Vandana was brought to the shaving stool. She was pretty nervous and high strung. She never did like getting shaved, but her mother-in-law had insisted upon it. With no other choice, she had travelled to the village to lay her hair down for the third time in her married life. After seeing what Shoba and Jayanti had gone though, her nervousness had increased. She bowed before the godess and sat down on the stool. She closed her eyes and prayed for the godess to make it quick. She felt the barber cover her with a sheet as he had done the others. Moments later, something hard enter her hair at the crown and heard a snip. Kamala had made the ritual cut, and in doing so, indicated to Vijay that Vandana's hair was to be shaved directly. In a way, her prayers had been answered. Barely six months ago, Vandana had walked into a beauty parlour with a knee length plait with a friend and asked for a trim. Unknown to her, the friend, who was envious of her hair, had talked the hairdresser into cutting off more than half the length. The hairdresser for her part, claimed a misunderstanding, but then, nothing could be done. Her mother-in-law, who had earlier consented to Vandana skipping the visit this time, had been furious. The breach was only healed after she promised to visit the village and get her head shaved.
She heard Kamala walk away to attend to her next victim. She heard the now familiar squirting of the sprayer. A shiver ran down her spine as the cool mist hit the top of her head. She felt the dampness run down her cheeks and Vijay patting her head to let the water soak in. She wondered if she was lucky enough to be shaved directly. A shadow passed her closed eyelids and she realized that she was being caped with a sheet. She obediently bent her head and felt the ends being tucked around her neck. She opened her eyes. The sight of a summer breeze playing with Shoba's shorn locks greeted her eyes. She swallowed hard as the barber moved in front of her. She closed her eyes and felt the barber's hand on the crown of her head again. He was pushing her head back gently, raising her head. Moments later, she felt something touch her scalp near her hair parting. And then she heard the razor scraping away. Starting from her hair parting, down her left temple, all the way to her side burns and down her cheek. The next stroke followed the same path, but higher.
Hearing the sound of the razor inside her own head was something she was not quite accustomed to. She felt like she was being combed with a razor. The strokes kept moving up, but stopping near her ear. Slowly they reached the end of the parting, and the direction was now mirrored. The barber started working on her right side, bending her head slightly to get a better angle. She felt the wet hair slide and settle on her shoulders and the wetness of the hair seep through the sheet and reach her skin. She kept her eyes tightly shut as the strokes continued to lay bare her scalp. The cool breeze from the orchard sent shivers up and down her spine as it caressed her freshly exposed scalp. The strokes stopped and she felt the barber push her head down. She obeyed till her chin was touching her chest, and all she could see was the wet sheet covering her.
She worked up enough courage to open her eyes. She looked about and saw the baskets containing the offerings. Suddenly she heard the sprayer again as she felt the mist hit the back of her head. Her scalp tingled as the mist hit the exposed top as well. The barber's fingers were massaging the water into her scalp at the back. The spraying stopped and she felt the barber's hand on her shaved scalp, holding her head down. The razor was back in moments, working its way down the back of her head, towards the knot at her nape. Her eyes moved towards the baskets beyond the barber. There was some kind of morbid fascination for her as she looked at one basket containing the shorn hair. Without even thinking she sought out the other basket. She could make out Jayanti and Shoba's plaits in there. She also saw locks of hair clinging to the barber's trouser legs and feet.
Meanwhile, the razor was making short work of her hair. In the expert hands of the barber, her ordeal was almost coming to an end as more and more hair was stripped off her scalp. Held tightly by the knot, the hair could not fall anywhere. She felt her neck and shoulders get uncomfortably wet under the sheet. She felt the razor stop a few inches short of her nape and stop. The barber then began to examine her head. A minute later, he started shaving again and let out an inward sigh. It had been quick. The last few strokes ran down her neck as the barber cleared the knot from her head. She felt the knot removed from her shoulders and looked around. She saw the barber's wife drop it into the basket. She heaved a sigh as the barber removed the sheet covering her. She got up and ran her hand over her bare scalp unable to believe it. As she walked back to her place, she saw Sandhya being seated on the stool.
Sandhya had sat down on the stool after the barber's wife joined her. She was looking forward to the shave, but was also nervous. The nervousnes was because she had missed the last time. Well, not entirely a miss as her cut plait was sent to the temple, but still it was not a shave and she was worried about what would happen. Kamala gathered up Sandhya's hair at the nape and ran her fingers through, pulling the knot loose. The thick, black, slightly curly locks fell about six inches past the stool. She stroked the hair a couple of times more trying to decide what was to be done with Sandhya. Taking the comb from the waist band of her saree, she started to run it though the locks that she held so firmly. She saw her husband starting to shave Vandana. She knew that she did not have too much of time to think.
Quickly she split the hair into three sections and started to weave a plait. Sandhya's hair was certianly thick. And, it would take some time to cut it short with scissors. She loved to hear the scissors sinking into thick lush hair. But dry cutting was out of the question as the breeze was picking up. If cut wet, atleast the hair would hold together till it went into the basket. She tried to work a bit fast to ensure that she would have Sandhya ready before her husband finished with Vandana. Sandhya's hair was really silky and she would have loved to play with it a little more. She started to plait the hair. She looked up to see her husband working on the back of Vandana's head. He looked up just in time.
She gave him a quick signal to show she needed a couple of minutes more. He smiled in acnowledgement and stopped to examine Vandana's scalp. Kamala worked faster to finish the plait and secure the end with an elastic band. She gently nudged Sandhya to get up. Seeing them get up Vijay resumed shaving Vandana. By the time they got to the offering stool, the last few strokes were made. Kamala picked up the wet knot and dropped it into the basket. Vijay took off the sheet and Vandana got up. Sandhya bowed to the godess and took her place on the stool. She would be happy for the offering to start straight away. She felt Kamala lift her plait out of the way as the barber covered her with a fresh sheet. The barber moved aside for Kamala and she held the ends of the plait up to cut a little off.
"Stop!" rang out Balamma's voice.
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