Barber shops------------
Barber community is talkative, they say, they are inquisitive and unnecessarily question their customers on a number of topics. Funny, the questions they ask their customers. Once a barber asked his customer how he should cut the hair, the customer replied solemnly, keeping your mouth shut. Joke apart, many barbers’ jokes are prevalent. Barring some honorable examples, barbers’ profession is male dominated profession in India. It is not so in many European countries and USA. Barber shops in America are managed by young and beautiful ladies. As such the prices of all the operations are very oppressive. There are no beauty parlors in America. Only hair dressing salons and that too predominantly female dominated. American women do not mind their males being touched by other women. Even though beauty parlors are not there, massage parlors are in plentiful. That too manned by women. I don’t know of other places but San Francisco, Los Angelis and San Diego are thriving markets for massage parlors. Massage parlors are two types, one of regular body massage for the health conscious people, and second of pleasure massage types. The second type are nothing but prostitution rings, populated by beautiful ladies normally advertised in loud and colorful manner in the local newspapers. Male massages makers are also advertised with their Sandow bodies for ladies, how lucky!
I went to a normal barber shop in San Francisco and Fairfax operated b y ladies. Ten dollars is normal charge for regular hair cutting without extra grooming. This seems to be the standard rate. Like other shops the business hours are displayed outside the shops. I calculated, we Indians have this bad habit, 10*45=450, my God, I will have to pay 450 rupees just to cut my hair! This is outrageous! But there was no way out so I handed my neck to an middle aged lady who promptly took charge of my head and proceeded to play with my head. While doing her job, she enquired after my family and by the she finished her job, she knew more about me than myself. She used so many instruments while doing her job that I looked dazedly at them. I remembered my barber nostalgically back in India, who only uses a pair of scissors and a comb. The shop was spacious but extra-ordinary silent. I began to think about it, and then I found that there was no radio or TV playing there. American barbers are careless about customer entertainment, nor was there any newspapers in the shop. In spite of so many instruments she took half an hour to finish the job. What she was doing with my hair God alone knows. After the hair cut, I perused in the mirror. I must admit one thing, Indian barbers even sitting by the road side, are far more expert that their American counterparts. After paying solid $10, I realized that hair cutting is skill of hand and not of machine.