The Mirror Boy.

“Seedha pakad!” Grunts the voice, biting the teeth and the brief gesticulations of taut lips managing the right kind of noises to convey this command!

Opening the mouth too wide, is inviting trouble... strands of hair are going to stick like glue to the tongue! So, the grunt, and clenching of teeth...

The boy who holds that mirror gives a slight twist, to feign having 'properly-understood' what that 'seedha' ever meant! “Hold it straight” was the command... Straight with relation to what? That kid knows, 'what not to ask'... His career is 'fixed'... instead of the mirror, someday, hopefully, he would make that mice like noise with squeaking pairs of steel blades which fight each other constantly, to be known as scissors!

There was a time (I hope a few elders might remember, and then agree!), when there was a boy to hold a mirror to the person who likes to assess-on-line, the progress of the 'diminishing number of dead cells',... the hair, being cut-to-size! The boss, the hair dresser is fully aware of his own social status, and does not interfere if that boy is going to be the 'punching bag' of that restless occupant of the chair, where the uncrowning takes place!

And somewhere in between, a few youngsters barge in, snatch the comb, and get a feel of that 'clean' and fine tooth of the comb, and then as an after-thought, let loose a casual half-smile at the poorly weaponised scissor-wielding hapless fellow! They too, feel it a ritual to scold this mirror boy, “abay, idhar ki taraf pakad”.. (hold it this toward this side)and that sandwiched lad gets nervous, and swings that mirror both the ways, not to infuriate the either! Both, the youngsters and the hair-dresser, know that these youngsters are not going to further the income of that humble shop, and are only going to leave soon after a while, when other genuine customers peep in, see a crowd, and turn away, thinking that there is a long-waiting-period in the offing!

It is perhaps the most rewardless of jobs! That, the pay is not good hardly matters, when the needless humiliation that this lad suffers apart from the aching arms, of holding that glass mirror for long hours, incessantly just to provide a 'feel-good-factor' to the viewers!

That 'regular' shop owner was curious, and did ask me once, why don't you 'use' the comb, when I offer you? (It is the custom, to offer the comb to the owner of that depleted head, to re-shape the remnants according to their taste... and most of the people bring in all the mannerisms that they could gather out of their memory, to reassure themselves that they are really 'very particular about it')..

Somehow, I was never tempted to even touch that comb... and now there is a question: 'why?'... (I was almost well-prepared for such a question, since elders around seldom fail to notice any oddity, in those days!)... I most humbly said, “You handle it most of the working hours, and so I do not hope to better your skill, be it on my own head even”! And he did find that, to be a little uncommon kind of acknowledgement, and in his own style, rewarded me with a few 'heavy-thrust-massages' as a gift during the next few visits... My early lessons with “neurology-for-dummies” was at the hands of this Guru (literally and figuratively)...

When I got a reward of 'Oh! Don't take it too seriously' as a reply-response to some stray remark, that I tried to show the 'mirror' to the owner of that remark, I was reminded of that 'mirror boy' in myself... and it befriended me as a source of inspiration to humble myself yet again, at that youthful surge, unbridled, in a great haste to assert itself, brushing aside anything that comes its way, whether a friend or a foe! But, I do find it a self-rewarding-task, when I try to hold the mirror, and the other person can see the reflections of their own mind-patterns... and leaving it to them to postpone the trimming of few strands that seem out-of-shape... Obviously, I do get chided with that vague 'hold it straight' command, and all I can do is to shrug a bit vigorously each time, as a timely response! On spiritual path, there are a few long-distance-admirers of this mirror-boy.. they do not even trim their hair (Even I keep wondering, Buddha sports long hairs, but insists his disciples to remain-clean-shaven!... So also, the other evolved beings, maintain their hair and therefore a safe-distance from the hair-dressers too!..). It is perhaps the admiration and shine from the long-distance admirers that keeps my mirror shining!

Psn( 26th February, 2014)