not help her, but she soared above that to give the best haircut suiting the description I had given. She dried my hair and showed me the lovely haircut she had given reminding me of grit in leading  a life well, where though God seizes a touch, he   definitely  bequeaths something new to bring about distinctiveness in everybody in his own unique way..

There is a lesson in everything. There is a lesson in each experience. Learn it and become wise. Every failure is a stepping stone to success. Every difficulty or disappointment is a trial of your faith. Every unpleasant incident or temptation is a test of your inner strength. ― Sivananda Saraswati