Hairy tales
Updated On: 23 June, 2024 08:23 AM IST | Mumbai | Meenakshi Shedde
Somehow, I sensed that the short hair was probably the biggest blasphemy. Malayali men have a fetish for women with long hair, and I suspect, Indian men in general
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Illustration/Uday Mohite
And so it was, that I found myself in a toddy shop in a small village off Thrissur, Kerala, drinking with men in mundus. This was years ago: I was broke, had no job, and thought, for some reason, that a photo feature on duck farms in Kerala, shimmering on the water, would be an easy sell (I never sold the story). At Thrissur station, I told the rickshaw guy, “Duck farm. Photo.” “Address, madam?” “No address.” Finally after an adventurous photo shoot, I was ravenously hungry at noon. “Hotel? Oota? Eat. Where?” I asked, as my Malayalam is abysmal. No hotel madam, only toddy shop. What? OK, they’ll have some tapioca? Very good fish and tapioca madam. And so we walked into a toddy shop, made of a few wooden planks and coconut leaf thatch roof, and I invited him to join me, as he hadn’t eaten either. Aiyyo, what a scandal I caused!
Six local Malayali men in mundus were drinking copiously in the bar—and at 12 noon, imagine. They glared at me so ferociously, it was clear they were outraged that a woman had walked into their sacred, all-male space. The rickshaw guy ordered steamed tapioca and chemmeen (prawn) curry for us—and insisted I try the drink. I remember he said it was mathirakal, hazy white, and less fermented than the kaalu, toddy or palm wine, that the men were guzzling. The food was terrific; it was really an accompaniment to the booze. I tried to decode the outrageous glares that continued throughout, with nasty comments and jokes in Malayalam that I could not understand. Later, I understood my multiple transgressions: women don’t go to rural toddy shops in Kerala; I was wearing a shirt-pant; and I had short hair, a “boy cut”, and I was eating with my rickshaw driver. Somehow, I sensed that the short hair was probably the biggest blasphemy. Malayali men have a fetish for women with long hair, and I suspect, Indian men in general.
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