Comments on: On hair and other things

By: Aditi

Aditi — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 13:14:54 +0000

I feel you on the curly hair thing. Some people have very pretty curly hair, I don’t. Even tried cutting it all off. Now I’ve been blowdrying my hair every time I wash it (on doctor’s orders), but I can’t imagine having to do that for the rest of my life.

We must start a Facebook group. Militate for equal rights.

By: Anindita

Anindita — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 15:40:48 +0000

Banno: ‘necessary’, huh? Yes, I suppose once a person gets used to seeing themselves a certain way, they want to continue looking like that even if they have to pay through their noses or whatever. The real worry is this: how bombarded are we with one specific of beauty that we’re convinced we look better only when it conforms to that? It’s scary in a way.

Scheherezade: Go girl! Just saw this movie called Caramel which has a similar story–in the end, the girl gets the haircut and emerges looking so free, it’s adorable.

It’s interesting the connotations attached to hair — freedom, sexiness, sacrifice — and not just in India (remember Jo cutting her long hair off in Little Women and what a significant moment in the book it is?)

By: Scherezade

Scherezade — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 11:21:02 +0000

I cut it off last evening and now sport an easy to manage (and awesome to boot) bob. Posh Victoria Spice Beckham(wheww)has got nothing on me. Hah!
Also, I am delighted by the Lightness of My hair Not Being. (Apologies to Kundera.)

Anthropologically speaking, it’s fascinating to read of how the practice of shaving a woman’s head bald was considered an apt punishment. As though presence (or absence, not to mention length, texture et al) of hair was directly proportional her “woman-ness” and shearing it would render her less of a woman. It was symbolic of reducing her Being by eliminating what is often referred to a secondary sexual characteristic.
Even more remarkable is the fact that I faced much eye-rolling and hush-hush-is-she-off-her-rockers type of outlash when I got rid of my headful of hair a long time ago but a friend’s aunt who shaved hers off at the same time after a pilgrimage to tirupathi received much reverence and appreciation.
Odd are the ways of this world, I say.

And I look more the rabid, will-use-sandpaper jackets-to-cover-her-books type of philosopher. It’s discipline of and for mendicants. Or those who had unfocussed and lethargic parents.

By: Banno

Banno — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 07:28:54 +0000

Yes, one is lucky if one doesn’t have to fit any ‘norms’. But most people like to follow the norms even if they don’t have to. The fashion industry. I did an interview with a hairdresser recently who revealed that of course, the big salons make their money from selling products and treatments of different kinds which become absolutely ‘necessary’, not from hair cuts, which are just the basic entry point for a client.

By: Anindita

Anindita — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 19:29:20 +0000

Scherezade: Lol…we can never win, can we? I’m sure you make a very serious, soulful philosopher in straight hair. I think everyone looks best in what they already have — of course, this may be a wee bit idealistic but for the part, it’s true.

Thank you for your kind comment on my poems.

By: Scherezade

Scherezade — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 06:22:41 +0000

I, on the other hand, have poker straight hair and I am frequently irritated by surreptitious grins of frisky hair stylists who feel the need to constantly touch my hair and ask me -”Don’t lie! You MUST HAVE straightened it!”
Bah!
Also, as someone who is majoring in philosophy I have always thought of my own hair as something of a disadvantage. Straight hair and Plato just don’t mix, I am told. Sigh. I wish it was mad curly and wavy and made me at least appear a philosopher in image.

Winterson’s comment about Oswald being a kinetic poet resonated with the fact that a lot of times I chant poems when I kickbox (much to my instructor’s horror).

I was reading some of your poems and they are excellent.

By: Anindita

Anindita — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 05:17:59 +0000

Yes, me and my (half-)Tam husband have watched Kandukondain. There were no subtitles so he had to translate, poor guy, with me going ‘what? what? what?’ every 30 seconds. LOL on Aishwarya. Yes, she was better than her later self in Iruvar too. Hmm, you’re right about Ratnam aspiring to Bollywood, of course but his dubbed movies at least brought a different world to those of us in Bombay. Otherwise, it was mostly the Yash Chopra Punju shaadi spectacle.

