Being bald

Yours truly..

It has been a few years since I decided to go completely bald. I mean shave off those tufts of hair that sticks around and in the front like that of Tin Tin (Incidentally, TinTin is called Kuifje in Flemish meaning a tuft of hair. Pronounced as Ku-if- ye) Herge was a Belgian.

TinTin

(Copy rights to the concerned acknowledged here)

The joke around that time which I used to crack (much to the discomfort of my children who had not yet come to terms with my “Dad jokes”) was ..”Prime Minister Modi ji asked us to go Keshless and hence I shaved off, little understanding the fact that he wanted us to go Cashless, undoubtedly pronounced with a Gujarati accent”.

Yes, that was the time of introduction of UPI…

Since then, I have heard interesting anecdotes about baldness, heard nice poems about it, saw a satire movie called “ಒಂದು ಮೊಟ್ಟೆಯ ಕಥೆ” (Story of an egg) and have written a poem too about it too.

Ondu Motteya Kathe
(Copy rights to the concerned acknowledged here)

👴ಬೊಕ್ಕ ತಲೆ 👴

ವಯಸ್ಸಾಯಿತು ಎಂದರು ಎಲ್ಲರೂ,

ಯಾರಿಗೆ ಎಂದೆ ನಾನು ಹುಬ್ಬೇರಿಸಿ!😏

ನೋಡುತ್ತಿದ್ದರು ಜನ ನನ್ನ "ಮಧ್ಯಪ್ರದೇಶ"ದ ಹೊಟ್ಟೆ

ಹಾಗು ದಿವಾಕರನಂತೆ ಹೊಳೆಯುತ್ತಿದ್ದ ನನ್ನ ತಲೆ ಮೊಟ್ಟೆ

ಇವೆರಡಕ್ಕೆ ಆಗಿರ ಬೇಕು ವಯಸ್ಸೆಂದು

ನಕ್ಕು ಸುಮ್ಮನಾಗಿಬಿಟ್ಟೆ. 😀

ಬಿಡಲಿಲ್ಲ ಜನ, ಕರೆದರೂ "ಅಂಕಲ್, ಮಾಮ, ತಾತಾ"ಎಂದೆಲ್ಲಾ ಸಿಕ್ಕಾಪಟ್ಟೆ

ಮತ್ತೆ ಸುಮ್ಮನಾದೆ ಇರಲಿ ಅವರಿಗೆ ಕಿಚ್ಚಿನ ಹೊಟ್ಟೆ

ವಯಸ್ಸಾಯಿತೆಂದವರಿಗೆ  ಈ ವಾದ ಮುಂದಿಟ್ಟೆ

ಮೊಟ್ಟೆಗಿಂತ  ಮೇಲಿರುವುದೆಲ್ಲ ವಯಸ್ಸೆ !

ಸಾಧನೆಯು ಮುಖ್ಯ ನೋಡಿ...

ಗಳಿಸಿದ್ದೇನೆ  ಶ್ರಮವಹಿಸಿ - ಹೊಟ್ಟೆ

ಕೇಶ ತ್ಯಜಿಸಿ ಈ  ಮೊಟ್ಟೆ

ಆದರೂ ಆಳದಲ್ಲೆಲ್ಲೋ ಕೂಗು ಕೇಳಿತು "ದಪ್ಪನೆಯ ಕೋಳಿಮೊಟ್ಟೆ"

ಮಾಡೆಲೇನು ತಿಳಿಯದೆ ಸುಮ್ಮನೆ ಹಾಗೆ ಇದ್ದುಬಿಟ್ಟೆ😒

I have now got into the habit of writing something when waiting at airports or sitting in those long flights and it occurred to me that I haven’t blogged about baldness. Why not? Isn’t it an interesting subject that no one would argue or take sides and we can talk without splitting hairs (pun intended)? Wokes will still argue that I am body shaming! Well, I belong to an other generation and afford to poke fun (Seen inappropriate today).

So here it is, a collection of my thoughts about baldness….

