Illustration/Uday Mohite

I took our mum Indu Shedde, who is 91 years old, for her first salon haircut recently. At that age, you're into your second childhood, and there's a real sense of discovery about the smallest things. In some matters, Amma has been bindaas; in others, the epitome of conservatism. Her thick, black, waist-long plait of hair was one of those non-negotiable things: no question of a haircut. She always had a long plait; two in her college days, going by her black and white photographs.