Swaati that is ingenious writing. So straight from the heart that I am sure it leaves most of your readers thinking about their body, with a new perspective 🙏
Swaati! Swaati, you are a magician! If I had to highlight what I loved, I would have to copy the whole post here. But this bit is pure gold - “Many people think of the classical dance costume as a uniform or a code that objectifies the person dancing, but I found in it, the opposite: I was freed of the body I have always lived in, and the aesthetics that have always defined it. In the costume, I feel I am whittled down to my essence; this non-Swaati knows how to express the Swaati I truly am.”
As always, you have brought your loving, direct gaze to a body part and described it in such detail that I am thinking anew of my relationship with my hair. I have only now in the recent past learned to love it for what it is - a curly, hell-raising, moody mess. Thank you for this post ❤️
This brought up many hair related memories of my dad, who I lost two decades ago, so thank you for that! His famously inept braids on school mornings when mum was away were legendary among friends and teachers. They marked me as that special girl whose mother was a professional and therefore not always available! As that special girl whose daddy played mommy sometimes.
This is such a heartwarming memory, I really loved reading it, Mukta. Thankyou for sharing it with me. Reminds me of all the 'dads hair school' workshops that cropped up in the US during the pandemic - I love watching those videos :)
It is always a good time to read Swaati. I thought about my own hair while reading about yours and felt a new tenderness for their perfect imperfections
Thankyou for being the original reader of this essay and then enjoying it again! I'm loving how everyone is reading about my hair and winding back to their own. This is true validation for someone who sat on this post for 6 months, second-guessing herself, and thinking, "why would anyone want to read about my hair?" :D
Thank you, for this reclamation of what is yours, by first playing with it and then nourishing as it is. Your prose always leaves me feeling like hair after generous conditioning. 💘
This is such a Swaati essay - with thoughts on hair that the rest of us cannot even imagine to begin having! I guess you cannot keep a good girl (hairstyle) down😊 Btw I had to zoom into the pic with the pink backpack to see who it was!!
:D Such an Alaknanda compliment, love you for that! To be honest, even I had to zoom into pink backpack girl photo a few times after digging it out for this essay 😀
Such a beautiful write up Swaati! So much of what you said resonates so much! The boxes we are put in as children, the constant and impossible quest to gain the approval of…someone and yes, the hesitation to make our desires known, even simply having a partner comb through it…sigh…thank you so much for sharing!
I loved every word of it. This reminded me about my relationship with my hair. Whenever something wrong goes in life, I just do something different with my hair. Cut, straighten, soon will colour. The point being you have beautifully described how hair is everything but actually nothing. Loved it.
So right, glorious waste that it is! I guess this is what being human means - ascribing stories where there are apparently none :) Thankyou for reading, Jigyasa ❤️
"French plaits still evoke long sighs in me; it is still some sort of a fantasy of mother-daughter love in my head." Currently raising a 11yo girl and after experiencing the same in recent months, I've come to realise the importance of hair for any girl, including my little one. While I'm awful at making any braids, I make sure my girl knows I'm trying. We watch YouTube videos and try what we can. It's such a huge deal for her. I'm learning to relish it too :) also, she loves it when I give her a weekly massage :) Thank you for writing this, Swaati. My mother and I have returned to oiling our hair too. We make a homemade concoction of oils and I've recently learned to play around with herbs to pamper my family - like making rosemary leave-in spray for everyone :) Wow! I didn't know I had so much to share lol
Swaati, this reads like a photo essay with snapshots from your life giving the reader a glimpse into your relationship with your hair. Your hair are like a character with whom your bond evolves through the different phases of time. So many beautiful lines. So many significant memories. This is the kind of essay that would make anybody take a pause and look in the mirror, at their own hair and wonder. ❤️
Swaati that is ingenious writing. So straight from the heart that I am sure it leaves most of your readers thinking about their body, with a new perspective 🙏
Thankyou Manju. As a fellow dancer - that too from the same style - your observations always mean a lot to me :)
🙏🏻
Swaati! Swaati, you are a magician! If I had to highlight what I loved, I would have to copy the whole post here. But this bit is pure gold - “Many people think of the classical dance costume as a uniform or a code that objectifies the person dancing, but I found in it, the opposite: I was freed of the body I have always lived in, and the aesthetics that have always defined it. In the costume, I feel I am whittled down to my essence; this non-Swaati knows how to express the Swaati I truly am.”
