woes of a strange minority

Around the world minoritites suffer from troubles of various kinds-they maybe dying of starvation, their houses may have been bombed, lost loved ones............ the list is endless. But since i live a protected life, to me my suffering is great. I suffer from a bad dose of curly hair. Since the day i was born i have had curly hair. Now this wouldnt have been a problem was i living in the west, but in india, i belong to a minority- people with naturally curly hair. Due to the fact that i belong to this minority, i have had to face a lot of prejudice. I have never been given a part in any of the school plays because of my hair.....afterall which mythological character has curly hair. So i suffered.I was also called names like maggi (as in the two minute noodles) all my life. It was not just the prejudice that i had to deal with but awful questions too. let me give you the top 5:
1.Which beautyparlour do you perm your hair?2. Is your hair real?3. can i touch your hair?4. why do all malayalee people have curly hair?(i am the only one in my huge malayalee joint family who has curly hair)5.why do have to be so snobbish and perm your hair ? cant you be natural?
But it isnt only the questions. When i accompanied a friend to a beauty parlour, the beautician very pointedly told me that I had a very bad perm done because it looked so artificial. Ah!! the miseries i had to suffer.But having curly hair isnt that bad either. There are lots of benefits too. It proves to be a very important tool to understand Watson & Cricks model of the DNA. Also being a minority makes me stand out in a crowd. It is also a nice prop to entertain little children. And most of all it is my crowning glory. It is a part of my identity and no matter how much i crib about it, i love my hair. Now all i need is a handsome curly haired hunk for myself so that this minority doesnt end with me. Anyone?

IGNORANCE IS BLISS???

Knowledge is power. That’s what we are taught all our lives. But what they forget to teach us is that in life we don’t always have the knowledge of what lies ahead. I, like a lot of other people, was obsessed with the knowledge of future. I wanted to know what would be the end before I even began. I wouldn’t watch a movie without knowing how it ended. The last page of a book was the first page I read. It gave me a sense of power to know what the characters of the book didn’t. This obsession took its toll on my life as well. I wouldn’t begin my day until I read the daily horoscope. I wouldn’t commit myself to any task until I knew what the outcome would be. I even hated surprises. I wanted to know about everything and anything. Then one night as I was stumbling down a dark, unlit street, I had a light bulb moment. I realized life is quite like walking in the dark. One doesn’t know what lies ahead. Each step is filled with the terror of tripping on a stone or falling into a pothole or even stepping on a snake. But there is a great thrill of surviving each step; an excitement that dilutes the terror, a sense of invincibility that makes life worth living. Now I no longer obsess about knowing everything. I let life surprise me. And the last page of the book is the last page I read.