Derek's transformation by Manny

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To be fair, Mama Lakshmi was justified in shouting at Derek for his prolonged shower. "Hot water is expensive! Turn it off now!"

"Just two more minutes, please. I have a lot of soap in my hair," Derek called back.

"Too much water, too much hair! You should go to the barber today," Mama Lakshmi snapped.

That was it! A haircut! Mama Lakshmi had given him a great idea!

The reason Derek had been taking so long in the shower was that he'd been wracking his brain trying to come up with an idea for a new blog and TikTok video. One of his goals for his semester in India was to put something out each week on social media. Another goal was to have at least one of his posts go viral.

It would be his first haircut in India. The street barbers had intrigued him. He passed one almost every day on his way to class -- a single barber conducting business on a crudely home-fashioned wooden chair beneath a tree with a small mirror hanging from the trunk.

Derek was bound to get a lot of reaction from a haircut post for two reasons -- the novelty of a haircut al fresco, as well as strong interest in his golden locks from his hair-fan club. Yes, his thick mane of blond hair that fell in waves to his shoulders had a host of admirers. Even total strangers would leave messages on his posts -- fans who swooned over his locks, as well as a fairly militant group of haircut fetishists who urged him to have it all shaved off.

Once out of the shower and his hair towel-dried, Derek began the arduous task of combing through the tangles. When his hair was wet, it looked even longer than normal. As he stared in the mirror, Derek decided to have his hair cut short. VERY short! A transformation might even trigger that elusive viral post! Plus, short hair would be more practical -- the heat, Mama Lakshmi ragging on him, the unwanted attention his blond hair caused everywhere he went -- people touching it without permission really irked him! In truth, there were many reasons to get the big chop!

The street barber was one option, but if he wanted to go extra short with electric clippers, it would have to be a traditional barber shop. There was an area of town where a dozen barber shops lined both sides of the street. That might make a good post....wandering around the barber shop district. Perhaps an aggressive barber in need of a client who tipped well might even engage him on the sidewalk and through fast-talking persuasion (and a bit of ridicule?) drag him into the barber shop. In India, one could not rely on any sense of personal space!

Deciding the venue was one item on his 'to do' list; another was contacting Pranay, his pal from university who had helped him take photos and videos before, to check his availability as cameraman for the haircut.

Before leaving the house, Mama Lakshmi had one final round of scolding for Derek. "Showers -- no more than five minutes! Do you understand, Derek? Today it was almost 25!! You are not paying me a king's ransom to live here!"

"I will be careful, Mama. Quick showers from now on," Derek promised. "And, I will cut my long hair so that I can wash it faster."

Mama Lakshmi smiled. "Yes, that's good. But, the fastest will be if you go to the ritual barbers in the park. They are there for the festival. Have them scrape all that hair off, Derek. A tonsure! No hair will mean very quick showers."

"You mean a full tonsure, a mannat?!" Derek stammered.

"Yes, and that hair would make a nice offering. God will be sure to reward your wish if you demonstrate total submission. When that yellow hair falls, that arrogance and pride and vanity will too," Mama Lakshmi said, like the best of the televangelist preachers back home.

Mama Lakshmi had considered him vain and arrogant?! Well, well. And Derek had been so nice to her.....

The thought of him crouched on a sidewalk submitting to a ritual head shave caused Derek to surge with a bit of excitement. He ran his fingers through his lush mane that was still a bit damp. A smooth head! No hair. A viral post, for sure!! Yes, that's what he would ask God for as he surrendered his golden locks to the ritual barber -- a viral post!

Derek's step was energetic as he breezed down the sidewalk to the central park. Pranay worked afternoons at the Grand Hotel, located on the same park. He'd kill two birds with one stone -- check out the head shaving venue, decide on an angle for shooting his head shave in the park, and set a time with Pranay when he could get filmed receiving the tonsure.

