Mallika Reflects on the Events of Discount Monday

You know the greatest myth? "Mirror, Mirror, on the wall." World's biggest hoax. Yes or no? Because the mirror never says: "You, my queen! You are the fairest of them all."

Never, ever. In the mirror, who is beautiful? Doesn't the queen know that dark spot, once a pimple filled up with pus? Doesn't the queen know hair so stubborn, it cannot be waxed off? She knows. Still. She looks at the mirror just to confirm. Yes or no?

This knowledge is central to our line. You let the mirror tell the truth. Because if the mirror starts to lie, what is left for us to do? I have tried to educate my Trisha, but the girl hardly has a brain. Hard to believe she came out of my body. I catch her stealing looks at herself in the mirror while working on a customer. Not a professional glance, no. Not in the way of checking out the arch of her own brow or the sheen of her skin. She knows all that is perfect. If it wasn't, I would fix her myself. She's got to have clear skin. Her feet and hands have to be done. All my girls in Body Beautiful have good hair, clear skin, perfect nails. Otherwise, it ruins the parlor.

Mallika and Mallika's girls: this is the only advertisement necessary. Other things I don't care for, but waxing, bleaching, hair color. Face, nails. The customer knows you do these things and that these things take a lot of doing. It costs. That's what Mallika is here for. But skin must be naturally healthy and clean, otherwise the customer will not trust us. That's why I don't let the girls do too much to themselves. Natural healthy looks.

Some parlors have the opposite funda. Their girls are plastic dolls. Each hair plucked from everywhere. Hands, legs, cheeks, even forehead. Fully black eyes, tinsels glued on nails. None of that nonsense at Mallika's. Not allowed. It frightens the customer. She feels she can never do enough. That's when ladies let themselves go. Why do anything if you can never match up?

You draw a clear line. You say, okay, enough. There has to be a limit to beauty thirst. Mallika's fundas are simple. Do two or three things, bas! Do it regular. Arms-legs waxing. Threading eyebrows, fine. Manicure-pedicure, good. Head and shoulder massage, for relaxing days. If a lady is overstressed, she will ask for the full body massage. If she's getting married, she'll ask for waxing on her stomach and back, maybe downwards.

Nowadays girls are stupid. My Trisha. Instead of watching the customer's face to see what to compliment, she will start criticizing. That's how it's done in parlors like Kirin and Vixen. They touch a lady's hair and call it limp. Then they say it needs a wash before they will deign to cut it. Then they prescribe a three-thousand-rupee cream to cure the hair. As if ladies were patients at a clinic instead of a parlor.

Fifteen years, hundreds of bodies under my hands. Seven days a week. Now my daughter thinks she knows more about beauty. Skinny little fool. She's telling me the other day, we must start offering the Brazilian. Then she starts to explain it. I told her not to be oversmart. Bas! As if I don't read the same magazines!

I don't like to scold her in front of the others. Still, she is not ready to take over. Just last week I was thinking maybe I should retire. But see now, what happened on Monday?

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A girl came in late. Working type, new customer. It was past seven-thirty. The girls are overworked because of Monday discount, so I take a few customers myself. Arms and legs, she said. So I took her upstairs and tossed her a changing gown. I drew the curtain and went to put on an apron. I heard her rustling out of...