Changing Times....just had to post this one!

I was at the nearby mall yesterday and sheepishly sneeked into a "airport style" wine&cigarette shop there, while my wife and daughter were busy looking at the respective dresses to be bought.

I let the fact pass that there was a son & father duo, ahead of me scouting for drinks for the ( probably for the fathers' day the next day). The new part there was the son would be school going accompanied by a younger sis in toe. This did not perplex me...the next thing which happened...did..!

This duo bumpend into a young couple who were fishing for new french wine....and the greetings flew around....the son took the lead and introduced his class teacher (and also his sister's) to his dad...

I was trying to think....a similar situation...with me and my dad in a wine shop meeting my teacher and her husband......and could not bring myself to do so....

Changing times i must say...good or bad...i do not know!

hypocrisy of neo private airlines...

The new Airlines - Kingfisher,Jet..etc

Ever wondered why the latecomers at the airports get a special treatment by the airline staff, ushering them to the aircraft...escorting them will be even better. This action is akin to penalizing the people who come on time and are made to stand in the long Q. Some times, i feel i should be the one who should not reach the airport on time and get a free escort to get me to the aircraft in the least possible time!

hypocrisy...

The Mumbai railway station....and the art of catching a train!

I had thought of trying again and writing here after the good response i got on my earlier blog at the saloon....the venue this time being the Mumbai railway station. Not a particular one, but specifically the old central and western lines put together. The new ones in New-Mumbai are much better and leave less peculiarities to observe...hence are too boring to observe....

You have not "seen" Mumbai if you have not been to one of its railway stations and "felt" it, if you have not travel led by one of the suburban trains.

The approach -

It all starts with the approach...even before you reach a railway station...so as to prepare you for the worst, the approach to the station gives you a 'trailer' of the things to come. If you are using a public transport to reach a station you have had the experience itself. However, if you manage to be the lucky ones to take an auto rickshaw to the station then the maneuvering the little black and yellow thing needs to do can put a F1 expert to shame. So as to be not left defeated the hurdles have a mind of there own and keep coming in form of cycles, hurrying pedestrians (unmindful of the vehicle approaching them), street vendors in full bloom, potholes, traffic police (odd to list them as hurdles, but at the station approach most of them are) etc.

The Ticket Counters -

The only sign of the counters and where they are located is the 'Q'. Have you ever tried to locate a ticket counter in Mumbai late at night where the Q is conspicuous by its absence. I found it mighty difficult on late night as there were no signs of its location, specially if you are on the first platform of say Thane station.

The Platform:

This is the hotbed of all activity at the station. All people in Mumbai, specially at the station, show a strange sense of urgency found nowhere else in the world. The urgency is with or without the indication of an arriving train. The invisible force which overtakes the senses of a normal human being seem to be originating from the station and covers a kilometer range around the station. The urgency is contiguous and one cannot escape its in an individualistic manner. Else someone else will bump on to you and give you a weired look as if you have done the gravest of sins you could ever commit.

Newcomers to Mumbai are very easy to spot on the platform. They are the most lost lot there and get a good quota of the looks defined earlier. They go in opposite direction wherever it is not desired. They are at a complete loss at knowing the directions first and add to that the complication of spotting the fast and the slow ones on top of that!.

The directions on the Mumbai platforms are not a thing to write home about. They are also the ones conspicuous by their absence. The newcomer does not know how to decipher the sign language of the Mumbaikars - how to know a first class from a general bogie...where it will come on the platform ( then separating the ones meant for ladies and the ones where one can get in). evenings are even worse as one does not know whether the ladies compartment has been now made a general one based on the time limit printed on it!

The 'Paperwala's or the bookstalls are the ones who make a quick buck in the morning as every mumbaikar reads ( or at least pretends to do so)! There is a special skill to be aquired to read the newly bought newspaper to be read in the train. the fold is special as there is no space of anyone to open the paper once he/she is inside the train! Its what the atmosphere teaches you quickly!

Catching the train

One has to be prepared for this one both mentally and physically - like one has to for a marathone to start. The physical part comes with practice but one tends to loose it mentally onece in a while...specially after a bad day at work!

