Roving barbers still popular

Seventy-year-old Sudhir Chandra Shil from Napitpara, which means 'the barbers' locality', in Chhinay union of Kurigram's Rajarhat upazila, is indeed a barber. His family members have worked as barbers for several generations. These days most barbers have their own shop but Sudhir follows a far older tradition: working in the open. He has no lack of customers.

"All the men in my family have been barbers," says Sudhir, as he sets up his mobile saloon in the market area of Kathalbari Haat in Kurigram Sadar upazila. "I've been involved with the profession since childhood. I work in the open, in villages and at rural markets. I have no fixed shop."

"Some men in this area are so poor that they can't go to a proper saloon because it's too expensive," he says. "They asked me to continue providing haircuts and shaves in the open. It's because of their requests that I do. Otherwise I might join my eldest son. He has his own barbershop in Eakatar Bazaar."

"Under the open sky," he continues, "there are no taxes or market fees, no shop rent to pay and no electricity bill. We go home at sunset. Our only responsibility is to keep the area tidy; and in a normal day we earn up to Tk 300, all of which is profit."

"I learnt shaving work in India during our Liberation War in 1971," says Gopal Chandra Shil, 62, from Mohidhar village also in Chhinay union, another mobile barber. "Since I returned home in 1972 I have maintained my family in this way. I still do."

Gopal says his main customers are the area's destitute people. "I tried several times to work in a proper barbershop," he says, "but many of the customers there are young and they are not always interested in having a haircut or a shave from an old man like me. Working in the open is better; I can be sure my family will not go hungry."

When asked about hygiene and the cleanliness of his metal equipment, Gopal says, "There is no chance for germs since I use a whetstone to sharpen the tools after every shave. I take care that everything is clean. In my forty-five years as a barber, not once did a customer complain of infection."

As Gopal spoke with The Daily Star, his customer was Majibur Rahman, 50. "I'm a day labourer," says Majibur. "I mostly work on farms and to cover my family's expenses on such a small income is hard. If I take a haircut in the open it will only cost Tk 30. In a barbershop the price for the same service is as much as Tk 80. Here I save money."

"My family has seven members," says another customer, Akbar Ali, 60, from Shanwashi village in Kurigram Sadar upazila's Halokhana union. "I work pushing carts to support them. As my financial position is not good I always choose the cheaper roadside barbers when I need a haircut or shave."

According to the barbers, the mobile saloons are at their busiest during market days, which in different areas account for up to four days per week. At other times these barbers also offer their services in rural areas, door-to-door.