Cutting loose

We have recently moved to Gurgaon, variously known as Gurugram, City of Malls, Singapore of India. But for those who8217;ve lived in Delhi virtually all their lives, the transplantation has been rough. We still feel like aliens in the new place. Our support system is all in Delhi. Be it daily necessities like fruit and vegetables or emergency requirements like a hospital and doctors or even mundane things like a barber 8212; we still feel more comfortable trekking back to Delhi. However, having made the move, we must find all these things near at hand.

On a Saturday morning I set about finding a good barber in our new abode. Now, my specifications of a good barber are limited to cleanliness: crisp clean white sheet and towel, no hair on chair and floor and sanitised scissors and combs and, of course, a new razor blade. I don8217;t care much about the angle to which the chair can tilt, whether I need to bend forward or backwards for the shampoo, if the music/TV is too loud or raunchy, do they wash my hair before the clip-clop or not. I had been availing myself of my simple requirements alongwith a soothing oil message at my neighbourhood saloon at GK 2 in New Delhi for almost 30 years at a very modest charge. The guys didn8217;t talk too much, they took care of the odd hair on the nose and ears, trimmed the long ones from the eyebrows and offered reasonably recent magazines while one waited for one8217;s turn. They even had a small TV. This is exactly what I was looking for in our new habitat, this jaat-yuppie paradox called Gurgaon.

The nearest one, barely 300 yards from my house, fancily named 8220;Shahrukh Beauty Parlour8221;, also offering a 50 per cent introductory discount, turned out to be filthy. I shouldn8217;t have gone there even with a 100 per cent discount! Next I landed up at someplace called Habibs. I entered the plush air-conditioned room with black leather sofas. A young girl was sitting behind the ornate reception desk. My query about the price of a hair cut didn8217;t seem to please her but my response to the figure quoted by her 8212; 8220;Is that for an annual contract?8221; 8212; had her and others sitting there in splits.

Finally I located another swanky joint in one of the mega malls. Their charges too, though half of the charges at the previous place, sounded no less than a king8217;s ransom. But by then I was getting tired of the search.

So, I slid into the leather chair, accepted the black plastic sheet 8212; I am told that8217;s now standard for all good parlours 8212; decided to forego the routine massage because the price was double of that for the haircut, reluctantly gave a tip 8212; I was worried I may have to come again 8212; and came out with my wallet considerably lighter.

The only consolation: it was a decent hair cut.