Hair Today…….Tomorrow!

Smarting me…

 I was returning from a long evening walk - a rare luxury lately - when an acquaintance bumped into me. We started with the standard professional small talk, but just as I prepared to bow out, he leaned in.

“Mind if I ask you something personal?”

“Go ahead,” I said.

“Do you dye your hair?”

I blinked. It had been years since anyone asked me that. “No.”

“Then why is your beard snow-white while your head is barely salt-and-pepper?”

“I wish I knew.” He stayed quiet for a moment. I thought maybe this is the end of it. It was just beginning. 

“Maybe you’re trying to copy Amitabh Bachchan,” he mused.

“In what way?”

“Well, he has a white beard and salt-and-pepper hair. Like yours”. 

“Amitabh wears a toupee, for God’s sake!”

He squinted, scanning my hairline like a forensic investigator. “Well... you might need one pretty soon yourself.”

I felt a sudden heat rising under my collar. “Why in the world would I wear a wig?”

“Aren’t you going bald? And, pretty fast of late”. 

“So what if my hair’s thinning?”

“Vanity. Your colourful shirts and hair gel,” he declared, adopting the solemn tone of a soothsayer. “You still want to look young. And, vanity cannot tolerate baldness.”

“Aren't you assuming a bit much?” Why was he being so accurate? 

“Just my professional assessment of you.”

Everyone, it seems, is a certified judge these days.  I smiled (and believe me, it wasn’t easy). “Tell you what - if I ever go bald, I’ll just start charging people for all the advice they give me about it.”

And with that, I bailed out, leaving him to appraise the back of my very real hair. Till it lasts!