On the Razor146;s Edge

I trace Faqroo Miyan to Chandni Chowk. My plan is to get a khat from him, and learn from the master8217;s strokes before I perform. But Faqroobhai doesn8217;t let me touch the ustara8212;a single narrow piece of sharpened metal about six inches long, which resembles a butter knife more than a slasher8212;he was gifted by his father.

8216;8216;Ustara chalana ata hai You know how to use a razor?8217;8217; Of course, I reply. After all, I have practised with an ustara borrowed from my neighbourhood barber for three days. There isn8217;t a hairy spot left on my body.

Before Faqroo Miyan lets me touch a client, however, I have a lot of convincing to do. After all, his is a brand name over 50 years old. 8216;8216;We are originally from Jaipur. I learnt shaving from my ustad in Ballimaran,8217;8217; he puts forward as argument as to why I shouldn8217;t be playing around with his clientele. I tell Faqroobhai he is my ustad. That seems to work.

Soon a customer walks in. I put a towel around the unsuspecting man. Faqroobhai squeezes the shaving cream onto his chin and I start lathering him up. I can see the man wondering why two men are fussing over him. 8216;8216;Please hurry8230; who8217;s giving me a shave?8217;8217; he fidgets.

8216;8216;Ustare se karoon ki bladewale razor se?8217;8217; I ask. 8216;8216;Blade, blade, fresh blade,8217; he says, getting panicky. Faqroo Miyan scores a point without raising a finger as my quest to wield the prized non-disposable goes unrewarded.

I use the regular barbershop razor instead, a narrow piece of enamelled metal with a groove that takes half a broken blade, the kind children used to sharpen pencils with two decades ago. It8217;s closer to ustadji8217;s ustara than the T-razor and calls for far more adroitness with the digits and the wrist.

8216;8216;Press the index finger on the tip of the brush,8217;8217; Faqroobhai whispers into my ears, as he sees me working up a lather on the customer8217;s upper lip. Out of the corner of my eye, I see him replacing the blades in the ustara; he had removed them quietly while I was trying to convince him of my skill.

I pick up a tip from Faqroo Miyan8217;s whispered instructions: While working down the jaw line, hold the skin below the sideburns with your left hand and pinch it up. Hold the razor in your right hand so that its tip points towards the ears your thumb faces up. Now scrape down in short, soft strokes.

The shave progresses smoothly, even as ustadji keeps looking over my shoulder. 8216;8216;Your hand is smooth,8217;8217; the client says, 8216;8216;better than ustad8217;8217;. I don8217;t dare to look at Faqroo Miyan and try to change the topic. 8216;8216;Did your grandfather also cut hair, ustad?8217;8217; I ask Faqroobhai. 8216;8216;He performed circumcisions,8217;8217; he says curtly. Obviously, it8217;s time to get away from his clients ASAP.

Still, I8217;m trusting enough to ask him to give me a khat on a three-day growth. 8216;8216;Razor ya phir blade?8217;8217; he asks. Born into the disposable Gillette generation, I have to ask, 8216;8216;How will you clean it, will you sterilise it?8217;8217;

It8217;s an impossible proposition. Faqroo Miyan8217;s shop is in the open, leaning against the wall of Masjid Shahi Bagh Wali. When it rains, as is the case now, the shops take shelter under a common canopy.

8216;8216;Sab vahem hai, miraq hai Nothing but hypochondria,8217;8217; he mutters under his breath. 8216;8216;Then why not segregate everything? Cook separately, build individual bathrooms for each member of the family8230;8217;8217;

With the air of a man explaining things for the hundredth time, he says, 8216;8216;A blade can never match up to the possibilities of a single-piece metal razor. The blade lacks a curved edge, which helps the razor carve out shapes without drawing blood. Ustara bohot sahi aur munasib hota hai. Nothing works as well as an ustara.8217;8217;

I nod and in a second he fishes out the razor from its suede sheath. 8216;8216;Yeh nikali hai cheez ustad ne,8217;8217; say his apprentices. It8217;s a vilayati razor gifted by his father and after a quick douse in aftershave, it seems to do its own thing on my stubble. At the end of it all, I have an exquisite khat.

On my way back, I taste blood in my mouth; the corner of my lip is cut. 8216;8216;Kuch nahin hoga, inshallah,8217;8217; Faqroo Miyan had said. Inshallah.