Pankajneeraj
(by Divya dated 28-4-2019 in headshave4u.10009.x6.nabble.com; could be a true incident or could be a fiction)
My name is Divya. I am 25 year old. I have long hair to below my hip. I got married 8 months back. My husband had a vow that if our marriage goes well, he will offer his hair at Tiruthani Murugan temple. So two days back he remembered the vow and informed me and his parents that he wants to go and offer his hair. So we both planned to go to the temple to complete the vow. Yesterday afternoon after work we started from Chennai and reached the hill temple by 3 pm.
We went to backside of the temple where tonsure hall is there. It was almost empty with only two pilgrims getting their hair tonsured. He went and got the token and half blade. To our surprise, he was assigned to a lady barber for tonsure. He removed his shirt and sat in front of the barber. The lady started pouring water on his head and massaged his hair, moustache and beard nicely as the hair growth was very thick. Once done with massaging, she changed the blade in the razor. She bent his head and started shaving from the middle of the head. Slowly, a bald white patch started appearing on his head. Some unknown feeling was aroused in me on seeing the movement of the razor on his head.
One young lady suddenly entered with a man. I thought the man was going to get tonsured. To my surprise the girl sat in front of the barber and told the barber ‘mottai adinga (shave the hair)’. I was shocked as the girl had the same length of hair as mine – nicely plaited with flowers upto almost 3/4 of the hair length. The barber asked the lady to release her hair and remove the flowers. But the lady requested him to shave as it is without removing the braid and flowers. Then the barber started to pour water on her head and massaged nicely till it got fully drenched. After changing the razor he bent her head and started shaving slowly and nicely. The girl started to enjoy the head shave with a smiling face without crying. The barber asked her to turn and sit and started shaving on the backside.
This scene made me to think ‘why don’t even I shave my head to get that experience?’ But I was a little scared thinking how will I look and how I will face everyone in bald head. In the meantime my husband’s tonsure was over and he got up with a smooth shiny head. I helped him to clean and touched his bald head. It was damn smooth. He went for bath.
I was waiting near the tonsure hall to watch the girl’s head shave. In no time, she became completely bald. The barber asked her to get up. But she turned around and asked him to pour water and shave once again. The barber obliged and did the reverse shave after wetting her head again. The girl touched her bald head and felt happy. She paid the barber tips and did namaskaram for him. She came out by rubbing her bald head like anything and went for bath with a smiling face.
Seeing the girl’s happiness, I decided that I will also get my head shaved right away. As soon as my husband came out from bath I told him that I want to shave my hair. He asked me ‘are you joking?’ I told him I am serious. He said ‘you have very long hair’. I said ‘I don’t care. It is difficult to maintain this much long hair. I want a change’. He told ‘ok, it is your wish’.
Then we again went inside the tonsure hall and collected the token and blade for the tonsure. I was assigned to a male barber. I went and sat in front of the barber. He asked ‘three cuts?’ I replied ‘mudi erakunum (head shave)’. As my hair was already loose with only a hair clip, he removed it and started pouring water nicely and massaged. He was very rough in massaging my hair. He poured more and more water as my hair was thick. My salwar got fully drenched. After massaging he took rubber band to put plaits. But I asked him to shave the loose hair. He told ok. He changed the blade in the razor and asked me to bend my head and pray to God. I obliged and bent my head by telling muruganukku arogara.
Suddenly I felt a pressure on my head which was from the barber’s hand. He kept the razor on my head and started shaving. The scrch scrhc sound of the razor brought an unknown feeling in me. Slowly my hair started falling in my lap. He turned my head to the right and shaved on my left side and repeated the same on the right side. Then he asked me to turn and shaved the remaining hair on my back side. My husband was standing and smiling at me. I felt very shy. The barber told mottai (headshave) is complete and to get up. I touched my head and felt it was rough. I asked him to shave once again. He poured water and did the reverse shave. Once I felt it was smooth I got up by dusting away the hair on my lap and my dress. My husband helped me to dust away the hair on me and enjoyed touching my smooth shiny head.
Then I headed for bath. I wanted to see my bald head in mirror. But there was no mirror. I took bath and changed into a pattu saree. When I came out I saw my husband was getting sandal-paste applied on his head by an old lady who was applying chandanam for devotees who shave their heads near the tonsure hall. She also put pattai with the wet vibuthi. As soon as my husband saw me he asked whether we can go to the temple. I told him even I want to apply sandal-paste on my head. The old lady asked me to sit down and started to apply the sandal-paste on my head. The chillness of the sandal brought a new feeling in me.
There was a mirror on the side of her stand. Immediately I took it and saw myself in it. I couldn’t recognize myself. My husband made fun of me. I applied kungumam on my shaved forehead area. Then we went to temple and had a very good darsanam of Lord Murugan and returned to Chennai. My neighbours got shocked by seeing my freshly shaved head with sandal paste and questioned me. I told them that we both had a vow before marriage. So we shaved our head. They praised my bald head and my boldness.
Nice story