There are uncountable websites,
forums and blogs dedicated to R2I. People have innumerable reasons to go back
to India, or stay in the US. There are miles-long debates on how much money to
make before going back. Heartrending accounts of helpless parents that need to
be taken care of back home. Endless discussions about children growing up here
versus there. Scary stories about immigration hassles and visas and legal
complications. Heated arguments about spouses and meddlesome in-laws and food
and grocery shopping and family vacations and even Indian vs. Western clothes.
In my quest to understand the challenges and issues of R2I, I have read them
all. And yet, not one has talked about one of my primary- and very important-
motivators to go back to India. The cheap cost of the beauty parlor!
It was effortlessly easy to get
all my beauty needs met in India. Homemade beauty parlors have sprouted in
every gali-nukkad in most every city there.
Usually, some enterprising woman has converted her verandah/outhouse/ garage
into serving as a makeshift beauty salon, where inexpensive, but almost always
great, service was rendered. Body hair irritating me- step in for a quick
waxing session. Need eyebrows done in an emergency, walk around the corner to
the parlor. Ladke-waale coming over to
meet without prior notice - one quick phone call, and the parlor lady cycled
home. Within an hour or two, I was transformed from a hirsute disheveled mess into
a well-groomed gleaming specimen of womanhood.
I was so used to taking these
luxuries for granted. Imagine my shock when I landed in the USA and found out
that eyebrow threading would cost me $20, as opposed to Rs. 20 in India. And
that was just the tip of the iceberg. As a poor grad student, I quickly learnt
that waxing, facials etc. would now be done once a year- on my yearly trip back
home. I became adept at using tweezers (or as we call it in India, the plucker),
for everything from stray eyebrow hair to my budding moustache. I managed to
survive on that one solitary yearly facial, umm, two now, one the day I landed
in India and one the day I flew out.
However, as I grow older, I find the
need to add more and more stuff to my beauty regimen. Regular hair coloring,
for one. My growing beard, for another. Monthly facials to firm up that sagging
skin. Bi-weekly eyebrow threading- can’t turn up in office looking like a
frowning bear. Not to mention the manicures and pedicures to have decent
looking hands and feet. Cleaning up hairy arms and legs (this atleast gets a
brief respite in winter).Throw in an occasional massage, a few bleaches, a
couple of face scrubs, and the bill can run to hundreds of dollars.
Yes, aging is expensive business.
But it is all the more expensive in this country, where I have to spend $300 to
look like I did naturally 3 years ago! Women in India, count your blessings and
thank your stars. Last time I was there, I spent a total of Rs. 2000’ish for
everything (yes, you got it. Every single thing mentioned above, and a few
unmentionable ones as well ;-) ). The joys of living in a small, inexpensive
town in India! I would have spent upward of $500 for all the same stuff here.
I know that as more time elapses,
my reliance on my beauty parlor will only increase. As age spots show up on my
skin, more grey hair gives me minor strokes, when I see crow’s feet emanating from
my eyes, all I will do is run for help. Straight into the nearest beauty salon!
Which is why I wonder, why is
such an important topic not being discussed? Given the high cost of living in
the US (I live in Silicon Valley, CA, which is ridiculously expensive), every
little thing matters. When we talk of saving money, how can we not account for
the fact that this aging business will make us spend much more over time (ever
noticed how expensive hair color is)? This is the one thing that will matter
more and more as time goes by.
Cheap
beauty salon services are not to be derided at. Spending that kind of money in
the US always feels criminal to me, because in my mind I am always comparing it
to the costs in India. Yet, I have no choice at the moment. So this just might
be the tipping point for me to R2I, if not right now, a few years down the
line. But maybe, by then, I’ll be comparing the relative costs of Botox!
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