A few years ago, I received a phone call and heard just sobs. It was my one of my daughter's godmothers who had lung cancer. Midst sobs, she shared with me that she could not bare to see the clumps of hair that had fallen on the pillow. I rushed over to her place and spent some time with her. This friend had a wig from Australia, many chiffon scarves. She wore a wig once and we all got scared and ended up laughing as it was so not like her! Then she did scarves very briefly. Finally she felt easy with just her bald head. We all agreed she looked like a "boy monk".

Before chemotherapy, an artist with very long hair, went across to the Oberoi Salon and had her head shaved. I am not sure if the Salon charged her for a full hair cut. It's a question I'd like to ask the Salon. If I were the Manager, I would have offered the haircut gratis.

The hair loss brings home the reality of cancer. You look different. When the eyebrows vanish, you look more different. How we all embrace this difference, I suppose, changes our outlook on life.