Now almost every day some members of Jagruti, a social organisation, are reliving a local tribal tradition to trim each other’s hair at Daringbadi in Odisha’s Kandhamal district. Through it they are avoiding visit to barbers that may lead to spread of COVID-19 infection .
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According to Jagruti Director, Kailash Dandapat, use of self help among near and dear for hair grooming is a long tradition among Kandhamal tribals. Only 5% of tribals of Kandhamal district may be going to barber shops, he added. So, except for urban pockets, the villages of Kandhamal do not have any barber shops.
Common phenomenon
Disaya Pradhan, a tribal activist, who hails from the remote Banjamaha village, gave haircut to his compatriot Mahendra Parida on Jagruti campus on Tuesday. And it was reciprocated by Mr. Parida. “At our village, performing and receiving haircuts is a common phenomenon, which may seem awkward for people in other parts of the State,” said Mr. Pradhan. Interestingly, Kandhamal tribals do not tonsure their heads or have haircuts during funeral rituals. Women grow their hair long and trim it up among themselves.
Unlike other parts of Odisha, tribals of Kandhamal never had a special sect of barbers for hair grooming. People needing haircut get together at a shady place near a stream. Mostly the youths prefer to do the haircut as novelty. Most tribal families have their own set of comb and scissors to provide haircut to each other.
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“During this time of COVID-19 threat, when villages are obeying lockout norms, this practice of haircut by near and dear surely helps a tribal village to block infection,” said Mr Dandapat. He lauds this practice, as during his stay in Canada during 1997, Mr. Dandapat, along with other Indian students, used to provide haircut to each other as they were unable to spend over 12 dollars for the purpose. Mr. Dandapat used the skill of haircut learnt from Kandhamal tribals. Tribals are also saving money due to this practice.
Home service
But in urban centres such as Berhampur in adjoining Ganjam district, people have started calling up barbers to their homes for haircuts. And a barber moves from house to house, which can be a major medium of spread of coronavirus. Luckily no COVID-19 case has been reported yet from Ganjam or Kandhamal district.
Activists of Jagruti have decided to continue the practice of giving haircuts to each other till the COVID-19 threat goes away. Through it, the activists want to make people of Kandhamal return back to their tradition of having haircuts by near and dear.
