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The Barber

By : Tanay Kumar Das ( Posted on :08 Apr, 2006 )

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If I told you that Narayan�s hair-cutting saloon was the place to be, you would either think that I had absolutely no taste or that I was raving mad. But if you knew what I knew about Narayan, you would not only second my statement, you would third, fourth and fifth it as well. All of us youngsters hung around there whenever we could.

Narayan owned the saloon and doubled as the barber. We knew nothing about him except that he practically lived in the shop and only went home to sleep. He was old and feeble; a few years ago perhaps he might have been good at his work. But what he lacked in barber-ian skills, he more than made up through his wisdom and knowledge and experience on women. He would have made a killing at one of these magazines or websites as an agony uncle.

Knowing his dexterity with hair, most of us took a safe way out, a nice leisurely head massage, while we sorted out our problems of love or rather the lack of it. With Anirudh it was different. That he was an expert on women would be an understatement, though he liked to keep his talents to himself. But every Achilles has his heel and one day his was struck. Anirudh, in a moment of weakness - he claimed that he was piss drunk - had made love with a girl and a few months later, three to be precise; he found that he was to be a father, and that too a married one. The philosophy of marriage was alien to Anirudh. He had never understood it and even if he could, he did not wish to. The girl was adamant � marriage or suicide.

Anirudh was smart; he knew when to accept defeat. The next day he went to Narayan�s saloon. It was filled as usual. I forgot to mention that whenever one of us wanted some time alone with Narayan, we would in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear say, "Narayan, I need a massage." Narayan would then look at the remaining of us and we would dutifully troop out. We snickered, taunted and teased as we moved out, but it was all taken in good spirit. Hearing it from Anirudh shocked all of us, even Narayan seemed unsure of what he heard. In solemn silence, as if someone had just died, we filed out. Anirudh having a girl problem he couldn�t handle. Must be huge, we were dying to find out what it could be and rumours and speculations were rife.

No one, of course, can be sure of the exact happenings, but I believe I got closest to what really transpired. Anirudh sat on the chair and Narayan began with his massage and asked, "I am surprised that you decide to come to me for a problem, I thought you were the expert here."

Anirudh smiled, "Well even the experts have so much to learn."

Narayan smiled back, "Tell me what is the problem, I will see what I can make of it."

Anirudh explained his problem regarding the girl and when he was finished, Narayan began, "Well Anirudh, it�s very tricky, ideally you should have avoided getting into this, but since you did not, you should have been careful, and now it seems you don�t have a choice but to marry her."

Anirudh reiterated that he had no intentions of getting married. "I was wondering if you could talk to her and make her understand that it�s best that she drops the baby"

Narayan was silent for a moment, "I would never be able to do something like that. Now, you have no choice, but to leave this place and go away. If her family finds out about this, you will be in big trouble. I would suggest that you make haste and leave this place as soon as you can. In fact I have an excellent idea. Why don�t you go over to this wonderful place that I know. Just this morning my daughter and grandson left for it. Beautiful place� quiet, peaceful, serene, tranquil. I don�t know whether you will like it, but then no one from here will ever be able to find you there. The only thing you will regret is that you asked me for a head massage instead of asking for my daughter�s hand in marriage."

But Anirudh did not reply, his life had oozed out along with the blood that dripped from his neck.

Written By : Tanay Kumar Das

Visit personal website of Tanay Kumar Das

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