#319 The Discipline of Haircuts- Sandip Roy
Looks make the man, or the boy too, I guess. Avinash hated
getting haircuts, sitting outside his house for his neighbor friends to watch,
afraid the barber was going to cut his ear. So when he turned seven his mother
allowed him to go to a proper barber, thinking that the act of independence
would make his feel older and not mind so much.
When he began attending private school, long hair was
forbidden, it was for slobs, slackers and movie stars (meant as a negative). His
short hair became a kind of status symbol he didn’t want:
“In his clean white school uniform with his striped school
tie, Avinash felt like a creature from another planet. He was a mother’s boy
without his mother to protect him.”
The story is about coming of age, or Avinash not quite being
ready to come of age. The haircuts, drinking milk instead of tea, being scared
by sudden sexual desire. There is also a theme of class and generation gaps.
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