Happy new ear and hair!
Article By
Sujit Chandra Kumar
On New Year’s Eve, the gym seemed deserted but the chief trainer was hardly surprised. “From tomorrow, the membership will pick up, because of the new (year) resolutions,” he said with a smile. These resolutions are mainly about starting or breaking a habit or one that they couldn’t follow the previous years. People who take up these beginning-of-the-year vows are essentially trying to be better versions of themselves. But except in the case of a few – Covid-19 virus is a brilliant example of a living being managing to mutate constantly – the resolutions are given up not long afterwards and we follow the law of nature to deteriorate eventually.
Some drank themselves silly only to resolve to never touch the bottle again, just in the same way they skipped the gym before restarting with a new vigour. Some try to pick up a new language but I have never figured out the logic behind learning Cantonese if one has no intention of settling down in China. Or to try and take music classes if one is tone deaf. Isn’t it better that they try to improve things that they are already good at, the skill that comes naturally to them? I don’t mean a habit like, ‘vaikittu entha paripadi?’ (The daily peg in the evening), however, but something less damaging to the body.
There are a few who go for less strenuous stuff basically to indulge themselves. Like straightening or smoothening their hair, once again in a bid to present the best foot, in this case the best hair, forward. Or they colour their hair in the most bizarre hues. It is now or never, these people decide, and it is as though they can virtually hear the clock ticking away as another year arrives. If you think hard, it is just another day but that so-called psychological barrier is breached, you see.
For a friend, who has scored a half century in life, it was new ‘ear’ resolution. He got his ears pierced to wear a couple of rings, surprising all and sundry, including his significant other, who in a tit-for-tat reaction, went and got a dragon tattoo, knowing fully well that the hubby wouldn’t be able to utter a single word. Certain unpleasant words did emerge up to his tongue but he decided to simply swallow them this time. The advantage with such cosmetic changes is that it makes the owner happy but the neighbours seem to get uncomfortable. As for my friend sporting the new ear style, people subconsciously avoid looking at his face these days while the wife can’t suppress a giggle every time she looks at him and is nowadays particular about locking up her jewel chest.
If you care for some advice – I know lots are coming your way already – don’t go for drastic, unrealistic (re)solutions but adopt incremental ones to improve yourself. If you think social media is a complete waste of time, do not quit all the groups in one go. That will only help create hundreds of new ‘frenemies’. Instead, remain a ‘mute’ spectator and block only those who are especially irritating, that too without letting it become obvious. If corona has taught us anything, it is that we need to take precautions but we can’t bank on anything but luck. And luck has a way of frowning and frowning before smiling. The other lesson is that we all need each other to survive. Just one person being careful or healthy is not enough. Health has become a collective virtue, not an individual one. Happy New Year.
Pic Courtesy: google/ images are subject to copyright