T N Sheshan 

Of many a celebrity who were bald, TN Sheshan who really made us sit up and notice a position in the government machinery called “Chief Election Commissioner” (CEC), takes a lead position for me. 
The anecdote goes something like this…
When he was CEC, he was invited at a prestigious college to address the students. While many asked some serious questions about the Indian constitution and such, one student (I can guess that would be a back bencher) asked “Sir, can you comment about your baldness?”. Non pulsed  Mr. Sheshan, known for his wit, humour and repartee replied “My dear friend, God created a few perfect heads, and the rest he covered it up with hair”. 

So, I decided to attain perfection in some natural way and with the help of the guy to whom we all bow our heads  - The barber.

Decision to go bald

I blame it all or ascribe it on planting a sapling! Yes, that was the day that I decided to do something drastic like this. I had been to one of our factories and we had some customers visiting us. Some of us were asked to plant saplings. The photos came out to show the reality. There was a person crouching to plant the sapling with his face hidden to the camera, with a board in the front proclaiming that the sapling was being planted by yours truly. While I prided myself thinking I had not gone bald due to the seemingly camouflaging tufts in the front portion of my head, the stark reality hit me to see the photo showing a helicopter landing pad on the top of my head, which had a beautiful clearing without a H(air) written on it. 

Was I sad, morose, devastated, ashamed, angry? That, I don’t know. I definitely know that I had to take action as I have been a “man of action”.

Right after that episode, we had a trip to Germany and I looked at all the photos clicked to ensure that no photoshopping had been done by my team at the plant and in those “Sapling planting photos”. Photo after photo spoke the ultimate truth - yes, I was balding.

Not so happy me..

Genetics 

My dad, my elder brother all had/ has thick hair and definitely my “ATGC”, the genetic code was passed on from my maternal side with both the uncles being bald. I had to face the reality discovered by Dr.Watson & Dr. Krick.

On arriving in Namma Bengaluru, my wife and I went to a salon at the Woodrose club and when the hair stylist asked me as to what style I wanted my hair to be cut, without hesitation and great amount of decisiveness, I blurted out “Take everything out”. He was bewildered and thought that I was joking. He politely asked me again and with even more greater determination (and vengeance too), I looked at him squarely in his eyes and said “shave it off”. He wasn’t convinced and very discreetly he went to my wife and checked. I had not confided this plan with her, but she saw that determination and foolishness in my eyes (like she always does) and calmly said “Whatever Sir wants, go ahead and do it”.

So, that was the day I attained perfection. It was not under a Bodhi tree but it all happened while planting a tree!

The happier one

Born bald thaatha 

I remember my golfing partner and who inspired me to blog, Nidhi uncle narrating this to me. 

He was with his grand-daughter and was looking at some old photos which were taken when he was young and must have looked handsome with crowning glory. 

He pointed out to his grandchild and said this person was him.

The kid looked at him and the photo and resolutely replied “No thaatha that can’t be you as this person has hair and you don’t”. When he said that it was indeed him and during his younger days had a lot of hair on his head, the kid sympathetically looked at him and said “Thaatha you were born bald and have always been like this”. 

Well, I don’t have grand kids yet, but will perhaps have some such conversation about me having had a lush growth of hair on my now bald head - once upon a time, while I now live happily and  ever after.

College get together 

We were celebrating 40 years post our graduation and some 25 of us got together. 

We had a Superb mix of great heads. Some who had jet black thick set of hair (who looked frozen in time), some with white hair, but at least had hair, whatever be the colour and some of my category who we balding or had gone bald. 

One of the classmates had a sadistic and vicarious pleasure to single us out and insisting that all baldies should sit together on chairs, black haired ones to squat on the floor (just to prove that they are all still looking young) and all white haired one should stand behind us, the baldies. 

Needless to say that photos of the guys standing behind got “over exposed” due to the shining examples of perfections seated in front of them. 

Bald & Handsome 

Somewhere, someone commented that growing a beard might compensate to the lack of hair on the top of the head. At the least, you can still proudly possess a comb and run it on the facial hair.

