I got my head shaved today. What is the big deal about that, you ask?
Well, it is quite a big deal if you’re born in a religious Hindu family and then went to a religious boarding school. You’re told all your life that you cannot shave your head because that’d bode unwell for your family and those you love. Shaving your head automatically gets you sympathetic looks because people assume that someone has passed on. I preferred a shaved head from my childhood. It made me comfortable in the hot weather. However, I was never allowed to follow my choice. When I decided to get my head shaved in the 7th Standard from the barber in my boarding school, I got penalized, beaten and my parents were called in for my “wayward choice”. The monks in this institute all had shaved head remember, so maybe they thought I was infringing their “sanctity”? Not only that, the barber who shaved my head for heavily penalized too! So deciding to shave my head is a big deal and associated with a lot of past trauma.
By shaving my head today, and deciding to keep doing that in the future, I finally face my trauma and I take ownership of my hair. You are your own boss. Choose how you want to look, dress, or what you want to eat and drink. As long as you do it with compassion, you’re fine!
