“Colour?” she asked
I nodded my head in the affirmative. Splaying my fingers
to look at them properly, I waited for the basket of nail polish bottles to be
brought before me.
I became addicted to pedicure and manicure in the four
years that I spent in Mumbai. There of course it was a sacred ritual! Every
sitting would take at least an hour to complete and I would come off feeling
refreshed. In Alex, I still have not found a similar treatment! I do indulge
myself in it once in a while and have till now come out feeling dissatisfied.
This girl was better than the others, she at least held
me gently unlike others who would do an excuse of a manicure and everything
would be over in ten minutes! I started thinking of how much I should give her as
a tip.
She came back with the basket and broke into a flood of
Arabic. I looked at her questioningly. She took out three colours and showed
them to me I thought she wanted me to choose and I asked her to show me the
basket. Another flood of Arabic and plenty of gesticulations and I helplessly
nodded my head. Her face was lit up with a huge smile and I surrendered my
nails to her. I was a little apprehensive but I didn’t want to disappoint her.
Worst comes to worst I would go home and remove it…
Just before she started, an irate customer came and
started complaining about her nails. The poor girl tried to pacify her. Even
the owner of the parlour came into the fray and said they would do it again but
the customer threw harsh sounding words at her and walked off. The poor girl
was in tears while she tried to explain to her boss. All this while I looked at
my nails and wondered what would be my fate!
She went in and came back in a calmer mood and smiled a
teary smile at me and took my hand gently in hers and began on her masterpiece.
She bent her head and put the base coat…. I was still anxious about the fact
that it may not suit my fingers. I looked here and there but my eyes would get
riveted at what she was doing. A pale pearly pink colour followed and I thought
that was it and waved my fingers about to dry them. She started on my toes with
the same process and I was quite happy with the colour and relaxed. She took my
hand again and using white and red colours made pretty flowers on them. It
looked awesome. I started watching how she was doing them and felt it was quite
easy and I was convinced I could do them at home!
I was thrilled with what she had done and gave her a
large tip and told her boss that she had done a great job. It was wonderful to
see the smile on everyone’s face.
I showed off the nail art to everyone at home pretending
that I had done it myself! (I was quite sure I could do it myself and I was a
little embarrassed that I did this without knowing about it!)
Soon it was time to refresh my nails. I removed the now
fading nail art and went searching for different nail art on the internet!
There were plenty and there were directions on how to do them. Putting all
instructions together with my memory, I sat down to begin my art.
Alas! I tried at least ten times it never came right. The
left hand would be ok but the right hand would be a mess; sometimes the thumb
picture would be good but the ring finger would be a blotch. Nobody could
accuse me for not trying! The whole bottle of nail polish remover got over so I
had to stop trying. With a heavy heart I just put a normal colour sans the art
and kept quiet. The pound of cotton I wasted would have paid for the art in the
parlour. Anyway I had to get rid of all the signs of my crime as it was already
three thirty- time for the brat to come home. I didn’t want to be laughed at.
I was so frustrated that I bought myself a nail art kit.
But still it never looked as good as the one the girl had done! (I wasted many
hours, remover and cotton again!)
I learnt a few lessons- never lie; never think art is
easy it just looks easy! Appreciate others effort honestly- it not only gives
the receiver happiness it gives you happiness too. Happiness is precious; even
a small smile is worth its weight in gold! Here is my confession and I feel
loads lighter laughing at myself.
One advice, try nail art, it really is an amazing
extension of miniature painting!
