The hair fair

On the northern side of Dholgram, a very large field hosts a fair every year–a Hair Fair, where people gather to show off their hair. The one who has the longest hair gets the highest honour. All kinds of hair can be seen–entangled, shiny, untidy, thin, black, and grey–all sorts of hairy people come. A thousand more audiences join them as well. The spectacle of hair dazzles everyone's eyes, and at the end of the event, judges announce the awards. The poets recite their poems, artists paint their masterpieces.

As the daylight fades into the darker night, another kind of fair takes place. When the spectators fall asleep, the long-haired people secretly unfold their razors and jump onto one another's heads to cut their hair. They proclaim: "I cannot tolerate your hair". Everyone's head becomes bloody with the razors' strokes.

*This flash fiction is inspired from the occurrence of 2025, when a specific organisation forcefully cut the hair of many of the homeless street people in Dhaka who kept long hair and beard intentionally.

Translated from Bangla by Sabreena Ahmed.

Ekram Kabir is a Bangladeshi storyteller.

Dr Sabreena Ahmed is Associate Professor at the Department of English and Humanities, Brac University, and a translator.