Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Hairy Story...

I am losing hair. I admit it. The density of hair on my head is gradually reducing exposing my scalp. Let me not blame it on heredity, pollution, harmful computer radiation or whatever.

I see more than 50% of the men today are losing hair (NOT bald). It is most common in the cities.
There are generally 3 stages in men losing hair: 1) Ignore, 2) Preserve and 3) Give up.
Most of them blame it on pollution, environmental conditions, hard water, harmful computer radiations, heredity, bad food etcetera.

Thankfully there are a few women who think that bald is also beautiful. These women have realized that it is the stuff inside the head that matters rather than the stuff on it.

How serious is this problem?
Well, one of my friend almost gave up on his PhD because of this. This guy decided to fly to the US for his PhD this year. Being a victim of hair loss, a few of us told him about the chances of him getting a bride after his PhD (that is after 6 - 8 years) with the current hair fall rate + US climate + PhD pressure. The chances were as good as driving a car without a single scratch in Bangalore! Finally, after a lot of thought, he decided to fly.

My former roommate used to tease me a lot for my "premature" hair loss. However, one day, he suddenly understood the grimness of the issue as he began spotting hair less patches on his scalp. He then began a series of rescue attempts to save the existing hairy patches. Being a tanker for a boozer, he decided to cut down on booze, started applying all varieties of hairy oils, got home all kinds of mild shampoos and conditioners, shielded his declining hair from pollution, started eating more nutritious food. Altogether he changed his entire life style for sake of his hair. The best part for me was that he cut down on teasing me. We then decided to start a club for all men losing hair.

The story of my current roommate is no different. This guy too used to tease me a lot. One day standing in front of the mirror, he noticed that his hair is no more thick as it used to be a couple of years ago. There were a couple of hairless patches here and there. Initially, he ignored the situation. But as days passed by, hairless patches were everywhere. He was desperately trying to cover them up by spreading his short curly hair over them. Now even though it was my turn to tease him, I didn't. I consoled him and wholeheartedly invited him to join our club. But it gives me immense pleasure to watch him cover his hairless patches on his scalp with this funny expression of a dying old man on his face every morning.

There was this guy in my school who had every inch of his body covered with hair. We used to call him Jadendra. After school, I met him recently. Shockingly, the guy has become bald as an eagle. He too was shocked to see the left over patch of hair on my head. Poor guy then blamed his condition on malnutrition, harmful computer rays and horrible pollution of Bangalore. There are many stories like this, of people who have lost hair suddenly.

Parents and relatives become extremely worried when the guys start shedding (hair). They give a lot of advice on oils, oil bath, home made remedies, herbal medicines and even suggesting an early marriage. I guess, all this will result in more rapid hair fall. One of my colleague decided to take treatment for hair loss from one of these Before - After quacks. Medicines he got played with his hormone system which promptly took away all the left over hair on his head.

Hair loss is like Global warming. It just happens.
So, 1) if you are a hair loss victim, don't worry, have patience. Its like Global warming, its gonna affect everybody around you.
2) if you are not a victim, stop teasing people, you can be the next victim. Step up the precautionary measures

Situation in my company and the slow down continues to inspire me to write more. I appreciate it!

Monday, August 11, 2008

Blogging...

Wow! I got a lot of feedback for my previous blog. A few angry words, a few threats and a few sympathies. So, first of all DISCLAIMER. The guy I wrote about in the previous blog is definitely NOT me. The blog is NOT directed towards any particular person. It was intended to be generic. All the experiences recorded in the blog are NOT fictional also and resemblance to any person(living) proves that I am right!

This is all because of my company. A few days back, I
got an SMS. It said that an organization is like a tree full of Monkeys. All on different branches, at different levels. Some climbing up and some climbing down. The monkeys on the top look down and see a tree full of smiling monkey faces. The monkeys below look up and see nothing but a$$ h0
£€$. This is quite true at my work place. I work as a software engineer for this big multinational company (which I don't want to name and spoil the brand name). The company is so good that they have decided not to make me (and people like me around here) work. This has pushed me to cultivate a lot of hobbies like blogging, watching movies, listening to music, chatting, orkutting, jogging etc. Slow down is such a nice time to relax.

Recently, I had grown a beard which had been the center of attraction and criticism. It was interesting to see what all people branded me for a patch of facial hair. I was
scolded, threatned and emotionally blackmailed to shave it off. For all those people who slung mud on my innocent beard, go find something else, I got rid of it.

I can't think of anything controversial right now. I will end this here. I hope that the recession continues to give me enough time to enjoy blogging.