The stance is important...where you stand, how you take a start when the train starts rolling in, how you catch the door pole and manage not to get a loose grip on it ( your life is in danger here)...no margin for error and the competition is immense....

Once the door pole is in your grip...there is a mental sense of relief for a fleeting moment as you have done the hard work for getting a good start and it has paid off....then the momentum of the crowd behind you and the train itself takes you thru the remaining motions.

The direction of the train, determines which seats get taken first...windows ( except during the monsoon...) are the preferred ones and that too facing the engine ... followed by other windows ...followed by the seats in engine direction...etc to follow

The door positions are critical and get taken as quickly as the window ones. These are special positions for the people who want to get out at stations which are very difficult to get out on. So one can have an empty seat inside, but the hot favorites can still be the standing position at the door...which incidentally does not close...ever...

You only get a sigh of relief...or attempt one...once the train has moved...and it does move very quickly...15 to 10 seconds at each station is not much when you know that atleast a 1000 people are trying to get in or out in that time....

One is oblivious to the sweat and smell around you as you will not be sure if it is your own...the Deodorant you wore home is nowhere to be smelt! The bags get thrown on to the top storage area...or get passed on ...with the tiffins. The monsoons are a bit of torture as you add the wetness to all the above....The nerves are flared up in the evening and not a day passes without witnessing a fight or two...on reasons which are difficult to fathom!

and then you open your paper to read it...of say the fold of paper which you can manage to look at...

Hair Cutting Saloon - Mumbai experience

Cutting saloon - mumbai experience!

When was the last time you consciously decided to change the place where you went for an hair cut?

I often wonder why one person gets habituated to a haircut and that too at the same saloon every time. As long as one is in that city, we end up going to the same fellow again and again. A human nature to get comfortable in doing one thing in one perticular way ( for no logical rhime or reason) and then actuall get offended when one is asked to change the same.

Once you have decided to go to the same saloon, then you have plenty of time being in the Q, waiting for your turn and it was their that i had thought that i am going to put a bolg on this one. The curious you are the better you see thing around you. If i had not thought of putting this bolg, i would not have been so observant..!

The People around:

One gets to see a variety here like no where else. In all other places where a person goes, he takes care that he does not look sleepy, ruffled up etc. This is one place where everyone tries to be his untidy best. if you looks sleepy to the extent drugged, even better. Probably with a hope that the worst looking people will be required to pay less. It is the only place where you can vouch that the people around have not taken a bath for the day. The parlor owner also does not try and disturb the ambiance by spraying a freshener but depends on the automatic contamination of the arderous body odors and the adulterated aftershaves he uses on some of his customers.

It is also a predominantly male bastion as the female parlors have their own space. Though an occasional fair sex visitor puts the entire saloon into an unexplained unease and attention.

The first category are the ones i like the most...the ones who have the least hair to cut. One has to search for the hair, and the saloon manager is very careful in not offending the customer by not making the searching vary obvious. Also is modest on his comments on the luxuriant maintainance of the remaining lonesome tweeks. These are also the most fastidious people on the way they want the cut to happen and look. At the end of the cut they are the only ones who see the difference between what they entered with and what they went out as....!

The second variety is the younger lot. It has nothing to do with age. We can identify the young ones by their behavior. They tend to touch their hair if a style only they can. They are in love with their hair and it shows. The hands and the fingers caress the locks like the beloved and rearrange the prearranged ones. They often hum a recently popular number in a way expressing their love for the locks.

The third variety and i will include myself in that , is the one who is there to get over with the deed. These are the most restless creatures around and feel that it is taking ages for the barber in charge to get rid of the hair and the customers in that order. Their irritation is visible in form of excessive movements of the extremities or unnecessary turning of pages of the local magazine or newspaper. Such people are usually early to come to the saloon. Their irritability is in proportion with the time they reach the parlor and its difference form the peak hours ....more about the peak hours later.

The fourth type is the ones who come for their kids and not for themselves. If its the mom, she is more hassled for the ugly people around her smelling awful....if its the dad then he is oblivious to the way the hair is getting cut and focuses mainly on completing his newspaper reading meanwhile. This lot is usually a non intrusive lot.

