Further up and Further in

There are many reasons that you might see people with shaved heads here: religious reasons, skin diseases, personal preference, lice and so on. But recently there has been a rash of children with shaved heads cropping up in the Chennai area. And I don't mean skin rash children. A greater occurrence...anyway. Apparently there are quite a few children who have their heads shaved in the summertime to ward off summer heat, both girls and boys. I guess hair does get pretty hot. But you won't find me trying to shave my head anytime soon...I learned something from my years of short, red hair: I should not shave my head.

Combing their hair is something of an obsession among the men here. I've been trying to get a picture of a large group of men combing their hair in sync, but I've been unsuccessful so far. They carry their combs in their pockets and comb their hair at traffic lights, on the bus, walking down the sidewalk, etc. Like the men in the U.S. during the 50s. But the men here use coconut oil to grease their hair, and I imagine that men in the U.S. used something like vegetable oil. Or something. Correct me if I'm wrong. And the men here do wear those nice button-down shirts that are so seldom seen on men in the U.S. now, except when they're dressing up. Everyday occurence here. Nice dress shirts with dress pants or a skirt, I mean, lungi...it's casual dress here. That's something it'd be nice to bring back to men's fashion in the U.S. The shirts and pants, I mean. Lungis should only be worn around the house.


*end note: the new background is a picture from the backwaters of Kerala, "God's own country," which we plan to visit in the next few weeks.