“January, June and now December, I guess this year I have been exceptionally rogue when it came to updating my blog. 3 posts in the entire year so far – I guess it’s more or less unforgivable now. Maybe I can still turn things around a bit and make a few quick updates about all the things that happened in last few months…Let’s see”.
This happened couple of weeks ago.
I had nearly exhausted myself at the school and was looking forward to the approaching weekend. There were scores of errands to run and I kind of knew that I would be sucked into some routine cleaning task unless I really planned well in advance to steal a few moments for myself.
After much deliberation and careful scheming, I managed to rope in Suraj (Shaurya’s much adored “Mamu”) along with Shaurya’s Daddy and ‘Chachu’ for babysitting him while I filled in for a spa session at the nearby salon. However, little did I know what the day ahead had in store for Shaurya and me.
As I moved out of the house, I heard Shaurya’s Daddy remind me that even Shaurya’s haircut was due and hinted at me to take him along and to get him a haircut as well. Now, convincing Shaurya to get a haircut is a herculean task. Let me be a little more discreet here. Shaurya somehow got scared while getting his hair snipped in a previous haircut session and now would just not sit straight at the barber’s. He made sure that he got the roof down with all his howling and protest and made his haircut a harrowing experience for everyone else as well. After a long and tiresome week, I was convinced to the core that I had done enough in the past week to earn myself a few hours of relaxation and perhaps with a view to get him spend some time with the ‘men’ in the house, suggested that maybe Daddy dearest could take care of the haircut and went off.
I returned in about two hours to witness, what I can only term as mental torture for my little angel. Shaurya was sitting with what looked like a crisscross of patches and frizz all over his head. His head was shaven in a disarrayed jigsaw with his scalp jutting out in portions. I almost shrieked in horror looking at Shaurya as he sat playing innocently with his toy train unable to fully understand and comprehend what he had just been subjected to. To top it all - the trinity (Daddy, Chachu and Mamu) stood there smiling and marveling at what they believed was a masterpiece in hair styling. I still can’t believe that they expected me to shower in a word of appreciation or feel some gratitude for what they had just ‘committed’.
As soon as my little champ saw me, the first thing he said was “I don’t like this, Daddy, Chahcu aur Mamu ne yeh kiya (as he pointed to his head)...bahot uui kari” He tried telling me that they had cut his hair forcibly and probably held him tight while his Suraj Mamu used the machine to shave off his head. Since Shaurya can’t really sit still while having a haircut and these people were no coiffure specialists their task was left unfinished and as a result Shaurya was left with those tell-tale small patches of hair on his head.
The only resort left now was to shave the remaining hair on Shaurya’s head to give him an even look. It took a lot of cajoling and coaxing to convince Shaurya to agree to sit still and get a bald look. As a mother, I felt really bad for him. It was both heartbreaking and funny to see him look into the mirror and frown for next few days. Every time he saw his reflection, his hands inadvertently went up to his head and he almost came to the brink of tears. The first thing he would then say was “Look..my hair are all gone.”
As a teacher I often see young students try different hairdos, at times making a complete fool of themselves in an attempt to look ‘cool’. Don’t know if the years ahead shall also see Shaurya develop similar traits and spending valuable time before the mirror and getting picky about the clothes and hair styles. Maybe I would then stop seeing this as funny but for now I guess I can look back at his innocent ways and smile in love at his ordeal.
Hair or no hair, I guess I love you just as much sonny boy.