While this sounded as a reasonable justification to grow a beard, I have faced strong resistance from the family and specifically from my wife. Still cannot fathom the reason (except that “you look old” or  “you look sick” comments.

At this age, I can only grow a “salt and pepper beard” with more of salt and a sprinkling of pepper.

So, I did decide to sport a beard for about three months in a year (October- December). As an exception, I extended that period into the beginning of 2025, much to the dismay and discomfort of “now you know who..”.

I was immensely pleased when my daughter and Son-in-law presented me with a gift of beard brush, which has possibly been my best gift in the recent years! 

Baldness described in history and literature

There are many sayings in many languages and my favourite in Kannada is “ಬೋಡಜ್ಜಿ ತುರುಬು ನೆನೆದಹಾಗೆ” (I will not bother to explain this).

I remember a nice Subashitha talking about misfortune stalking a person as per destiny and it uses the word “Khalvaataha” for a bald person. 

In Raghuvaṃśa, Kālidāsa makes an indirect reference to baldness in the context of old age and wisdom:

“न्यस्ताक्षरा यत्र पुराणवाचः

शनैः शनैः शीर्यति मूर्धजेषु॥”

(nyastākṣarā yatra purāṇavācaḥ

śanaiḥ śanaiḥ śīryati mūrdhajeṣu॥)

“Where the wise men, who have memorized ancient texts, slowly lose the hair on their heads (with age).”
This poetic verse equates baldness with aging scholars who have accumulated wisdom. 😇

“Gifting a comb to bald man”  is an other one that I can remember to express futility of giving something useless.

Some other interesting quotes…

“Grass does not grow on a busy street.” 
“Being bald is no disgrace. Being bald and still trying to comb over is a disgrace!” 
“I’m not bald. I’m just taller than my hair.” 

Wig, hair transplant, cap & hat.

If there is one thing that I hate, that is a wig. It is very personal. 

It is denying yourself of the truth and trying to live in a make believe world. It is the ultimate in refusing to accept reality and gracefully accept you as yourself.

I have similarly very strong opinion against grafting of hair and all such cosmetic stuff.

Come on, be a man and face it - is what I say to all those who indulge in this hypocrisy.

Wearing a cap, not to hide one’s baldness, but to protect one’s now exposed head from hot sun or cold breeze is perfectly acceptable and honourable. Caps or hats or turbans can come in various sizes and shapes and cover your baldness - not to hide the truth but to truthfully protect you.

I am a proud owner of multiple caps and hats bought and gifted to me, which I proudly wear, more so when I have to face the cold winter in Europe or US.

I have always fancied myself wearing a Mysuru peta (turban).

My Poorvaashrama

For sanyasis or monks who have rejected all materialistic wants and become monks, there is a concept called “Poorvaashrama” or that life before they renounced everything to become a monk. 

Similarly before I renounced of my hair (not necessarily voluntarily), I had my own story of thick black hair.

I used to comb my hair to my left side (major portion) unlike the majority who comb to their right. I had to remind the barber every time that I went to get my haircut that I am a leftist and that would perceptibly upset the rhythm of the barber.

Yes, that is me.. 3rd from the right!

Right after my engineering, I went to work at a dam site (Supa) and lived in a village nestled in the Dandeli forest area. My new found freedom demanded that I sport a long hair without my mother gazing down at me disapprovingly and I gleefully did. It became so long that once I had gone to my boss’s house in Dandeli and his wife looking at me from behind wondered if some girl had wandered into her house!

My daughter and I still fondly reminisce often that I had such a luxurious growth of black hair that she used to snuggle behind me, start to plait the hair making it into two small tufts and put some sort of rubber bands much to her delight, my mom and wife’s amusement, definitely my pride!

Alas, that’s all a distant dream now. 

I should not think of those days and remember that everything is “temporary” and we should not hold onto anything - neither desire nor desist. A state that we were taught in vipassana as “anichha”.

So, here I am at sixty plus, neither proud of my baldness nor having any remorse of loosing my hair. After all....

I don’t have any hair to loose, thinking about all these things.

Please share your thoughts in the comments section.

A collage of some of my bald friends / Celebrities.