There I was, in a land alien to me, at the same time so familiar. I was visiting my sister in the capital city of the United States. I had visited this land a few times before, and I have always been fascinated by the chic high street, the quaint suburbs, the cleanliness, the street vendors, the stiff upper lip coexisting with the hippies...all in perfect harmony. I was with kidlet and after a manic month of travel, we decided to spend some quiet time at home. Kidlet was perfectly happy spending time indoors with her cousins. Thats when it struck me! I needed to get my eyebrows done! The sister and I had stepped out for drinks and a lazy lunch, and thats when I told her. I looked like a bear. One month of no tweezing had made me look like a man growing a beard! 'No worries', she said. 'Finish your drink, and i'll take you to my eyebrows waali.'
We decided to drive straight to this Indian beauty parlour. Situated in a beautiful neighbourhood, lined with trees and parks and cars parked in perfect unison, we stopped in front of a blue door. 'Looks nice', I said. I saw this really beautiful row house and was amazed that this was indeed a salon where hair was cut, legs were waxed and faces were bleached. The parlour was recommended by my Indian born American sister. I knew she had done her homework and she had tried a few other places before choosing this particular blue door salon.
We rang the bell. We waited a few minutes. And we rang again. Finally a lady wearing an ikkat sari opened the door. On seeing the sister, she ranted something in telugu, which I later figured that she was the only one in the salon that day and she had a tremendously busy day. We entered the blue door to smells of India, smells of Charminar. A smell so familiar, it transported me back to the old town of Hyderabad. Incense sticks along with the fragrance of attar welcomed us. Honestly the smell was a bit too strong for me, but then I went along with it without complaining. MS Subbulakshmi's bhajans were playing in the background, Jesus, Mary, Kajol, Shahrukh, Ganesha...all stared at me from respective walls. Pochampally bedsheets covered in plastic on beds, various film magazines in English and Telugu, and creams and lotions lay strewn in one corner. As I was waiting for someone to emerge and to pluck my eyebrows, I couldn't help but notice the kind of enterprise the parlour lady was running. A saree business, a tailoring unit, home made pickles and curry powders, and of course the beautifying business, all under one roof, through the little blue door.
I was in no hurry. I had a couple of glasses of wine at lunch and was in a happy place. I took in the various decorations in the room. Then she walked in. A 50 something woman dressed in a fancy pochampalli sari.
'Yes, what do you want?'
"Eyebrows?"
"OK sit. I do."
"OK where?"
"Only one chair we have"
"OK"
She applied some talcum powder on my eyebrows and finished the work in less than 5 minutes. The quickest and the most pain free tweezing ever! By this time MS Subbulakshmi's bhajans were over and a love song from Tollywood played in the background.
'Finished", she said
"What? So quick?"
"Yeah...see the mirror. Ok Va?"
"Oh wow! super"
I couldn't believe that the eyebrows which usually ended up with me shouting and screaming was over in less than 5 minutes. I was thanking her profusely. Then she asked sister and me if we needed some coffee. We politely declined the offer, saying we were in a hurry and paid her the ten dollars and left!
I was excited, i was happy! My f****** eyebrows were done by a brand new parlour lady and it was pain free! Back home in India now, and its time for those eyebrows to be shaped once again. And I cannot stop thinking of that blue door and that Andhra maami.
