The moment I stepped in this foreign land, the first thing I noticed is the number of nail spas. In every corner, you will find one with either the glow sign “Open” or “Closed”. That triggered my curiosity to a great extent as I was a naive in this field. Big nails and I were never synonymous. My childhood was ‘so-called’ associated with this habit of onychophagy or in layman terms nail biting. Every now and then, I would put my fingers in my mouth and tear off that unwanted portion, or till I knew it was the limit and any further would land me in trouble. The best part was that I was spared from the weekly nail checks in class as the teacher always found them to be the tiniest and worst. I was the subject of my parents’ annoyance because of this. No sooner the girl in me realized that nail biting is a symbol of nervousness, I refrained from the same. But as I grew, my eagerness to sport those perfect nails increased manifold. Looking at my friends colorful big nails, I used to feel as a laggard. Those days there was no permutation or combination of nail colors, but one single shade applied uniformly in all fingers. Once with utmost perseverance, I tried and succeeded in growing those big nails, but I couldn’t hold it for long as due to an injury I had to apply bandage on one of my fingers leading to the chopping off of the rest. That day I decided, “No, it’s enough I am not going to try it anymore”, but till how long?
My mind surrendered to my heart’s urge to do my nails before the big day, i.e., my wedding. With lots of effort, I could come up with that size of the white layer which always topped my wish list. “How could the bridal make-up be complete without beautiful and perfectly done nails?” I thought.
My effort showed results as all the pictures came out perfect, but the moment I saw my mother-in-law, my nails were temporarily back to its old place, between two layers of white choppers, obviously, out of anxiety. Marriage, followed by pregnancy, stopped me from having those set of grown up nails as the thought of hurting my little one loomed over me.
Finally, now that my kids have crossed the toddler stage I decided to have those extra-long square-shaped nails with pastel shades. The spa being a stone’s throw from my place I thought of getting my nails done before I start with my household chores. Half an hour of churning, cleaning, scrubbing, and at last, my artificial nails were ready… so big, beautiful, and glowing. It was so picture perfect that it pushed me to an extent where I couldn’t control myself looking at those time and again. I was happy as all my ten long fingers were emitting that sparkling radiance.
Back home, things were all scattered which deviated my attention from the new addition. Neck deep in work, I forgot that there’s this set of ten lifeless extensions which needed to be taken care of. As soon as I marinated the chicken with the turmeric and chili powder, my entire set of perfect five of right hand turned yellow. So now, I was sporting two different shades… left hand light pink and right hand yellow. Weird, but true…
But, my problems didn’t end here. As soon as I started making the dough for roti, I witnessed unwanted foreign material getting inside those extensions. Not only that, suddenly phone typing had also become difficult and hence, all my enthusiasm went for a toss and I decided to be back to my regular smaller, cuter ones. But this definitely was an eye-opener which made me realize that like every other thing, both long and short nails have their pros and cons, but what matters most is their cleanliness, which contributes immensely to the personal hygiene of our body.
