When the hairline receedeth

A clump of hair was caught in the hood of the jacket after coming back from one of those deep freeze long haul flights. Turns out the hair that is already clinging on for dear life is easily uprooted, much like the stumps after a batsman misses a Malinga yorker. 

Unfortunately, I cannot come up with an analogy for the gray hair. 

So there were two choices.. start to dye the hair and comb what is left acros the head or get rid of it.

It was an easy decision. Nothing says "Do I look like I give a $hit" like a Tibetian Monk look. 

Jr. also decided to join in the haircut experience with me. So we took some prefies and postfies.

Looks like I have aged 2 years in the first half of 2015. Now it feels like some huge burden has been removed!

Jr. looks a lot younger than she is. At first she was complaining and all teary eyed because of her "new look". Then she realized it is easier to manage this hair and it does look cute and was all smiles. 

They are all getting used to my new look though.

On the plus side, my smile is widening now with the hairline. So we are all good!

A weekend in Pictures

This weekend saw a lot of activity in spite of me being down Friday and Saturday. 

Everything that happened in and out of the house was a cheerful experience.

We did the Varalakshmi pooja dinner Friday and the whole house was full of people, standing room only at one point. It was great to see the smiling faces in huddled conversations and the kids running around gleefully (if there is such a word).

Then we attended a surprise birthday party for my friend who turned 40. Yes, this year is "no one escapes the big Four O" year for our batch. There are only 4 guys I know from our batch who are waiting to celebrate within the next few months. The cake.. Oh What a cake! We have seen a lot of unique cakes over the years but this cake takes the cake!

Came home for some rest and took my parents to Shoreline park so they could watch the geese, pelicans, etc. and get some sun. It was good to get some fresh air and sit on a park bench and get more grounded with the thought processes. Kind of like going into your hard drive and killing all those threads that are running in the background!

After a long time we skipped Yoga entirely on the weekend. The body needed a lot more water and rebalancing before being confident that there wont be any dizziness once in the room. Sometimes, got to give a break when a break is due!

This morning we went and attended a "Kalyana Utsavam" at a friends house. It is a function where they conduct a marriage ceremony for the god and goddess just like the real wedding ceremony for the bride and groom. It is kind of like the "wedding rehearsal" that people conduct in marriages here which gives a "what to expect when your kids get married" before the actual wedding. The priest did a good job of explaining what was being done in a step by step way, something that more priests need to do to set the context for today's generation so they appreciate the reasoning behind the customs.

My parents enjoyed it thoroughly because they don't get to attend outside functions during their visit here but in India they are going to some function or other on a weekly basis. For me, it was great attending a function after a long time where I was not the one doing the prayer! Sometimes it is good to be in the audience.

Then more rest after some heavy food and off we went to get haircuts, an activity that was postponed by the parents demand that it wait till all the functions were done..

Both the kids now sport short hair. A big help once school starts in a few weeks as we will be going crazy with the post swim class hair dry routine and the early morning "combing" ritual which will take an extra 5 minutes.

Now an eventful weekend comes to a close and we begin yet another busy week for everyone in the family!

Happy Monday, here we come!

Doing tricks

Daddy has been having more than his regular share of headaches the last couple of days and decided to go have a massive haircut this evening.

The little one promptly declared that daddy looked more handsome after the haircut. Tonight during the usual "will you sleep with me for just 5 minutes please?" phase, she rubbed her hand over my hair ..

LO : Daddy your hair is doing tricks daddy!

Me : what do you mean?

LO : When I thadavi(caress) it up it is rough but when I thadavi it down it is sooo smooth. It is like magic.

I started laughing first, then wondered.. "wait a second, she does this all the time.. so why wasn't this magic discovered earlier?"

and the answer was

"before it was rough on both up and down thadavi's"

Something tells me that the little one might do a Ph.D. or at least go towards science and technology as she grows older.

She might even take up materials science for all we know!

On a completely different note, the head feels lighter, literally and figuratively and somehow it makes it look like daddy has more hair after the haircut than before. Must be some kind of optical illusion created by exposing the scalp.

Who knew?

Sometimes, less is more!

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Rettai Pinnal (Pigtails)

The little one is so conscious about dressing up. She always wants to look pretty like her akka.

But, she does not have enough hair. It is not growing fast and to top things off, we keep giving her a haircut because if she sweats, she falls sick.

Somehow Grandma managed to get two little rubberbands on her!

The little one was so happy that she insisted I take her photo in the backyard!

We really hope she grows enough hair soon, because it will be time for flowers and ribbons!

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Did you even notice ?

Came home from work last week, think it was a thursday. Thursdays are usually very busy days at work and I usually come home in zombie mode.

The little one came running when I opened the door, and as usual banged into my crotch. With a yelp, trying to conceal the pain and still showing extreme happiness at seeing her, I picked her up. My face must have resembled that Malayalam actor, who is capable of showing two different emotions at once, on his left and right side of his face!

Picked her up, went into the kitchen and saw San washing dishes. She had her hair clip way up high and her hair was falling down on either side of her face, giving her a poodle-ish appearence. Thinking, " Oh, Poor thing must have just had a bath and no time to even dry her hair properly" I focused on other things that were on my mind.

My stomach was making the usual rumbling noises and I picked up some stuff from the countertop, started eating and the following conversation started.

San : "so how is it?"
Me : very tasty!
San : so you didn't notice anything ?
Me : The salt and chilli are perfect. No.. nothing! Very tasty actually. Your mom outdid herself this time.

and the conversation was left off..

A few minutes later, Jr. walks to me and says "Mom had a haircut!"

I then put two and two together and went to San and said "I did see that there was something wrong with the way you put that clip all the way up there, but didn't want to make a big deal out of it!"

After being surrounded by women and being hailed as a ladies man, I must really be going through some kind of midlife crisis. Oh, the folly! The folly, of making such a comment..

For those men out there who come home hungry and get generic questions like "so, how is it?", I will spare you the trouble of finding out certain things the hard way.

When you get such questions, always switch the light (or all the lights) ON, take a good look at your wife and notice :

1. hair
a. length - even if short by a few millimeters
b. color - a few hair may be red or brown (she has done some henna work)
c. texture - if they are swaying in the breeze from the exhaust fan, some other hair work has been done..
d. parting - it could be center today and side tomorrow..
2. eyes - notice sharp eyebrow lines (must have threaded it!)
3. New Jewelry - any subtle changes (this includes "did you see how the pendant has 1263 stones instead of the 1262? I like it!")
4. Facials, handials,legials - (you may have to go behind her, give her a hug and touch her arms in an attempt to see local surface roughness changes. With practice, you can actually compete with the best in class Atom Force Microscopes, when the time is right).
5. New clothes, any colored threads she has tied in her hand aka Rakhi style, or after a viratham (vrath) etc.
5. Weight loss - this cannot be noticed, considering you see your spouse everyday, but you should be able to perceive a constant weight loss. This might violate all laws of conservation, but it does not violate the "law of conserving yourself".

I am glad to say that after a week, I have sincerely (yes, my wife can detect my % sincerity to the 5th decimal place) agreed that her new hairstyle has grown on me. Told her that it is an acquired taste and now I am fully used to her new hairstyle. Hell, I even like it.

I could have saved myself the trouble if I had instantly liked it, but the past, as they say, is past!

Now that Jr. and the little one know, how I get treated when misreading appearance changes, they come to me and go "How do I look?", after every dressing session.

In case you didn't know, the default answer is "Pretty as a princess!"

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