The Dance of Faith by R. Seshasayee

Author:R. Seshasayee
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: null
Publisher: HarperCollins India
Published: 2020-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

Anandhi was Ayesha that evening.

All that the morphing required was to wrap the white thuppatti around her sari and over her head, and not wear the pottu on her forehead. The toggle on the religion switches was simple enough.

Ayesha was grinding maruthani leaves on the stone mortar with the pestle, and the paste was collecting as shy green balls in a cup. She paused to look at her palms, which had turned deep orange with the dye of the leaves. She loved the smell of the wet leaves.

‘Hmm … this is very good quality maruthani,’ she smelt her palms with great satisfaction.

Ahmed had begun to fret over the early sprouts of grey hair over his forehead and in his whiskers. Recently, he had indulged in a haircut at an expensive salon in Salem whose enterprising barber, running his fingers through Ahmed’s hair, had asked if it wasn’t time for him to think about colouring.

‘Men colour their hair?’ Ahmed asked in astonishment.

‘Yes, in Madras and Bombay they all do. Many have begun to do it here too,’ the barber had said. ‘What’s wrong in looking good? You are a handsome man, and it will be nice on you.’

‘You think I am handsome?’ asked Ahmed, eager to hear the compliment repeated.

‘Sir, to be honest, you look like MGR!’ the barber dutifully said.

Ahmed narrated this exchange with some pride to Anandhi, in the hope of hearing her approval of the enterprise of hair colouring. ‘Since these are early days, no one has noticed my grey hair as yet, so it’s a good time to start colouring,’ he said.

Anandhi was aghast.

‘Never heard of men dyeing their hair! You must be mad to think of it,’ she said.

‘Which law says men can’t colour their hair?’ Zaheer, who had overheard, said irritably. ‘Why are men expected to look drab and boring?’

‘Men don’t like colours. They don’t like what women like. Jewels, for example,’ Anandhi said.

‘Nonsense, some men do, and I can’t see why they should be stopped,’ Zaheer said.

‘There are some rules. We should check with Wazir Periappa,’ Anandhi said cautiously. Anandhi would often consult Wazir, her brother-in-law, what the religious prescriptions were with regard to many everyday matters. Wazir was always eager to guide. (There were difficulties sometimes, when Hindu and Islam practices were in conflict, but she made temporary choices that were convenient and ensured domestic peace.)

When Anandhi raised the matter of hair colour with him, Wazir smiled and pointed to his flaming red mop. ‘Of course men can colour their hair; in fact, old men should use henna or maruthani. Prophet (Peace Be upon Him), has actually observed that old men looked handsome with hair dyed yellow and orange.’

‘Not black?’ Anandhi enquired. She didn’t think Ahmed would look good with orange hair.

‘Never,’ Wazir said. ‘It is just not allowed to dye the hair black. It is the Hadith narrated by Abu Dawood,’ Wazir elaborated.

So, it was settled that Ahmed would use maruthani.

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