I’m a suspect, but I ain’t a terrorist.

I don’t know about other countries but in my country I’ve found almost all barbers at barber shops very talkative. They will keep talking to you while cutting your hairs or shaving your beard. Whenever I’m traveling to a new place, they are a good source of current local news and information to me. But when I ain’t traveling, I’m not very interested in engaging in small talks.

This afternoon, I visited a barber shop after a long time. This guy always remains confused about me. Whatever questions he had asked me in the past, he has always got an unexpected answer from me.

Today, when I asked him to cut my hairs, he wanted to know how much short. I answered, “As much short as you can cut. And also trim my beard, if you have got a zero machine. It’s summers, you know!”

Staring at my face in some confusion, he mumbled, “I don’t think a zero machine would work on this beard. It’s too dense!” He picked a comb and measured the depth of my beard hairs and shockingly said, “It’s huge!”

Then he continued his discussion about my beard:
“Is your beard older than your hairs?”
“Not actually. My beard, in fact, grew up several decades later than my hairs on my head. But its hairs turned grey sooner. So probably that’s confusing you about its age”, I answered.

“No, I meant, since when you haven’t shaved your beard?”
“Since the time I visited you last.”

Then he changed the subject of our conversation.
Looking at my bare feet, he asked me, “Where are your slippers?”
“Oh, I forgot to put them on”, I answered.

“I’m good at reading people’s faces and can know a lot by reading their faces. But you’re always a suspect to me”
“Do you think I’m a terrorist?”

“No, not a terrorist, it could be anything. You may be a saint …an extremely knowledgeable person. But you never share your knowledge with me. I’m always deprived of your knowledge.”
“What knowledge?” I laughed.

“For all these years, I’ve never seen any footwear in your feet and whenever I asked, you give me similar responses. Have you left those forever?”
“No, I know, I should have wore something in my feet today, as it’s over 42^oC right now. But instead of searching for my slipper, I chose to ride my bike.”

“Does that mean you have your slippers packed up in some box?”
“Yes.”

“That’s why I say you’re a suspect! It’s very difficult to understand you.”

I didn’t say anything to it. So he too got silent for about 10 minutes and kept himself busy in trimming my beard.

Then suddenly, he asked, “Doesn’t anyone at your home say anything to you?”
This made me burst into laughter.

“Regarding what?” I asked.
“Regarding your beard. See how long it grew”, he said very innocently.

It couldn’t help me stop laughing. A barber complaining about long beard was a big joke for me.

*******

Well, I just wanted to share some of my conversations that took place with my barber. But more importantly, I wanted to share some of my selfies with you. 😊

The barber did a nice job in removing my hairy burden off my head and face. And I did remember to click my selfies for the “before and after” pictures. Here are some of my selfies taken today. Tell me, which one you liked better:

This also reminded me of the Selfie girl @thatindianlady. I’m missing her selfie contest now that I’ve learned to take my selfies. But her account doesn’t look active to me for some time now. I noticed some weird behavior in that account too. Is her account hacked? If so, can anyone let me know her new handle?

Thanks for reading through!
...until next time