The Hair Story

Mumbai guys have this thing about hair. I guess all guys have this thing about hair. But Mumbai is on a completely different level.

During the training, each guy had a different hair style. Our Pune guy had a decent crew-cut. Nothing much to harp about.
And then there was the two medium sized guys... one with straight hair twirling around his skull, starting from the top. It looked like a little tornado. The other one had curls sticking out over his ears. A regular Goldilocks without gold locks.
Then the tall guy who had brokers numbers had heavily gelled strands combed down over his forehead, like a skull-cap. Reminded me of Frankenstein. The girls used to call him Franky the Jellyfish. That was only until he told us it wasn't gell. It was Parachute Coconut hair oil. Then, we didn't call him anything.

But the other tall guy took the cake. I had never seen hair like this on a guy before (comming from little Pune, we hardly had any variety, you see)!
His hair fell down to his shoulders from a parting in the centre and then it did the darnest thing.
It curled up and pointed to the sky!!!!
There were actually, two 'S's on either side of his head and they looked like the 'S's one would find on some rosy-cheeked girl in Fairy tales! Worse was, that when he strode across the corridor in full splendor, his curls bobbed up and down. So the girls were thrilled and christened him 'Bobby'.

On the last day of training, we got certificates from the V.P. of the department we were going to. And while giving Bobby's certificate, he said "I like your hair style." to the fellow!
And our Bobby looked at the V.P.'s balding patch and stopped himself from blurting out, "I like yours too."!!! But that day, he tells us, he decided to get a new 'look'.

I thought I had seen everything!

A week after we got into the department, all the guys went on a hair trimming spree. Our Pune guy got a fresh Crew-cut, Franky got his oiled strands trimmed and glued to his forehead and the tornado guy got himself a simple short cut.
Our Bobby surprised us though. He got himself a mind-blowing wind-swept look that suddenly made him look taller. And handsome even! Technology, vision and money can do wonders!

But Goldilocks without the gold locks, now he renewed my faith in Fate. Just when I'd thought I'd seen everything, Fate slapped my eyes with a sight to behold (and then faint).
The curls were gone from above his ears. He had joined the Oil brigade. All his hair was oiled back neatly behind his ears, except two thin wisps of shiny black locks glued onto the forehead in the shape of and UPSIDE-DOWN HEART!!!!!

"Make way for the King of Spades!" I hissed.

Then we went house-hunting.

Speaking of last day of training, I almost forgot to tell you that it had been two weeks since we'd come to Bombay. We still hadn't found a place to stay.
And my extended family had made a mountain out of it! More so because my parents were away, visiting a very sick relative in London, while 'the poor, ignorant child is in Bombay all alone with nowhere to go to!!'

Now you see, training sessions were good fun. They reminded me of the Great Divide. Bombay Boys sat on the left side of the class and the Pune and Mulund Girls occupied the right. One chap who had come with us from Pune had managed to mingle with the Bombay chaps and had decided to renounce the Pune Club (since it was filled with girls anyway).

The Mulund girls were of not much help when it came to house-hunting. They didn't even have broker's numbers. Now I am not much of a Boy-watcher, really, but the adversity of the situation compelled me to observe the poor lads.

Hmm... two tall ones, two about 5.7, and our Puneite who rose up to 5.5. Not too sharp. Among them all, I'd say the Pune fellow was, by far, the best looking. But looks were not the criteria, were they?

Once, over coffee, one of the tall chaps came over to have a chat with the girls. Hmm.. he wasn't so bad. Looked a little brighter from near. My friend kept nudging me to go ahead and pop the question.

Abbe shaadi ke liye thodihi poochna tha!!

"By the way," I asked, "We're in a bit of a spot you see, we haven't found a place to live yet. Would you be having any brokers numbers?"
"Sure!" he said, "My friends might know some numbers, I'll message them to you tonight."

'That was quick service,' I thought, 'We'll get numbers soon.'


That evening, I went to spend the weekend with my aunt in Borivali. Sometime after dinner, my grandmother called up to find out if I was still standing.
"Child! Are you alright? Is Bombay too hot? What are you doing this weekend? Did you find a flat yet? PG atleast? My poor child all alone in the big city like Bombay!!"
I prayed to the Gods to calm her down.

"Dont worry Aaji," I told her, "A handsome young fellow is looking for a house for me here."

I don't know what happened next actually. I heard a small cry on the other end, then someone dropped the phone. My aunt, of course, was a bit more understanding. She didn't cry or drop phones. She called up my Mother, in London!

My weekend was well spent attending calls from half way across the State and the globe. My family was in shattered because everyone thought I was eloping with a young chap. My mother wanted to catch the next flight home. My sister was excited thinking I had finally got myself a boyfriend. My father had gone hysterical thinking of the figures the telephone bill would have this month.

And all the time, the only thought that bothered me was how breathless the poor fellow must have become with all those hiccups!