As always, you have brought your loving, direct gaze to a body part and described it in such detail that I am thinking anew of my relationship with my hair. I have only now in the recent past learned to love it for what it is - a curly, hell-raising, moody mess. Thank you for this post ❤️
Thankyou Binu, you really have an eye for the lines I try to sneak away :) Love your hair (grass is greener and all that, heh).
This brought up many hair related memories of my dad, who I lost two decades ago, so thank you for that! His famously inept braids on school mornings when mum was away were legendary among friends and teachers. They marked me as that special girl whose mother was a professional and therefore not always available! As that special girl whose daddy played mommy sometimes.
This is such a heartwarming memory, I really loved reading it, Mukta. Thankyou for sharing it with me. Reminds me of all the 'dads hair school' workshops that cropped up in the US during the pandemic - I love watching those videos :)
It is always a good time to read Swaati. I thought about my own hair while reading about yours and felt a new tenderness for their perfect imperfections
Thankyou for being the original reader of this essay and then enjoying it again! I'm loving how everyone is reading about my hair and winding back to their own. This is true validation for someone who sat on this post for 6 months, second-guessing herself, and thinking, "why would anyone want to read about my hair?" :D
Lovely and yes envious too
:) I want to say sorry (heck, privilege of this sort is hard!)
Same!
Thank you, for this reclamation of what is yours, by first playing with it and then nourishing as it is. Your prose always leaves me feeling like hair after generous conditioning. 💘
You always compliment with the sweetest analogies, Raju. Thankyou, I love being read by you :)
This is such a Swaati essay - with thoughts on hair that the rest of us cannot even imagine to begin having! I guess you cannot keep a good girl (hairstyle) down😊 Btw I had to zoom into the pic with the pink backpack to see who it was!!
:D Such an Alaknanda compliment, love you for that! To be honest, even I had to zoom into pink backpack girl photo a few times after digging it out for this essay 😀
Such a beautiful write up Swaati! So much of what you said resonates so much! The boxes we are put in as children, the constant and impossible quest to gain the approval of…someone and yes, the hesitation to make our desires known, even simply having a partner comb through it…sigh…thank you so much for sharing!
You read straight into the heart of the essay... thankyou Reshma 🌻
I loved every word of it. This reminded me about my relationship with my hair. Whenever something wrong goes in life, I just do something different with my hair. Cut, straighten, soon will colour. The point being you have beautifully described how hair is everything but actually nothing. Loved it.
So right, glorious waste that it is! I guess this is what being human means - ascribing stories where there are apparently none :) Thankyou for reading, Jigyasa ❤️
"French plaits still evoke long sighs in me; it is still some sort of a fantasy of mother-daughter love in my head." Currently raising a 11yo girl and after experiencing the same in recent months, I've come to realise the importance of hair for any girl, including my little one. While I'm awful at making any braids, I make sure my girl knows I'm trying. We watch YouTube videos and try what we can. It's such a huge deal for her. I'm learning to relish it too :) also, she loves it when I give her a weekly massage :) Thank you for writing this, Swaati. My mother and I have returned to oiling our hair too. We make a homemade concoction of oils and I've recently learned to play around with herbs to pamper my family - like making rosemary leave-in spray for everyone :) Wow! I didn't know I had so much to share lol
Thinking of your little one's rosemary-scented French plait and feeling all the warm and fuzzy feelings, Sanobar 🫶🏼
Wow... Just wow... and I don't mean your hair, which is cool too though. ☺️
Thankyou Vinay. It's a surprising new feeling, my hair being mentioned as an afterthought :)
🤣
Swaati, this reads like a photo essay with snapshots from your life giving the reader a glimpse into your relationship with your hair. Your hair are like a character with whom your bond evolves through the different phases of time. So many beautiful lines. So many significant memories. This is the kind of essay that would make anybody take a pause and look in the mirror, at their own hair and wonder. ❤️
thankyou Parool, you always find the subtle, riverine connections in an essay that no one else has noticed before!