One of the best places to snooze is undoubtedly the grand chair at any men’s hair salon. It has one of those magical qualities which renders any person sitting on it feel extremely sleepy. And I say this with more than 20 years of experience! But this post isn’t about the chair, in fact it is about the interaction between the person sitting on the chair and the person who operates around it – the barber (or hair stylist [HS] if you like) and the common man customer (like me). This is for those of us who don’t go in for designer hair styles but prefer a simple trim. And in such a situation, there is a very finite set of instructions that one can give to the HS. One of the most commonly used (and yet one of the most mysterious) word is ‘medium’. This is used to signify quantity or amount. Either one could have his locks trimmed short or let them be long. Somewhere in between these extremes is ‘medium’. It is an untold understanding between the HS and the customer specifying the exact amount of trimming required without actually specifying the amount (yeah, that does sound weird!).
HS: “Saar, full short madla?” (Sir, shall I make it full short?)
Me: “Short beda, medium irli.” (Not short, let it be medium.)
The alert ones would notice that in the above conversation, nowhere has medium been elucidated upon. It is just that. Perhaps it’s some kind of telepathy which ensures that the HS understands just how much of medium is enough! It is because of this telepathic understanding that one can afford to snooze blissfully on the chair, while the HS goes about doing his job. So the next time you go for a trim, just say ‘medium’ and snooze away!
P.S. Disclaimer – if you snooze and your HS is an exception to the above mentioned rule (and doesn’t know when to stop), please don’t blame me!
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