HAIRCUT

Rumi woke up in the middle of the night, her breath was heavy, hair frizzy, eyes gloomy, clothes wet, and the bedsheet showed the evidence of struggle she went through while sleeping, it was all collected at one place from the movement of her legs and arms, the blanket was thrown on the floor. She was trembling in fear, her body was in immense pain, sweat mounting on her forehead like morning dew.

She grasped the glass of water kept at the study table beside her bed, over the pile of files, she was going through before sleeping. She switched on the light, drank water, wiped the sweat, and sat on the bed with her legs crossed.

It wasn’t the first time she was experiencing this kind of haunting dream but in the recent past, it has become more frequent.

 She got up from the bed, her clothes were sticking to her skin restricting the movements of the limbs making it heavy to move.

She was struggling to take out night suit from her wardrobe, it glanced at her like a long-lost friend, they used to spend a lot of time together when she was a kid, she always hid there no matter what! Whenever her siblings played hide and seek it was her only spot. They had a special connection when The Chronicles of Narnia was released, this wardrobe had become her epicenter of activities ranging from reading, dining, and even sleeping in a hope that someday it will open its doors to the kingdom of Narnia though it never happened today somehow this wardrobe her childhood friend dropped clothes she needed. This wardrobe her childhood friend has become a mere object, object struggling for acceptance.

She picked her clothes and went to take shower. She took off her clothes. Stood under the shower, the night breeze meets her perspiring body making it shiver, she quickly turned on the shower with the gush of water running over her body she became numb. Numb to all the thoughts, numb to that haunting dream. She stood under the shower like melting snow, washing herself of herself.

She came into her bedroom and went up to the dressing table. This dressing table was present in her house for generations, it was an antique masterpiece completely denying to merge with her modern room. Its border marked two separate worlds, one outside the mirror one inside it. The outside world told her what she needs to be, the inside world told her what she is.

The border has elephants crafted on it carrying the mirror from generation to generation.

The pride with which they were carved in the wood shows the importance they had in the kingdom. It holds the mirror with grace neither too tight neither loose, just enough to have a bond like a lover lost in her partner's eyes.

The mirror it holds ought to be our true friend it shows what we are, not what others expect us to be. Our true self.

The mirror surrounded by elephants felt like a lake framed inside the wood with a supply of eternal water from Elephant’s trunk. A lake calm and deep.

The depth which contains the love of several soulmates who come by her side to share their feelings, holding their hands asking for her approval and when not accepted by the society immerse themselves in the depth of this very lake because they know lake won’t judge them for their religion, caste or gender. They could live happily hereafter in the depth of this lake.

The depth which gives people a chance to lash out their anger. The anger which they keep building inside themselves in a fear that they will be judged but the lake won’t judge. They throw pebbles at her counting the number of bounces it takes. Lake accepts the anger and smiles back at them in the form of waves. Greater the anger larger the smile. She accepts pebbles as her children giving them shelter in the lap of her bed.

The depth which assimilates happiness, love, sorrow, hate, pain, anger.

#

Rumi looked herself in the mirror. She found something very peculiar about her looks, it gave her the feeling of pampering, protection, coziness, and shyness. It was her hair. Hair long enough to make her a comfy bed when lied on the ground amidst grass looking at the blue sky to wonder what lies beyond that.

Hair dark in appearance like a waterfall in the night which appears to have no beginning and no end. Dark from the lies she has been told, dark from fake love, dark from grueling past, dark from fake appreciation, dark from the life she has been living under the peer pressure.

This dark part has to go. It was decided to have a Haircut. A Haircut which will also cut the dark past.

She went for Bob cut. Her hair bounced with each move tapping her shoulders in appreciation. It felt light and confident. She is now ready to face the world.   

The End.