Along with the wigs, several small decorative items such as hair ribbons, kohl, various kinds of combs, stickers women put on their foreheads, and jadagantalu, the bells that hang from long, plaited hair, are all on sale, displayed on a wooden rack she carried with her. Devani also makes and sells beautiful, long wigs for women apart from buying hair. We will buy hair from you!” she shouts once again.
She had been giving him the medicine they gave at the Government hospital thrice a day, but the fever hasn’t reduced. She touched him and realized he still had a fever. Her two-year-old is lying without movement in the bag, with eyes closed.
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Pushing the hair aside, she looked into her shoulder bag, which also functioned as a portable crib. But, the dry hair is clearly unable to withstand the wind now. She started at home after tying her long hair together. How long has it been since she applied some hair oil? The hair strands are too dry and are just flying in the air. Since spending any amount from that money would mean not having enough to pay those sellers, she has chosen to starve instead of buying something to eat.Ī strong wind blew Devani’s front hair away, covering her face with it. She has two hundred rupees with her to give to people who would sell their hair to her. Realizing that earning money is the only way to silence her mother-in-law, Devani took to the roads on an empty stomach early in the morning, soon after finishing her daily ablutions. Looking at Devani reminds her of her son, perhaps. So, Devani faces some harassment every day and her mother-in-law always taunts her. Her mother-in-law, who was good to Devani when her husband was alive, blamed her for his death. Her husband had died unable to handle the deceit of his business partner, not out of any disease. It has been three weeks since she had three meals a day. Her gait shows how tired she was, having eaten nothing since morning. She is thin, with a thinner face and sunken eyes. “We will buy your hair! Hundred rupees for a hundred grams of hair!” Devani walked into a street announcing her arrival.ĭevani is perhaps around thirty-five years old. With the author’s permission, I made the part where he explains the wig-making process longer, for clarity in the translated version. While translating, kinship terms, forms of address, and a few other culture-specific words are left untranslated, adding a brief explanation where needed. This story depicts one such wigmaker, who contemplates on the unsustainable nature of their trade in the present-day world, and takes a step towards self-reliance to support her small family. This competition for leftover hair made the life of the traditional wigmakers difficult, as they couldn't afford to pay such large amounts to buy the hair needed to make the wigs. Selling hair is now a lucrative business and some larger temples even hold auctions to sell such hair, with bidders from other countries willing to pay millions of rupees.
However, changing lifestyles changed this traditional setup, and hair became a valuable commodity traded for large amounts of money. They made the wigs at home and sold them in the market to earn their livelihood. In addition to these, they also traded fallen hair strands from private householders offering small items such as combs in return.
Wigmakers in the part of South India where the story happens traditionally relied on the hair they collected from barbers and temples where devotees tonsured their hair. It depicts the life of a traditional wigmaker. Translator’s Note: This short story first appeared in Telugu about a decade ago in the author’s short story collection bearing the name of this story itself. Telugu title: సిక్కెంటిక/sikkeMTika (Tr: Tangled Hair), Translation by V.B.Sowmya
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