10$ Haircut

Mottaiyandi in my native tongue Tamil, literally means the 'the guys who shaves your head off'. I'm guessing his family has been in the profession, and thus he inherited the name. He ran a small outfit on the main-road, near the rural university where I grew-up. Every alternate Sunday morning, I would pedal my mom's cycle up to the entrance (the main road was at the entrance to the university), to get my hair-cut with Mottaiyandi. I vividly remember the posters of scantily clad women that decorate the walls of his little salon, courtesy of an Indian liquor company. On my way back, I would fill my pockets with fried groundnuts and cycle home slowly. As I returned home, mom would be waiting to give me a oil massage and a hot shower. Then came the Sunday lunch. Bliss!

From Mottaiyandi, traveling to different parts of India, my hair-dressers have done a fairly consistent job. They all seem to have descended from the same family, their consistency and standardization marvels me in a 'so-called' unorganized sector.

When it was time for my haircut in the US, I was really nervous. As i descended down the elevator, I did the whole managing hair with my hands thing (Punjabi style, perfected by Hari), and almost chickened out.

Gathered my courage, and stepped into Sindhoor Beauty Salon.

My first question: Is this a unisex place?
Lady in the counter: Yeah, please take a seat
Me: How much is it for a hair-cut?
Lady in the counter: 10 $
Me: Ok
Lady in the counter: This is my daughter, she will be cutting your hair today. She is hearing impaired, so you have to communicate with me and I ill convey it to her.
Me: Ok!
Lady in the counter: Dont worry, she has been doing this for seven years.

I guess it worked out fine. I was satisfied and realized my fears were unnecessary. Hairdressers globally speak the same language.

The simplicity of life

The birth centenary of the legendary writer R K Narayan was celebrated recently. As I left India, among the few books that I brought with me was Mr. Sampath, The Printer of Malgudi. Having read most of the author's fiction and non-fiction, this was one of my last remaining treasures. In dire need of a breadth of fresh air, I pulled out the book last night.

The world of Mr. Sampath, at Malgudi is not perfect.

Our world view of progress today is linearly focused on wealth generation and economic development. Imagine many of our ancestors, living in a self-contained, self-sufficient world, with a strong sense of community and family. I'm not proclaiming that all of us become hunter, gatherers again, or maintain status quo. Instead, societies internally should decide the pace of progress. And this was true for hundreds of years, until colonization began.

Today, progress is enforced on people in most parts of the world. Communities which have traditionally decided to 'stick to their ways' are classified are poverty-stricken. Or as C K Prahalad would say, "Living in less than $2 a day" (recently I guess the 'magic' number was upgraded to $4). He would also say, selling fairness creams to these communities would bring them out of "poverty".

Isn't that a brilliant notion of progress?

Brand new Toilet Seat Ideas

With my new Dell Inspiron E1405 and my dear neighbour's wireless connection (which I can catch only from the toilet), its non-stop ideas.