Miscalculation by Vineet

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"It's been 3 days I've been telling you to get a haircut and you've paid no heed to it" Shouted my mother. "You know why" I shot back. She wanted me to get a smooth head shave with "not a hair remaining and a smooth clean look". She said : "For your own good - this summer is a torture and you'll get some relief. Look at how you're sweating and wet" She said as she pointed to my hair and the sweat streaming down. I too didn't like the sweat but a shaved head is something that I didn't fancy too much.
This had lately become a bone of contention between us. She had tried to make me go alone which I resisted. It would be embarassing to ask my regular barber to shave my head. She asked my sister to convince me but I would have none of it.
Then she said : "Choice is yours - either come back with a clean top by today or we'll get it done at grandma's place". We were to go to her parent's house which was a small town about 100 KM from where we lived. Dad was busy with his business and tours and would be away for a month.
I ignored her. The next morning, we bundled into the car. As we did I gave her a triumphant look. Grandma's place was a village and mom would not have time to look into minute details like my hair is what I reckoned. Usually they called the barber home and I could always refuse or throw a fit and get my way.
We came to my grandma's place. Grandma and grandpa were old and my mom and her sister took turns visiting them every weekend. There was a cook by name Lajwanti. She was middle aged and cooked real good meals. I always looked forward to her cooking.
We arrived by 10 AM. After all the hugging and greetings, I saw mom talking to Lajwanti. When I entered she gave a big smile and asked me what I wanted for lunch. I gave a list of my usual favourite dishes and she gave me a thumbs up.

Lunch was super delicious and I could not stop myself. I also complimented Lajwanti who then asked me :"Will you help me later?" I thought she might want my help with some odd jobs around the house and said yes. I did help in the past like this.
After lunch we retired upstairs and I played with my sister, watched TV and fell asleep. I was woken up by my sister - "Mom is calling you downstairs". As I went down, I saw mom and Lajwanti chatting in the garden. Mom said "Here he comes." Lajwanti then beckoned me to sit on a stool which was odd. Before I knew it she draped me with a cloth. I asked mom what was happening. To which Lajwanti replied : "We are going to give you relief from the summer". I yelled -"No way. I'm keeping my hair" and was about to get up when Lajwanti said "You said you would help me later right? Now help me by sitting still.". I said angrily "I thought you wanted help with some odd jobs not this". With a firm hand she ensured that I sat on the stool and said "You gave your word. So now just sit. As for your haircut, it's your mother's wish and we in the village don't disobey our elders". My mother put a cardboard box on my lap and gently thrust my head forward. I then heard a trimmer start when Lajwanti said : "I don't understand these machines. I'll use scissors". This gave me some hope as it is not easy for a first timer (which I thought she was) to use them and I reckoned she will give up. So I said: "OK but start from the sides". I hoped that she would find it hard to progress and at max I would have some jagged hair by the side and negotiate for short hair. She said "Now that's a good boy. Just stay still ok?" To my surprise she snipped the sides easily. "See it feels good isn't it?" She asked. Before I could gather my wits, she ran the scissors from the bottom to the top vertically and I could feel hair falling. I was in a daze and wondering about my next move , and Lajwanti was using this time to effortlessly snip up more of my hair at the back. She asked my sister then to come and gather my hair on the left side. My sister fumbled and Lajwanti tilted my head. She was able to gather my hair and Lajwanti snipped it from the bottom like an expert. Her hand movements and firmness told me that she was an expert and not a novice unlike what I had thought. I then resigned myself to facing the consequences of my miscalculation.
With my cooperation, she managed to quickly chop off all my long hair unevenly.
She then asked for soap and water and spent the next 5 minutes meticulously wetting my hair. By now all had realised that I had dropped my resistance. So the conversation turned to other topics - latest in the village, daily life etc. Lajwanti then proceeded to put soap and foam up my head. My mother started to capture each moment with her mobile phone camera. Then Lajwanti took out a blade that was wrapped in a small piece of paper. My mom asked - "Can you do it with this? What if you peel the skin" She said "Easily. The head has a thick protective layer. You just need to run your hand that's all" and she proceeded to scrape with the blade downwards to show my mom. As she carefully scraped at the back of my head, she narrated how she did this to her 2 boys every summer. She narrated how she got the two scissors sharpened specially for their haircut and used the spare one on me. I kicked myself for miscalculating.
The blade being small required intricate skill to completely clean up my hair. The conversation stopped as She patiently scraped my head clean at the back, the sides and then at the front. My mom and even I was in awe at her skills. I didn't know how I looked but felt a lot lighter, relieved. But she wasn't done yet. She ran her fingers all over my head looking for small rough patches and smoothened them.
"What a work of art" lajwanthi you are an expert I was not aware of your skills my mom gushed. For the next 4-5 years, a blade shave was a ritual that I never missed in summer and during the October break.

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