Curly hair very fair

“Chubby cheeks, dimple chin, rosy lips teeth within, Curly hair very fair, eyes are blue lovely too, mommy’s pet is that you, yes, yes , yes”, this was my favourite nursery rhyme. With me having chubby cheeks and very curly hair I used to think the poem was written describing me except for the dimple chin which I did not possess. The poem would have been perfect I used to think if it were not for that ‘dimples’ which I envy people for having and the blue eyes which I never liked until Aishwarya Rai became miss world. Over the years however, the chubby cheeks remain no more chubby as they used to be, thanks to my overzealous taste buds; teeth though present inside the mouth have grown rich thanks to the silver and gold patchworks. Thank God, lips remain rosy though and my curls are with me hanging around my head like maggi noodles!
Most of my lady friends like my curls. “How nice your hair stays like a bush”, say some while others say “lucky you, hair loss never appears on curly hair.” Both are true and I was quite happy and proud of my curls in spite of all the pain associated. Oiling my hair was like watering the plants in a desert, if there were any; the oil just vanished requiring at least a quarter litre of oil to make my hair appear oiled. Head bath was a headache, rounds of shampoo, water and conditioners to take the oil, sweat, dirt off my head left my hands aching at the end of the bath; so literally speaking head bath was hands ache. Post head bath was a bigger nightmare. The hair would be spread across in all possible directions as though given an electric shock. With comb getting stuck in knots at almost an inch with every 100 strands of hair, all my preciously stored energy got drained at getting the herculean task of getting all the strands together into a bunch! I still remember the times when I used to be a proud owner of long curly hair and my mother plaited it into two plaits pulling the comb out of knots every morning before going to school and me wailing with ‘aah’s and ‘uhh’s.
I believed in the saying “no pain, no gain” and enjoyed the “wow wow”s about my hair for a long time that is till I got engaged! All my dreams got shattered as soon as I had a honest chat with my fiancé. Having read quite a few romantic novels with always a situation where the hero reveres the lead lady’s curls with a sensuous whisper “Oh! You have such beautiful curls, you must set them loose. ” Alas, romances live only in books and my ‘hero’ had read none of those. My hero said, “Eeee, you have such brush like hair. I always wanted my wife to have long soft straight hair.” I was angry and retorted, “Eeee, I wanted to marry a Greek God who is tall, handsome…..” adding all the items in the list that he did not possess whether I really liked them or otherwise. Tit for tat, but never the less I was disappointed. “So what if he does not like ? Curls is the style in the west and people curl their hair as a fashion and this man is blind to his wife having natural curls . So out –dated” , I consoled myself.
In some survey done, I read that most men preferred long straight hair for their women. My husband was extremely obsessive about hair, long hair , straight hair until a few months back. Something changed him and he now finds curly hair very beautiful, short hair very cute. Little angel of ours has hair which shows signs of curls . I am not sure if Prachi will have curly hair or wavy hair, but surely not straight hair. With she being the apple his eye, my husband inadvertently has changed his views. This reminds me of a story which I had enacted in during my school days. A very beautiful queen of old times is obsessed with her beauty and asks her men to show a person more beautiful than her. Men search all over the world and bring ladies, each prettier than the other. The queen remains unconvinced and keeps the search on. One wise minister, one fine days searches a very beautiful lady and presents her before the queen and says, “Your highness, this lady is undoubtedly prettier than you” for which the queen nods in agreement and rewards the minister. The queen says, ”Oh wise minister, yes this lady surpasses my beauty, my daughter is the most beautiful lady in the whole of universe.” This is the beauty of nature!