Long long hair: My attempts at a rock star look ...

Ever since I came to college, I’ve had a haircut just once. It was barely a haircut, more of a trim on the sides and at the back … ‘cuz Baba (father, for all my non Indian readers) wanted me to get it cut. He can’t stand long hair, having minuscule hair himself. So, since I was home and didn’t want to tick him off, I went and got it ‘trimmed’. Now, it’s been almost 6 months since then, and my hair has been growing rather rampant. It’s reached a length where anything at eye–level is a little hard to see immediately when I look up.

I have to constantly set it aside or tuck it behind my ear, but bloody dense thick hair. Refuses to budge from it’s natural growth position, and hence, lands up in front of my eyes pretty much every 5–6 minutes. EG lessons can be the biggest pain, since I have to bend down. Hence, everytime I look up, all I see is hair. My freakin’ 20 cms long hair! (all values expressed here are approximate).

I seriously envy people whose hair grows more towards the back, so that they naturally fall backwards instead of coming in front of their eyes.

The rockstar look

Most of the rock bands have long hair (Pearl Jam!!), and I must admit, since I play the guitar, listen to nothing–but–rock, dress up grunge … it’s not too hard to see where I get the ‘want’ to have long hair from. I could end up like Stockdale, but nah! That’s not my style. I’m more of an Eddie kinda guy.

Ofcourse, this is kind of a contradiction, since the Rock movement doesn’t believe in stereotypes and doesn’t care about rules or traditions. It doesn’t care about order or a ‘grand–design’. All we (‘the’ rockers) care about is that we enjoy ourselves while doing what we want to do. So, caring about looks shouldn’t be in the picture. But I’m a little weird that way! I believe everybody should look good (‘good’ being relative here), no matter what they believe or do.

Weather in this country doesn’t help having long hair either, with the sun beaming down at you at any given time of the day. Long hair just works to provide a natural cap and shade from the sunlight, but then you start to feel hot in the head. Girls will know the feeling. You can’t begin to imagine the feeling if you have short hair. No no … believe me, you can’t!

Plus, the whole ‘weight’ factor. All that hair ‘will’ add some weight now, wouldn’t it? I still remember the last time I tried to grow my hair, and Baba got it cut properly (he actually came with me to the barber’s I think), I actually felt relief since my head felt lighter. ‘Much’ lighter! I’ve almost forgotten the feeling…

So, why do I still have long hair at the end of the road, when I am (very visibly, I should say) not comfortable with it? Because I like it. I like having long hair, and not looking like a freakin’ tomato when I walk out the door. I like having long hair because it adds a little something to the face. A clean–shaven, trimmed hair look is for executives who are going to go for interviews. Long hair adds in a little element of attitude. I don’t know exactly what that attitude says, but you always notice a guy with long hair amongst many.

It might sound lame, but I like my hair! :)