“Jitna maara khaya, utna achcha kaama seekha”

“Sir ye toh old style hai”.

“Main bhi old hi hu yar”

I thought this would be enough to shut him up and make him do his work. I was so wrong. He suggested something else that I should let him do with my hair. This is one thing that annoys me a lot, barbers telling me what to with my hair when I have specifically told them the same already. He looked a nice chap so rather than being an ass and sternly asking him to do what he has been told, I decided to change the topic. I asked, “Kahi se training li hai kya baal kaatne ki?” Yeah I know, this was an ass of a question but thankfully the guy did not get the sarcasm behind it. I say thankfully because had he got it, I would have not heard a very interesting life story or got an insight into a very delightful and positive mindset.

So he started working as a sweeper in one of the barber shops at Charminar (I did not ask him about his family. I did not care. Actually at that point I did not care about anything he had to say. I was just happy he was not talking about my hair any more). All he had to do was getting rid of the hair lying on the floor. However even that was a challenge for him. He just did not know when to pick up the broom and when not. Well he was just 10. It was either “Abe dekh ni ra main baala kaat ra. Kaiku jhadu le k ghuse ja ra” or “abe kya howle k maafik baitha hai. Jhadu kya tera baap lagayenga”. 

“Toh jhadu laga laga kar hi baal kaatna seekh liya” I had not stopped being a moron yet. To be fair to me, it was Saturday afternoon, I had not slept the whole Friday night and spent my Saturday morning doing some hard labor, so was not in much of a jovial mood. Anyways, back to the story and how his life changed. Now this is a twist Abbas-Mustan would be proud of. One day a man, quite an influential guy in Charminar area (for not the brightest of reasons) and a regular customer, walked into his shop when all others had gone for lunch. He had come for a shave. He asked our hero to do it for him, who naturally hesitated. “Laafa khayega ki dadhi banayega”, the man politely asked, which left our hero with no other option but to do as told. He had just begun to apply cream on the man’s face that the owner came back from lunch. He offered to do it but the man wanted the boy to carry on. And as expected, our hero gave a nasty cut to the man right from his chin to his Adam’s apple (this is what he told me and considering the fact that he had a scissor in his one hand and my ear in his other, I thought it was wise not to contest this little detail in his story :D). The man did not shout or shriek, all he said was “abe chutiye aise chalate hai be kya ustara” (seemed to be a tough guy worthy of his reputation). However the owner reacted frantically and slapped our hero using every bit of energy he had just consumed during his lunch. “Sir wo laafa aaj bhi ni bhula main” sums up the slap. The owner then rushed to the man and did whatever he needed to do, which is not important. What is important is that once the man got his cut attended, he picked up the crying lad, asked him to sit beside him and ordered for tea and biscuits. “ab kaiku pottiyo ki maafik ro ra hai. Aaj se meri dadhi tu banayega.” And this is how our lad became a barber. 

Sahi hai, uske baad toh tu hero ban gaya hoga” I taunted him.  

"Kya hero sir, roz laafe padte the”.  Apparently it was just the beginning.

“Kaun maarta tha, maalik?”

“Wo bhi aur customera bhi. Waha yaha k maafik customera complain ni karta tha. Seedha laafe maarta tha” he told me how for every mistake of his, the shop owner would hit him with scissors on his knuckles.

“Abe toh bhaag jata. Kahi aur kaam kar leta” my expert suggestion, typical of an IT guy, when going gets tough, the tough takes a sick leave ;).

“Arre nahi sir, jitna maara khaya, utna achcha kaama seekha”.

This really hit me. Don’t know why. And I could make out it was not some philosophical crap he was throwing at me to sound intellectual (like all of us keep doing from time to time), he really meant it. I could make out that he was really happy to have worked there and to have experienced whatever he did. 

“Yaha ka kya scene hai?” I asked him. He told me this place was different. Here the customer would just complain and get his money back. 

“Toh matlab yaha aake kuch ni seekha, kyuki yaha toh kisi ne maara ni” after a moment of introspection, I was back to being a jerk.

“Sir yaha bhi seekha. Kuch customera bahut mach mach karta hai. Kaise bhi kaat lo, unko problem hi lagta hai. Unke baal kaatne me seekha”. He told me he would specifically go for difficult customers and take it as a challenge to satisfy them. This was another thing that hit me. In a cut throat world, where everyone is looking for short cuts and easy way outs, this guy was grinding it out the hard way. Honing his skills in whatever way he can. Not afraid to get punished or criticized in the process. I won’t say I learned a lot from him. I don’t think anything I heard that day is going to change me. I have my ways of doing things and I am beyond changing them. Also I am not sure how far that guy will go in his life or will he stay like this forever. I am just glad I had this conversation with him and thought it was worth sharing with you guys.

P.S: This all happened this last Saturday at Natural salon in Madhapur.