The long and the short of it...

I am a guy who likes to experiment with the way I look. When it comes to looking different, there is no good or bad – anything which is not run of the mill is always good. At least, that’s what I think…

I wasn’t always like this – had been a mama’s boy throughout school and college, well… to say that the institution never really encouraged such behavior in its students would be an understatement – so it came as a shock to some, who knew me all through these years, when I started to "freak" out once I started working in Bangalore. The only variable in this whole equation of “looking different”, for me, was my hair. And so the experiment began – leaving it long, cutting it short, coloring it (and weird shades at that), straightening it and so on ... I beamed whenever people said “oh!! that was you!!” and “Hey, you have really changed!!” I was achieving the desired results but then not always did people approve of my varying looks and their opinion on it was more often divided than not. Nonetheless, I finally settled down at leaving it long (Having had ample encouragement from the Tamil flick Anniyan).

Leaving your hair long can sometimes cause you embarrassment as I recently found out. One particularly awkward incident happened when I forgot my office ID... In order to issue a temporary pass, the security personnel had to verify my identity by checking out my photo in the intranet. Unfortunately for me, I had never updated my photo since my experiments and by then, the one on the net totally didn’t resemble me. The guys stared at the pic, and then back at me, back at the pic…a few uneasy moments of silence passed…they just sat there smiling still unsure that the man in the pic was me. Finally, after much convincing and a lengthy identification process later (which included me having to answer all their stupid questions and a show of my other proofs of identity), the guard uncertainly handed me my pass. Without giving a second glance at all the people - who were quite amused by now – I hurriedly walked in.

The last straw, however, came on a trip to Goa with my friends. We were at the party capital to commemorate the New Year and after a long day of fun on the beach, trekking et al, we decided to hit a reputed disc in north Goa for the night. Dinner done, I stayed away from my friends – who went to the open disc – and went to an indoor floor called The Club. This one had lounge chairs by the dance floors and being left with a terrible pain in my thighs after the day’s trek, I decided to relax there. I couldn’t resist the temptation to dance watching all the energy on the floor (read hot chicks ;-)) and not withstanding any longer, I tried shaking a leg or two but was forced to settle down just as quickly when the pain shot up my legs. Cursing my friends for having chosen that particular day to come to the joint, (how I would have luved the place if were any other day) I planted my sorry ass on the sofa gazing forlornly at the goings-on in front of me. That was when I sensed this guy eying me intently from a distance for quite some time…well as if that wasn’t enough to freak me out; he came closer and stood right next to me. Totally losing my nerve by now, I tried settling my eyes on one particular beauty in black, brushing out all gross thoughts from my head. I started to drift away into a state of semi- intoxication. when I was rudely awakened by the sinister character tapping my shoulder - he bent over, cleared his throat and said in a hushed tone “…don’t think wrong that I am asking you this…”…hmmm…well… totally rattled by now, I tried giving him a nonchalant expression…”ya?”…I knew what was coming next and was thinking of ways to cut him off …when he blurted “… do you have dope???...”…huh... THAT was a bolt out of the blue and I didn’t quite know what to say for the second and actually… my pride was kinda hurt but I soon recovered with a curt “no” and ignored him. From the corner of my eye I could still see him standing there… after some time… (Which felt like a really long time then) … he bent over again “…do you know anybody whom I can get it from??? “… now THIS amused me…and I gave him a weird expression … watching him look ever so earnestly, I couldn’t control my laughter any more... still laughing, I shook my head… and thankfully that was the last I got to see of him…Later though the thought did cross my mind that I should have given our desperate addict my friend’s no. as a way of getting back at him for taking me to the place that day of all the days we were at Goa…but then again, the thought came a little too late (as always in my case).

It wasn’t surprising that I was the butt of all jokes for the remainder of the trip once I related the incident to my equally amused pals… but anyway this incident made me resolve a couple of things – one, NEVER to doze off at a disc in Goa ( or any other place for that matter) and two, to get rid of my long locks at the earliest…

Now I have short hair (Though its still weirdly colored)… most ppl like the look and are thankful that I had some sense drilled into me… but some are sorry that I cut it… and someone asked me “hey, why did u do that?? You looked good with long hair”. Well, I thought, I don’t know if I look good now or not but I for sure know that I don’t look like this crazy drug peddler who hangs out at Goan discs…well actually, only a second trip would tell for sure…