Friday 25 October 2013

A Sweet Barber



I was born and brought up in Bongaigaon, a quite well known town in Assam. Oh! It’s such a fascinating place and I’ve hell lot of memories about that place, stored in my brain’s hard disk drive. My parents stayed there for almost two decades and only when I was in my 4th semester of engineering, my father got transferred to Guwahati. Once they shifted to Guwahati, I always looked for some opportunity to visit Bongaigaon, but unfortunately I didn’t have much of them though. Once my parents left our home town, somehow their visit to Bongaigaon was also became kind of limited. My father already sold our nostalgic old house long time back and after his retirement about a couple of years ago, my parents preferred to settle out in Guwahati itself.

Life in Bongaigaon was quite different as compared to our present life. That was the time when there was no internet and perhaps, wireless mobile communication was a hot research topic those days. For us, our social networking was limited to schools, Sunday cricket matches and those regular kinds of evening sports at any damn playground. Our entire neighborhood was like a big family and every evening our house was blessed with one guest or the other. Quite often, even guests were also fortunate enough, as they had the opportunity to meet other guests as well, at the same time. Well, not only for our house, but it was the same story for almost every house out there. Being a house wife, it wasn't easy for my mother to have managed the house and the frequent guests. But like us, even our parents also enjoyed a lot those days.  Life was simple without much desires and people felt so much united within the neighborhood, despite those minor disputes among some of the mommies. I still remember how we used to wait for the evening load shedding. Well, the power cut gave us the opportunity for hell lot of fun, specially during summer, as everyone in the locality used to come outside their houses and strolled on that narrow road and used to gossip. Wow! That was such a wonderful moment. 

When I was in my 7th standard, my mom started to involve herself with an Woman Organization, popularly known as Mahila Samiti in town. Actually they worked mainly for the welfare and development of the children by organizing all sorts of competitions and cultural programs. That time my mom had the opportunity to interact with different sorts of people and one day, she interacted with one gorgeous looking and quite a fascinating lady. Well we used to call her Mazumdar aunty and she was gem of a person. Her husband was also quite friendly and they were blessed with two cute daughters. Maunder aunty was a very smart and modern kind of lady and she owned a famous beauty Parlor in Bongaigaon. Pretty soon, my mom got quite close to her. Well, they were kind of best friends that time and gradually both the families started to interact more frequently.  Once we left for our school, my mom regularly used to visit her parlor and stayed there for hours. she’s very much impressed, as well as inspired with the awesome art of making someone look much prettier. 

Mazumdar aunty always encouraged my mom and even used to teach her and kind of, prepared her as a beautician. It went on like that for almost a year and my mom already started to experiment with her haircuts and facials, whenever any authentic guest used to visit us. Well, some of my cousin sisters were extremely happy with that. Mazumdar aunty asked her to do a course, so that she could have become a certified beautician. She even promised her to help with the certification, but then one day, Mazumdar uncle got transferred to a different town and their entire family was about to have moved there. It was a well established parlor and Mazumdar aunty requested my mom if she could have taken the responsibility of the parlor? My mom was pretty much interested and also was kind of confident. But the only problem was that she wasn't certified for the job yet. But then, aunty said that she would take care of that and within next 6 months my mom could have done with her certification. Mom was so happy that time, but the real problem was something different. 

Quite opposite to me, my father was always a very religious person. Even though, he use to pray 5 times a day, but he always had a much broader outlook and he didn't have any problem with my mom's decision. But many of our well wishers, both within the locality and far across, were not very comfortable with that. They tried to influence my mom, as well as my father, so that they could have backed off from the idea. It was too much pressure for my mom and I could remember one evening, when many people, including men and women, visited our house and tried hard to have had convinced my mom. I asked them "What is the problem? What’s big deal if she runs a beauty parlor?"

One  of the uncles out there, started to laugh loudly and replied "Aree Baba, people will start to call your mom as BARBER. Would you like that?" Even though, I was in my 7th standard that time, but was matured enough to understand that was actually a big piece of shit.

Ultimately my mom had to back off and she couldn’t fulfill her dream. Well, after all, society also have it's own importance and Mazumdar aunty had to sell her parlor to someone else. Without her support, somehow my mom’s ambition gradually died out. But it seemed the aspiration was always there, somewhere deep within some corner of her soul. Time passed by and after almost 2 decades, my mom’s aspiration came out alive once again and that time it was much stronger. 3 years ago, when my father was about to have retired, my mom completed all the damn courses which was required for her certification. About two years back, she started her own parlor in Guwahati. Even though, it’s not a very big parlor, but my mom is happy and she also hired a beautician to assist her. 

