One Indian Girl by Chetan Bhagat

thigh, then put a white strip of cloth, six inches long and two inches wide, on that. Hair clung to it. I
felt the Armageddon coming.
‘Can’t you give local anaesthesia or.. .oww.. .oww.. .oww.. .’
‘Relax, honey,’ Catherine said.
I clenched my teeth and closed my eyes. I imagined myself in the Middle East. They punish
women with lashes if they do something awful like driving a car, offering men their opinions or
something totally immoral like exposing their elbows in public.
‘Fifty lashes for Radhika.’ I imagined a fatwa on me as Catherine went to work. She finished
my legs from the front and flipped me around. I felt like a fish being scaled before dinner.
‘You don’t want a Brazilian?’ Catherine asked me. ‘It is only fifteen dollars more.’
‘What’s that?’ I said. Catherine rolled her eyes.
‘It’s everything gone, honey. Down there too.’
It took me a second to figure out what she meant. Then I realized the embarrassment and pain
involved.
‘Do girls do it?’ I said.
‘Everyone, honey. The boys don’t like them bushes anymore.’
Okay, I thought. It’s only fifteen dollars more. I am Indian after all, and Indians like
bargains, even if they involve pain.
‘You want it?’ Catherine said.
Maybe I can do this. This is not for Debu or tonight. This is for me. Enough of being a
frumpy nerd, Radhika. Do it.
‘Sure, I’ll take the Brazilian,’ I said.
I don’t want to go into the details of what happened next. It started with Catherine examining
bits of me nobody else ever had, while she shook her head in disapproval. After that she applied
molten wax on body parts that were clearly never meant to ever come in contact with molten wax.
Why do we women put ourselves through this? Why can’t boys.. .oww.. .oww.. .oww.
I think I would prefer the lashes in Saudi Arabia.
‘There we go,’ Catherine said after her ten-minute sadism experiment ended.
‘I might faint,’ I said.
‘You will get used to it,’ Catherine said. ‘Trust me, he will love it.’
There is no he, I wanted to tell her. I am only going to have wonton soup with him. Not wanton
sex.
Catherine came back with a strip of crystal dots.
‘And as a special promotion, we are giving all customers who got a Brazilian a free
Swarovski service. Allow me. This won’t hurt at all.’
I couldn’t believe what happened next. Catherine made a pattern with thirty crystals down
there.
Once done, she told me to stand up and look into the mirror.
‘I look like a stripper,’ I said.
‘You look sexy.’
‘I can’t walk out with crystals on my.. .you know.’
‘Don’t worry. They wash off in a couple of days. Faster if you rub with soap.’
Debu called.
‘Hey, done with training? You will be on time, right? Or should we make it 8.30?’ Debu said.
‘I am done. Was just taking care of some.. .internal issues. See you soon,’ I said.