Everyone loves Hair(y) Man

This is my "Heavy-Heart" post. Heavy-hearted because I see this to be the beginning of an ending. An ending which is inevitable, an ending which all of us come to terms with and an ending which we work around anyway. We should, considering, 'thats what friends are for' (some wise people say). The reason for my heavy heart, reader, is because this friend of mine is going away, probably forever (who knows?).

I'm going to call this friend, 'Hairman', and I'll leave you to put a face... err.. hair to this name. Hairman came into my life probably in class 9, from this other cool locality in Bangalore and as luck (good) turns out, lived pretty close to my place. Was I a nasty friend or what, I conspired among many and made a really silly poem about Hairman to which he retorted, with another silly poem. His silly poem was a slap-on-the-face for my fellow conspiree(is there a word like this?). Then, Respect.

Hairman and I, bonded in class 11 (if my memory hasn't failed me), over walks back home and cycle rides (yes, he saved me once when my brakes were jammed). He always had something funny to say. If teased, at any point, he'd brush it away with the wave of a hand and a smile, which gets you assuming some more. To this day, 6 years later, the same wave of the hand is the general technique used. Still effective.

The mighty sport that Hairman was, he'd never say no to much, be it dancing, playing, urgent chaat requests, which naturally made him the most popular person in school (seniors, juniors, teachers, bahadur, dil bahadur, etc). He was pretty popular at home too, he was my after-the-dark-walk-home-with-Hairman person. Such is Hairman, that meeting him once would be enough to strike you with "attributes" like trust, respect, admiration, warmth, humor, etc.

Another incident of the recent past, which really strikes me is one where Hairman called me on my birthday. I'd had very disturbing pre-birthday events and was pretty heartbroken in another city. Hairman's early morning call, the attentive listening to my ranting, the extraordinary jokes that were cracked about the situation, the 'It happens, let it go', made my heart feel lighter (momentarily at the least).. left me wanting to crack some crazier jokes about me. A well kept secret is that, along the way, I've learnt to laugh at myself from Hairman.

Well, the years have passed and I've become really close to Hairman. So much to learn from him, so much to look forward to if he's around. The hairstyles have changed as frequently as spring turns into summer. The Hair has been rockstar-long, barely-there, bald, growing-back-messy, messy-enough-for-an-interview, unkempt. As we pass through the unkempt phase, Hairman's all set to go and seek greener pasture (verrrrrrrrrrry green pasture) and I've been feeling this mixed emotion - Sadly-excited. An oxymoron alright, sadly so because he's going away and i presume will take many years to return to home turf. Excited because this is the best thing that could happen to Hairman.

This too shall pass, with a little help from my friends.