Once at the park, however, Derek's enthusiasm for a tonsure cooled quite quickly. Men and women walking away with cueball heads....did he want to be one of them?! Some almost looked like Martians! And, his hair....so lustrous and full of body. Derek surveyed the piles of hair that collected around the squatting ritual barbers.

He spotted an extremely handsome young man with a nice shock of wavy jet-black hair, a thick manly beard and expressive brows just beginning to crouch in front of the barber. Derek watched intently as the barber forced the lad's head to bow low. His thick forelock dangled enticingly. All that hair was coming off. Poor guy!!

Derek imagined himself as the penitent supplicant, head bowed, watching the golden locks fall on the ground beneath him. His cold feet instantly turned to ice cubes!

The barber continued wetting down his client's head and employing the straight edge razor. More copious locks fell. The barber was quick with the mini-strokes. More and more hair was removed. Would the young man be as handsome without his hair, Derek wondered? He watched the whole head shave. The young man did not look up once until he was bald. BALD TO THE BONE! Curiously, without hair, he appeared even more handsome to Derek. Then the barber began removing the lush mustache and beard. The only hair left on his face were the wonderfully expressive eyebrows.

At the end of it, the young man stood, paid the barber and walked away. Derek followed him discreetly. Only upon leaving the park did the young man feel his newly denuded scalp and try to see himself in the reflection of a car window. Over and over his hand explored his bald head. Derek was overwhelmed with curiosity and hustled up to him.

"Excuse me," Derek said impulsively.

The fellow turned. How handsome he was up close. His lack of hair cause Derek's gaze to lock on his large, ebony eyes.

"I watched you have your head shaved in the park," Derek said. "Could you tell me how much that cost?"

"You make a contribution -- there is no set price. You have beautiful hair...are you thinking of having it all shaved off?" the fellow said, eying the golden mane.

Derek blushed, "Yes, I think so. I'm just wondering what led you to getting tonsured and how you feel now, without hair?"

"My father's been pestering me for a while. He thinks it might help my grandfather's cancer go into remission," the fellow said.

"And you don't?" Derek asked.

"I'm not religious," he shrugged. "But, it can't hurt...and my hair will grow back quickly. I want to be a good son. To be honest, I feel weird without hair. Do I look weird?"

"No, I think you're quite handsome!" Derek blurted out.

"Really?!" the fellow replied. Then his hand slipped into Derek's. "I'd like to take you back to the park. Watch you be tonsured the way you watched me."

"Would you video it with my phone?" Derek asked.

"Of course! Actually, I work on website designs and electronic media messaging. I'll help you create an unforgettable post! I'm Rajiv, by the way," the lad said.

"And, my name is Derek. My prayers are already being answered, and I haven't had one lock cut yet," Derek laughed.

Rajiv plunged his fingers into the golden mane. "Do you mind? I want to fluff this out a bit. Get the mass of hair nice and big. Show off what is going to be harvested by the barber. Oh, and I want to do some filming first of this hair glowing in the sunlight. Like your hair is an extension of the sun's rays. You can flaunt it about a bit....sexy like. Swish it about your shoulders a bit. Let your followers know what you'll be losing as you bow before the ritual barber!" Rajiv suggested.

"I love it!" Derek exclaimed. "Maybe we can have that Peter Frampton song playing as these locks fall....'I don't care if they cut my hair. All I want to be is by your side.' This is so exciting. Suddenly, I can't wait to experience the tonsure!"

"I thought of having the barber scrape off my eyebrows too," Rajiv said, "But then I got cold feet. Now I sort of wished I had gone through with it. Shall I have the barber take off your eyebrows, Derek? It will be an even more radical transformation. Great for your TikTok video."

The thought of losing his eyebrows suddenly made Derek get cold feet again. "My eyebrows?" he stammered nervously.

"Do it! I tell you from experience, you'll regret it if you don't go all the way," Rajiv said.

Suddenly, the whole idea of crouching before a ritual barber seemed too much for Derek.