By: girlonthebridge

girlonthebridge — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 18:04:01 +0000

Has he? He has certainly brought great quality to Tamil movies or rather Indian movies and I think far better than 90% of hindi directors but what I find is that South India constantly aspires to B’wood. The man cannot speak a lick of Hindi but now has taken to making Hindi movies (guru, and now one with the Bacchhans, god help us). I don’t grudge him whatever his creative heart desires but I do worry because everyone in India still places B’wood on a pedestal. Shouldn’t all the B’wood dirs be aspiring to Ratnam?
I like Rajiv Menon too. Have you and your Tam husband watched Kandukondein? It’s my favorite despite Ms. World. I like South Indian directors because they tie her hair tightly behind, take away her eye shadow and remind her that her purpose is to act not flutter her eyelashes. Heheeeee

By: Anindita

Anindita — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 12:03:34 +0000

Although I would say Mani Ratnam may have improved that a bit with regard to Tamilians –do you feel that or am I misguided?

By: Anindita

Anindita — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 12:02:37 +0000

Bhagya: Really? I thought she was fairly mainstream these days. I didn’t read her until after college though. And welcome!

Girlonthebridge: Oh yes, bells dinging and donging . Hmm, yes you’re right of course about it being nothing new. I’m not sure though how many people think about the straight hair issue because the fair skin issue (rightly, I think) is more talked about. And oh god, that must be irritating. I remember asking my mother about Karva Chauth when I was little because I had seen it in so many B’wood movies. She rather curtly informed me that Bengalis do not observe it. Heh.

The problem is people base their assumptions on Bollywood movies, and the biggest production houses do focus on north Indian (Punjabi?) culture. There is so little awareness about any of the other states.

By: Scherezade

Scherezade — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 11:58:30 +0000

My other comment disappeared.

By: girlonthebridge

girlonthebridge — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 16:26:08 +0000

I just read Nisha’s article Anu and while it isn’t anything I haven’t heard before – I’m a big fan of Shyam Benegal who has insisted on making regional movies, dialects in place and taking chances with so-called unconventional looking actors and always lamented our fixation on the Hindi-speaking, munda stereotype that gives nothing that you, me or our kids to relate to.
But what’s upsetting me is that 20 years down the line this hasn’t changed. In fact it’s gotten worse. With all the globalisation and affluence, shouldn’t it be a big F-U to the West? Why still preening, conforming? Of course the West is not the only one to blame; we started this whole thing ourselves. People here keep asking me if I do karva chauth. Leaving the feminist implications aside why should anyone assume the whole country follow this entirely north Indian tradition?

By: Scherezade

Scherezade — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 11:58:57 +0000

stylists*

By: Scherezade

Scherezade — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 10:13:21 +0000

I, on the other hand, have poker straight hair and I am frequently irritated by surreptitious grins of frisky hair stylist who feel the need to constantly touch my hair and ask me -”Don’t lie! You MUST HAVE straightened it!”
Bah!
Also, as someone who is majoring in philosophy I have always thought of my own hair as something of a disadvantage. Straight hair and Plato just don’t mix, I am told. Sigh. I wish it was mad curly and wavy and made me at least appear a philosopher in image.

Winterson’s comment about Oswald being a kinetic poet resonated with the fact that a lot of times I chant poems when I kickbox (much to my instructor’s horror).

I was reading some of your poems and they are excellent.

By: girlonthebridge

girlonthebridge — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 20:07:37 +0000

I own a straightener and a hair dryer that doubles up as a blowdryer. Happy to say neither have gotten much use lately. If you remember, I did not have straight hair in school. I cannot claim to have the confidence to go out with the frizz though. I need something to even keep the curls manageable! So is that any better, I wonder?
However, I will say it’s not being a professional in the corporate world that contributed or escalated any of this. This started in my good ol’ hometown, peer pressure from girls in my good ol’ convent school. Ring any bells?