This is the story of four significant hair cuts in my life time.
Event One: I had a childhood friend called Kannan, while we were staying in Kozhikode, Kerala. One evening he turned up with a clean-shaved head. When we inquired about his transition to a skinhead, his explanation was highly commercial in nature. A boy's haircut was costing One Rupee those days and a head shave was only one fourth of that, at twenty five Paise. He managed to save the rest and had bought some hard boiled sugar sweets and chewing gum for all of us. Wish that the financial houses learnt some such simple lessons while meddling with public money.
Event Two: May be about 12 to thirteen years hence, I joined the Indian Navy as an Officer Trainee on 23 July 1977 (a Saturday) . The fashion those days, at least the one that I followed was to have thick and long hair. Mine was the bushy and unmanageable type. At lunch time my hair was as per the above specifications, but the Navy specifications haircut was just minutes away. A battery of barbers were awaiting our return from lunch and sheared away as per their instructions. First they placed an old beret cap on my head and using a mechanical shear, cleared out all the hair below the cap rim, leaving just a greenish stubble. Then they removed the cap and chopped off the hair on top leaving just enough hair that had the feel of a tennis ball, fresh out of its box.
Event Three: With further fast forward, the next event took place at Riga (in Latvia). About 16 of us were there for a longish training course. We reached there on 21 Mar 1983, all trim and soldier like. When we reached there was snow all over and the temperature was hovering about Zero deg C. Within a week all the snow vanished. The next fortnight saw grass growing on the mud mounts left by the snow. We even helped the local community in clearing up the mess that was under the snow till then. By end April, trees had leaves and flower patches were laid in all public gardens. Though it was not biting cold, the Baltic weather had its vagaries. The temperatures variance could be as high as 20 Deg C in a day. We used to wear some sort of a jacket or coat every time we ventured out to the city.
We had gone out to view the May 1 Parade in the morning. It was bright and sunny, but we still wore light pull overs and a jackets. While the parade was in progress, the weather changed. The sea breeze was cold and it started raining. From an enjoyable 24 Deg C, the temperature dropped to 9 Deg C. We ran into a building close by for shelter. There we noticed a small pub or bar and a Saloon. We went into the bar first and had a couple of shots of vodka each to warm ourselves and then since we had time to kill decided to have our hair cut. We had also noticed that there were three cute women on the job in the Saloon. There were six of us and we had to register and wait our turn. We were shivering in the cold and were delighted that all the patrons were wearing even their jackets during the haircut.
The girls were very talkative, but our communication was limited due to our low proficiency in Russian language and theirs in English. They all mentioned Indira Gandhi and Raj Kapoor. Then there were mentions of some movie names, which we could not make out. The haircuts were very efficient and quick. The cleaning up was so perfect that there were no left over hair on the body or on the clothes. A commendable aspect compared to what we normally get in India.
Event Four: This has a bit of religious fervour and happened quite recently. I had never been to Tirupathi till Nov 08. I had arranged for the trip by bus for a few of us. While making the booking itself I had inquired about getting time for a tonsure at the temple. The plans for a tonsure was a secret though. The trip was hectic and the total time spent atop the Thirumala was spent in standing in queues and walking from temple to temple, hence the tonsure could not be done.
While standing in the queue I had noticed on gentleman taking out a small scissors and snipping little bit of hair from everyone of his small group. I guessed that this was his way of penance to the Lord of Tirupathi. So, once I was sure that my tonsure was not going to take place, I pulled a few strands of hair out and spread it in the wind as a formal penance. all this happened on a Saturday and we returned home late in the night that day.
On Sunday, early morning I was the first customer to my regular haircutting saloon. He was surprised when I asked him to shave my head rather than do the normal short crop. He complied with the directions without comments. I came out as a skin head, much to the chagrin of my wife and became the butt of many jokes at my office. The penance was fulfilled though.... That was more important for me.