"Let me run this other idea past you," he said to Rajiv. "We start out at the salon in the Grand Hotel. I get a very nice coif. The waves shaped a bit. Lots of fawning over my hair....and prolonged washing session. The whole works. I look like I'm straight out of the GQ magazine. Then we walk out of the hotel and I start wondering whether enough was taken off. We end up in that part of town that is full of old school barber shops. I'm lured in by an eager barber and find myself under the cape for a second time. The barber chops away at my hair. Lots falls. Shears, thinning scissors....the cutting goes on and on and I leave looking VERY barbered. Again, though, once on the street, I start wondering if enough was taken off. We pass a street barber, and I decide to get caped for the third time. He takes out a manual clippers and crops off almost all length. Shorn like a sheep! And, then we walk away...."

"....and end up at the ritual barber for a clean head shave?" Rajiv surmised.

"Well, maybe," Derek replied, still feeling quite ambivalent about losing it all, especially the eyebrows.

Rajiv took Derek by the arm and steered him around 180 degrees. Then he started walking him back down the sidewalk from where both had come.

"So, we're starting off at the salon in the Grand Hotel?" Derek asked.

They crossed the street -- opposite the hotel was on one side -- and into the park.

"All the hair coming off at once will make the most impact. I'm going to be filming right at pavement level," Rajiv said. The camera right near the floor as the ritual barber starts shaving off this full mane of gorgeous blond hair. Clump after clump falling atop the carpet of black, shiny Indian hair. You will be silent and submissive, like a good penitent. The face will read, 'I don't care if they cut my hair....' Understood?"

"Yes, Rajiv," Derek said meekly, swallowing nervously.

"But first a few minutes of filming on this bench -- the warm sunlight shining through your radiant mane," Rajiv instructed. "Run your fingers through your hair -- savor it and enjoy it....your last few minutes with the long flow.

Derek sat as instructed. Rajiv began recording the last few minutes of him as a pretty boy longhair. Mama Lakshmi would certainly cluck with delight when Derek returned to the apartment with a smooth head. Her water bill drastically cut, thanks to the barber's razor.

Derek held his long hair up and then let it tumble around his shoulders.

"Wonderful, lovely!" Rajiv said. "Do that a few more times. The sunlight plays so nicely, shining through it."

As Derek fondled his hair and played with it, he started warming to the idea of shedding it all abruptly, of prostrating himself before the barber.

Rajiv stopped videoing and came up behind Derek. He massaged his shoulders a bit. "Ready?"

"For the head shave?" Derek asked.

He paused and drew a long breath. "Ready," he replied, eager and resigned all at once.

Rajiv grasped the silken mane and stroked it. "Do you really think I look handsome with my head shaved?" he asked Derek.

"Very!" Derek said.

"I'm glad you told me that. I was feeling a bit conspicuous when I left the barber. After we're both bald, how about we spend the evening together?" Rajiv asked.

"And the night too, perhaps?" Derek added.

Rajiv took him by the hand and led him over to the area where the ritual barbers were shaving heads. Cut hair was strewn around and blowing about.

"Look, the barber who shaved me has no client. Remember, be submissive, stay silent. Crouch and keep your head down until he signals for you to sit back up. You will feel and look very different without your long hair," Rajiv said.

Derek and Rajiv approached, still holding hands. Rajiv said something in Hindi to the man who signaled for Derek to crouch.

The golden hair tumbled down around his face, masking all of Derek's apprehension. He could see the camera down low, where Rajiv said he would place it.

Some splashes with water, and then he felt the first strokes of the razor!!

There was no turning back. He was headed to total baldness! Derek dreamed about Rajiv stroking his sensitive bald scalp through the night.

Clumps of his blond hair began falling to the pavement.

The barber worked methodically. Derek could feel the bald spot expanding. More hair accumulated on the ground. A large pile was growing beneath his downward gaze.

So many thoughts scrambled through Derek's mind while he submissively kept his head low and facing the ground -- Rajiv, the TikTok video, all the comments it would garner, Mama Lakshmi, the ritual barber, and the end of his long hair...the end of all hair. Perhaps permanently?!

