Dheeraj Kalgutkar

Photo by Nick Karvounis on Unsplash   The perennial excuse of our maid after taking an unannounced holiday which has become ever so often now is that she did come in the morning and rang our doorbell but we did not open the door for her. For long both of us who stay in the house have believed this excuse. Not because she did and we did not. Simply because we thought of letting it pass, giving her the benefit of doubt. There have been days like today when my friend was up since 5 AM due to some exam of his and know for sure that there was no doorbell ringing, but over the months he too has learnt the art of letting it go. “Aunty plays with us” is our constant topic of conversation. And in this game of her, she has been winning all this while. She didn’t come today morning too. And naturally, we had our usual “Arey yaar, ye aunty aaj bhi nahi aayi (Oh man, this maid didn’t even come today)” conversation and went out to have breakfast. On our way back in the dark parkin...

If there is one place in the entire universe where men talk men stuff openly without any inhibitions and holding back, it must be The Barbershop. Hands Down. In a vast infinite cosmos it is one place where men bitch about the other sex without worrying about the other sex listening to them. Imagine it as some exclusive-for-men holy shrine. Barbering is a cult without the formal ‘cult’ status from any authority because hey! which cult cares for outside authority? Barber is our leader, the priest. The men, his flock. Barber is no ordinary man. He knows about you without your’ uttering a word. He knows when you had your last haircut. He knows what haircut suits you and what won’t. At Barber’s, men indulge in men-talk. Even historically, barber’s place have been known to be social gathering venues where men gather for their daily share of gossips and news. It is where they religiously join for their share of stress release. You thought only women banter? Well, men ...