From our childhood, we've noticed our mom to be extremely hard working and energetic. Even now days, she manage her parlor and also the house, almost single-handedly. Well, there’s not much age difference between my mom and dad, but comparatively dad looks much older. Mom is perfectly fit and quite healthy and all thanks to her activeness. Well, to have started a parlor of her own was indeed a very bold decision for her at such an older age. But as people say "Better late than never" Even though, my mom usually have a tiring day, but she keeps herself occupied and the pleasant feeling of financial independence, boosted her confidence a lot. She is actually quite happy now and I'm really proud of my BARBER mom. 

37 comments:

  1. You have amazing parents and your mom should be an inspiration, Jahid. Beautiful post.

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    1. Thanks Sangeeta, glad U liked the post and found it kind of inspiring as well :) Thanks a lot for visiting out here !!

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  2. Society and Sometimes our relatives pressure let us down in many ways..I am Glad that Aunty was able to fulfill her dream..
    The same is the case with my Mom..She is quite good at Tailoring and gets lot of appreciation from others for her work and I am happy for her

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    1. Yes Harsha, sometimes our well wishers let us down. Nice to hear about your mom and her amazing tailoring skills.

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  3. that happens often in India talent and hobbies are suppressed because the belong to a particular set of people,it is a form of caste system.

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    1. Very true dear. Quite often talent and hobbies are suppressed because of society interference.

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  4. What a captivating and truly amazing story:-) I loved it! You tell it so well. Glad it had a happy ending for your mother- she sounds wonderful:-)

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    1. Thanks Eli :) so glad U liked the post. Yeah, mom is wonderful :) Thanks a lot for reading !!

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  5. a happy post! enjoyed a lot :)

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    1. Thanks Ipsita :) Glad U enjoyed the post. Thanks for visiting out here !!

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  6. Lovely post sir...:)
    Glad your mother could fulfill her dream..:D

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    1. Thanks Karan :) glad U liked my mom's story !!

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  7. What a lovely post, read through it with full interest and hats off to aunty, she surely is a super barber mom. Agreed that most women look younger than their hubby's if they maintain an active and fit life. There is so much to learn from her.

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    1. Thank U so much Athena :) So glad U liked my mom story. Yes, so much to learn from her !!

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    1. Thanks Aunt Mary :) Glad U liked the post !!

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  9. A really nice post capturing the family life and society of small town India.

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    1. Thanks Mr Prasad. Glad U liked the post and could relate it to a typical Indian small town story !!

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  10. yeah Jahid your mom indeed is a beautiful lady..glad she could fulfill her dreams..

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    1. Thanks Binesh :) I think you met her a couple of times !!

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    1. Thanks Dude :) Glad U liked my mom story !!

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    1. Thanks Gowtham, glad U liked the post. Thanks a lot for visiting out here !!

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  13. That's really nice! More power to enterprising women like your Mom!
    She's an inspiration! Better to be busy & active!

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    1. Thanks Anita, glad U liked the post and found it kind of inspiring. Yes U are correct "Better to be busy & active!" !!

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  14. ...Namaste...A Truly Inspirational Story...You Have Wonderful Parents...I Am Humbly Grateful...One love...

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    1. Namaste Wayne... Glad U liked the story and found it inspiring as well. That for such nice words for my parents. Thanks a lot for visiting out here !!

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  15. thank you for sharing your story jahid...your mom is an inspiration for many housewives who under the pressure of family commitments and society are unable to make real their dreams. And its just wonderful to hear that your father supported your mother. :) my regards to your parents :)

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    1. Thanks Preethi :) Glad U liked the post and also found it inspiring as well. Yes,house wives are always under some sort of pressure and have very little scope of chasing their dreams. Thanks a lot for visiting out here and for Ur lovely comment !!

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  16. Your story reflects the norms of our society. You have really inspiring parents.

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    1. Glad U liked the story and thanks a lot for such lovely words for my parents !!

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  17. A sweet one! Too bad she couldn't start at that age itself...Glad that she ended up pursuing it :)

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    1. Thanks Akash, glad U liked the post. Yes, she ended up pursuing her ambition. Thanks a lot for visiting out here !!

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