The scraping of the razor across his sensitive scalp was memesmerizing and hypnotic. Rajiv was right. The pile of accumulated hair and the brutal, total divestiture all at once was much more dramatic than having it come off in four phases. Viewers would have gotten tired....

Derek felt the razor close to his ear. Please, don't cut it off, he thought!

The ritual barber applied more water and resumed scraping. Quarter-inch strokes slowly decimated Derek's mane. Lock by lock, his hair fell -- an offering to the TikTok god in hopes of much praise from its adherents.

Derek was surprised his legs hadn't begun hurting or gone to sleep, crouching so long. His whole body felt a bit numb from staying still. Only his eyes watching the pile on the pavement grow richocetted about aimlessly.

The barber came close to Derek's hairline, and the last wispy strands fell. There were no more bangs to contend with.

Finally, just a segment of his hair remained around the other ear.

Minutes later, the relentless scrapes of the razor stopped. With a wet cloth, the barber wiped the nake scalp, removing all snippets and clingy, cut hair. Over and over his hand stimulated the bare skin.

Then, with his other hand, the barber signalled for Derek to sit up straight.

Derek glanced curiously at Rajiv. The phone video-recorded the instant. Rajiv's smile was beyond wide.

There were a few words exchanged between Rajiv and the barber.

Moments later, the wet cloth was swabbing Derek's eyebrow.

He recoiled, "Please, no, not....that!"

The barber was taken aback.

More Hindi ensued. Rajiv stooped and whispered in Derek's ear, "Don't resist the razor. You are on a pilgrimage into submission."

Rajiv's voice sounded authoritative, convincing and loving. A sense of purpose and peace overwhelmed Derek. He made his brows available to the barber's razor.

The barber began scraping off his golden-brown eyebrow. Short strokes, and within seconds, one was gone. Then the other came off. Derek basked in a sort of internal, reverent silence. The taking of his brows was the most unreal -- almost spiritual -- part of his tonsure.

The barber wiped his face clean with his damp cloth. Finally, Derek was allowed to stand. The tonsure was over. He had been transformed. Derek felt clean as he looked down at the strewn locks of blond hair resting atop the piles of black silk. The thrill of a possible viral TikTok post strangely was gone...such a silly, vain wish.... With his hand, Derek explored his newly bared head as Rajiv renumerated the barber.

"When can I see myself?" Derek asked Rajiv anxiously as they left the barbering area, wondering whether he looked ghostly.

Rajiv took a photo and handed Derek the phone.

No hair, no brows....he was unrecognizable. Derek felt as if he'd been punched in the stomach! His head looked so puny. He staggered under the stark reality of his transformation.

"I can't believe this," he gasped.

"I think you are even more handsome without hair, Derek," Rajiv purred in his ear. "It's the real you, the inner you we see now."

Derek could not stop feeling his naked scalp and shaved brows walking back to Mama Lakshmi's.

As the bald pair entered the courtyard, Mama Lakshmi was peeling vegetables for dinner.

"A full tonsure!" she exclaimed with an approving look. "And you have a new friend!"

Derek raced up to his room with Rajiv close behind to see himself plainly in the mirror.

"My hair!" he wailed. "I look like an extra-terrestrial!"

"Come here," Rajiv cooed.

He was sitting on the bed, unbuttoning his shirt. "Let me comfort you and bring your pilgrimage to its destination."

Derek allowed his new friend to begin undressing him.

Rajiv craddled Derek's scrotum in his hand. "Perhaps the shaving should continue," he chuckled as he gave it a gentle squeeze.

Then he made Derek kneel.

Derek looked up and saw the beauty of Rajiv's wonderfully expressive, copious eyebrows. A reminder of his own browless face flashed in his mind, and he winced.

Rajiv began stimulating Derek's vulnerable, shaven scalp.

The sword in Rajiv's lap was enormous and heady.

Derek had never been the submissive type. Yet his mouth opened instinctively. He was at peace in his new position.

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