Coaxed by the lady! by Arun

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It was a hot Delhi summer. Those were the days before the electric trimmer. As the summer holidays settled in, you could see the count of boys with shaved heads increase daily. One week into the summer, i returned home from play close to lunch. My hair was sweaty and it looked like a mop too. The local ladies salon owner Amrit was sitting next to my mom. She was a young lady maybe a few years older than my sister Renu. My mom told in despair - "Amrit can you help me? He doesn't listen to me". Amrit asked "What can i do?" My mom said "Convince him to shave his head" She was puzzled. "But that's not such a big deal, why does he resist it?" Mom said "He is afraid that people will laugh at him". Amrit smiled and said -"OK let me look at this. I'll try" She said come near me give me a high five. I liked her and didn't mind giving a high five. She then hugged me and said "Am i not like your elder sister?" I said yes. After some discussions with me and mom on various topics, Amrit then said "I won't laugh/make fun of you. Shall i cut your hair like your mom says?" "It will be easy and you will feel good relief." My face went pink. She said "He may cry" to my mom. I didn't want to be bad to my mom so i volunteered "No i won't. I'm OK with what you say". Then Amrit asked "Why don't you like uncles to give you a cut?" My sister interjected and said :" if you agree we could go to the barber shop across the street. The barber by name harish has to be told that you want a summer cut and he will do it for you". My face went pink again. So Amrit said "OK i just asked. Let me only do it OK?" I nodded. Then my mom asked :"Do you just cut it very short? I want him to be smooth to the skin. He will look good then" Amrit said "For that i might need clippers which i will get. I'll send my sister Bobby to tell you when i get it. At the worst tomorrow". My mom looked satisfied. "Tomorrow is fine. Do you want me to be there?" Amrit said "Yes it would be good" and went.
I went to play around 3:30 PM and none of my friends seemed to be around. I returned home. Just then Bobby came and said that her sister had managed to get the clippers and we could come anytime. My mom immediately held my hand and said "Let's go".
We reached Amrit's house with Bobby. There was a customer who was in the chair. Amrit seemed surprised and thought that i would come tomorrow. She said "Bobby - do the initial cutting - take him to the garden outside" She then smiled at me and said that she'll be with me in some time. The lady in the customer chair asked "When did you start boys haircuts?" Amrit said "Only special summer cuts requested by their mothers". Bobby meanwhile put up a chair in their small garden beckoning me to sit. I sat there and soon was draped by a cape. Bobby immediately got to work with the scissors and the comb. She was younger than Amrit and actually had curly hair. "It's all wet underneath" She said. Then she asked me to bend my head slightly and started to snip at my hair. The comb ran up the back of my head, i could hear the scissors snip and feel hair fall. This continued for about 7 minutes. I expected the comb to go up again when she stopped and started cutting hair over my right ear - probably signaling that she was done with the backside.Now she had changed her attention to the sides. Here she used her hand - lifting tufts of hair and cutting them. I could feel their length when she tilted my head in the other direction - which is when i had an idea of how it was at the back. Then the same followed on the left side and she swiftly moved in front of me. She bent my head and again the comb went up and down and i could feel my hair fall. When done, she just started cutting my hair in free style all over. By then the customer in the chair got up and expressed surprise "Oh i didn't know this is what you meant by summer cut. Are you planning to go all the way?" "Amrit nodded". The lady gave a warm smile and said "I would have brought my sons too. Both need this. I was planning to take them in a while but maybe i'll send them here". Amrit said OK and came to the scene of action. The lady continued there to see how things will move. And my mom looked with a relieved expression.
Bobby said "I think i can handle this" and started wetting what remained of my hair. Then she applied cream and spread it thick with a brush. She brought out a shaving blade with a stick. She again took her position behind me, positioning my head on my chin and saying "Don't shake". She then started at the top of my head and started to scrape my head with the blade. This time Amrit came with a second blade and started scraping at the top of my head. Both finished at the same time. Now bobby gave a few expert strokes at the side and it seemed that my cutting was done. Then Amrit said "Now we'll run the clipper - that should make it smooth". As the cool metal touched my head and started running, it felt real good. Amrit moved it slowly and deliberately and i liked it as it worked up and down multiple times at the back of my head. For the next 10 minutes, we only heard the clicking sound of the clipper as it removed even the tiniest piece of hair on my head. Then Amrit ran her hand over her masterpiece. Her soft hands meticulously felt the back of my head and ran all over my head. and i could feel it. Finally she rubbed my head with both her hands. Bobby brought powder and spread it all over my head with a soft cloth. Amrit then asked my mom to confirm if it was as she wanted.
My mom too happily touched my head and ensured that there was no rough spots/patches.
Amrit then smiled at me and said "There wasn't it easy?" The other lady there inspected my head and also felt the smoothness and said that her sons will arrive shortly.
Amrit then showed me a small mirror " Just convention - you should see a mirror after the cut"
As i walked back home with my mother, i felt very relieved and free from summer troubles. Amrit also took care to keep it smooth for the rest of the summer holidays - whenever it grew a bit every 10 days, she would use dad's shaving blade and clear the stubble. I went to school with a stubble and the teacher said that i looked cute.

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