"Reena, come down. The barber is here." Her father called out to her. Reena's heart nearly skipped a beat. So soon. She wasn't ready to part with her hair yet. She hadn't said goodbye to it properly. "Reena come down this instant, or I will have to come up and drag you down." Her father shouted again. Reena reluctantly made her way down. Downstairs she saw that old newspapers had been spread out in the drawing room, and a stool had been laid on them. Next to the chair lay a small stool upon which lay the shearing instruments packed in a bag. There was also a bucket of water and a towel.
Next to her father stood a tall, lanky youth, who seemed to be no more than 25 years of age. Her father introduced him as Ravi, the barber who would cut her hair. Reena felt more and more distressed. Her hair would be sheared off by this...this boy...How dare her father subject her to this. How could he do this to his own daughter? Full of anger and sorrow she spoke "You are such an unfair man Papa. You say my hair is burden to you. Then what about mummy's hair. Why don't you get that cut off too? Isn't that a burden? Why am I the only burden in the family?" Her mother standing nearby gasped in horror. Her long silky, shiny hair was the pride of her life. Reena knew that her father could never make her mother cut her hair. And if her mother could keep her hair then she could too.
