Hair Cuts in Mumbai!

Haircuts in Mumbai. It is a special thing, where all you have to do is go in, gesticulate vaguely when asked to choose between a haircut or a shave, leaving it to the barber and his discretion to do what he will, coz it usually will be a Sunday and you will be in need of both a shave and an hair cut.

You plonk down on the chair and then he ties a nice, clean(if you are lucky) apron/bed sheet thingy around your neck. Water your hair to make it grow longer for the one final mm before he consecrates it to the clean(again fate’s intervention required) floor. Then it is the comb and sickle treatment to the proud growth. After finishing with whatever style and length is best suited to his mood of the day, he will stop tilting your head this way and that. Then will come the process that usually signifies the end of the shortening process and indicates the finishing up of your hair style for the fortnight/month. Bringing out of the Razor. He will slide the old half blade out and put in a fresh one, a swab of Dettol (need I say anything about fortune, luck, destiny etc.?), wet your nape and the side burns and scrape away. He will critically, squinting to measure the length of your hair, make a few scrapes (none too gentle, sharp blade, indelicate hands, lead to nicks all the time) and you are ready to admire your new do.

Out comes the back mirror and your gracious permission/admiration is asked for . This is the last chance for you to get something nicked and tucked, because after the mirror there is no turning back. Then with a flourish he will bring a powder puff , that lies resting on a cup full of ponds or whatever talc has the flavor of the month and vigorously starts brushing the hair off sundry facial parts. Then after all the brushing down of most of the hair cuttings off the apron/sheet, will come the best part. The massage. Surprisingly, the self same hands that give you the nicks, feel great while pounding your head all over the place. It seems like a family secret, that is passed down from barber to barber. Because, I have been to a couple or more barbers and all of their styles are different. If someone prefers the “crooked knuckle over the wet hair” then, there will always be someone from “Straight fingers, steepled over straight head, wetness of the hair notwithstanding” school of massage.

Then with a flourish he will untie the sheet and with a smile bring you back to your feet. He will give you a couple of minutes to critically admire his art. So, you pick the comb up and turn your hair this way and that, while he looks on, sagely giving advice and helpful tips.

The most important part of the hair cut is the conversation,because the barber is the notice board of the neighbourhood. He will ask about your family and how they all are doing. Then the local politics, his family and how proud he is of them. A son in college, a daughter in Med school. He would ask advice on whether he should make his son join a coaching class, because on his income it is a serious investment.

There is always something that draws you in and makes you want to come back to the self same shop time after time. Like his hospitality, when he is busy with another customer and he smiles and asks you to wait, ordering a cuppa for you. I usually do not drink tea, but am never able to refuse or pay.

My barber just left and went back to Gujarat, where his children are. Now in their twenties both are getting settled and wanted their parents with them. I would not even have come to know of it, what with me being out of town for a while and not having an haircut for about three months. I just finished a session with him, my hairs shorter and heart a little heavier, coz now I will have to go to one of those ‘modern’ saloons, where they seem to specialize in fifteen minute hair cuts for fifty bucks.

Good bye dear man, may Gujarati hair fall with the same grace to your scissors like mine did.

Vibhu.