Occupation : Hairdresser
“A familiar hair-dresser is a habit. Among my clients are families who have been coming to me for generations. The place of the first customer is now taken over by their sons and grandsons. I remember a time when I closed the shop for a week. A customer came looking for me every morning and finally got his hair-cut done elsewhere. But the moment I opened shop he was here. I told him there is nothing much to cut. Yet he sat firm on the chair and wanted me just fine-tune his haircut. I just ran the machine for the sake of it and he was happy.
I learnt hair-cutting when I was 13. My training was at a salon on Francis Road. The name of the place beats me though. But my father Thankavelu, who ran this shop at Malaparamba, fell ill and at 15 I had to take over. Those were challenging times, I was a young boy and the responsibility of this place was on my shoulders. But the kindness of people spurred me on. They told me to stay put and never give up this place. My father’s customers willingly became mine and later the housing colony came up in the neighbourhood gifting me many clients. I am 60 now and my son Dinesh assists me at the Jeeva Haircutting Salon . So the third generation of our family continue to work out of this shop. My other son Mukesh works as hair-dresser in Brunei.
This is a field that has seen profound changes in the past few years. In the beginning, many a time, I would go to a house and give a hair-cut. A barber’s shop of yore is now a hair-dressing salon, almost a beauty clinic. In my early days, a barber shop merely needed a chair, couple of mirrors, scissors and a knife. Now unless you have rotating chairs, an array of gadgets and cosmetics, you cannot woo customers. Earlier, after shaving with the sharp knife, all one did was scrub with a special stone to prevent infections. Now its place has been taken up shaving gels, lotions and foams. From simple hair-cuts, one has moved onto machine-cutting, hair-colouring and assorted hair-styles. A man’s hair-cut was a relatively simple thing in the past, they either wore it long or short. Now with spikes, power-cutting and complex hair-styles it has becoming a time-consuming process. It is the younger kids who want innovative cuts. My son takes care of them and if he is not around, I just do as per instructions. A hair-style that lasted really long was the 1970s-style with long hair and side-burns. The toughest client for a barber is always the children. They will not sit still and hair-cutting becomes a tricky and tense business then.
A barber shop in the past was a place where the happenings of the neighbourhood were discussed. As I cut their hair, customers would talk to me about home and neighbours. I too went often to homes to give the older people a hair-cut. Often, after work, I would sit with them and talk. Also, if a new person came to the neighbourhood, I would be among the first to know. Every new resident in the locality inevitably came to me. Now, I hardly know what is happening. New people come and go everyday. Also, nobody has the time to talk. Conversations have gone away from our interactions. Even old-timers are now in a hurry. If I am with customers I have known for long I ask them about people at home.
When I started out, hair-cutting was done for a rupee and shaving for 30-40 paise. Now, I charge Rs.100 for cutting and shaving. Hair-cutting is done for Rs. 60 and if they demand spikes and other styles we do it without charging extra. This has become a constantly evolving field. To keep ourselves updated about new products and gadgets, my son attends classes whenever it is organised in the city.
I am still sustained by regulars. I have been the barber to the many bishops who have lived in the bishop house here. Some of them have gone from the house, but they still call me to cut their hair.”
As told to P. ANIMA
A column on the men and women who make Kozhikode what it is.
