IDUKKI: The long Afro hairstyle, clean-shaven face and gentle demeanour of Devadas P B, a wedding photographer in Cumbummetu, are enough reasons for people to mistake him for a kin of Sathya Sai Baba, who is revered by millions worldwide.
Until a week ago, Devadas was called by his colleagues and local residents in Cumbummetu as ‘Junior Sai Baba’ for his hair. However his hair became a serious hygienic issue after he embarked into a hotel business.
He also had frequent issues with Motor Vehicles Department officers as he used to ride without helmets. Das then decided to cut his hair, which had not seen scissors in the past 12 years .The incident that led Das to grow his hair happened in 2010, when his wife Shylaja conceived after the couple conducted prayers at Sathya Sai Baba’s ashram in Puttaparthi in Andhra Pradesh. The couple had no children for eight long years after they got married in 2001.
Believing that his elder son was born by the blessing of Sathya Sai Baba, Das, who became an ardent believer of Baba, decided to grow his hair as a token of devotion. Also to keep Baba’s remembrance, Das named his son ‘Sai Arjun Das’. “Since I started growing my hair, I had never decided in advance how long I should grow it. It just kept going. By the time I decided to cut my hair, it was 18 inches long,” Das told TNIE.