The ambiance

The saloons are a reflection of the people who visit them as far as the class and ambiance is concerned. Though the generic nature of people visiting continues to be the same as explained earlier.

The root factor defining the ambiance is the air-conditioning or the absence of it. The second factor is the visibility from outside. Some prefer to show off the clean inside and other prefer to hide their untidy being. I personally prefer the ones who have large glass panels as there is a inherent moral pressure for them to keep the interior clean. The chandu who is responsible for sweeping the floor after evry hair-cut decided the owners inclination to go for large glass panes of the tinted ones.

The bench...the IT guys love it...is the most uneasy one. The proximity of another smelly character sitting so close to you is annoying. This discomfiture is at its peak during the peak hours....

The mirrors and the placement of them make a small saloon look large. The camouflage is apparent only when people around you jostle for space. There are usually flat and large ones on the wall and the angled one showing your unseen side of the moon. It has always baffled me why all the saloons have only one wall which has the mirrors when an alternative arrangement like a restaurant table - with a mirror in between...whould take in more customers in the same space.

The peculiar chairs are the only ones which are changing with time and class of the saloon. The non-air conditioned one still manage to get the rusty ones where the paint has been peeled off. However the wodden ones have been replaced...at least in Mumbai. This does not include the road side hair-cutting....which is not a part of this essay as i have never experienced it myself. Though you can still find quite a few servicing the labor force with the cheapest hair cut.

Usually the floor is tiled...making the cleaning easier for the chandu. Though its annoying to see the saloons having the celieng fan put on...specially during summers....even when the hair move in the air-vortex.

The photographs of different hairstyles is an essential element of the hair styles. I often wonder whether the photos have been doctored as i have never see people except in the holywood movies...who would support such an hair cut. The models who have posed for the photos are the most curious ones and resemble the class of customers who visit the saloon.

There is also a customary "rate card" which blatantly shows the old rates and a correction hastily made in haste and often outdated. They also proclaim the saloons participation in some associations of the barbers who decide the rates...which are never followed.

The commentary ambiance will not be complete till i write on the saloon magazines. They come in all forms and figures...literally. Most of the filmfares i have read in the saloons. The date of the issue is most irrelevant and often has disappeared with the front page itself. The beautiful (read sexy) lasses have their faces stamped with violet ink mentioning the saloons name albit some of the readers take fancy to the faces and takes it away with him. The proof of these fancies is also available in the same magazine where the remnants of the torn pages still proclaim the existence of a sexier damsel there some time earlier. One would thus not blame the saloon owner of tasteless stamping at appropriate places on the pages meant for whetting the appetite of a voyeur.

The Barber himself

This is a changed lot now-a-days. Antithesis to the popular belief he talks very less and specially restricts his conversation to a bare minimum. The talking has been sub-contracted to the new beed of RJ's who keep you bemused with the chatter in the background leaving the barber to concentrate on the job on hand. I hate the places where you have strategically placed small TV sets. They are potential distractions leading to disaster on your face....

The barber has also become very commercial in nature and has started focusing on value added services the proposals for which will be made to you at appropriate junctures. Example is the head massage....onece you are thru with the hair cut he will give you a feel of the head massase with his expert hands doing the rythemic movements on your parched head....just enough for you to be let craving.....then he pops the question...."sir, head massage?"....and invariable you fall prey to the intoxicating precurser he has shown you.....the complete massage although leaves you with the renouned post purchase dessonance.....shit why did i say yes.....

The value added services only makes the barber happy. The waiting bench gives you a look which one can only experience and not explain. Specially because you are aware of the squirming thru the mirror and no direct eye contact is established as your are with your back to them.

The assortment of the toiletries needs a mention here. I have come across brands in the saloon where i wonder how they get them. One never sees them in the stores nor do you find them in any advertisement. Secondly the helping the barber takes from each one of them gives me heartaches if once is to assume that they are to cost the same as the ones you end up buying in the store. Surprising ly they end up seemingly more effective than the brands you buy...The aftershave usually puts me off...as i am sure it is adulterated. They have become clever on the razors and at least make a show of replacing the old one of you.

The feeling

But all credit to the saloon and the barbers there, irrespective of the ambiance and the people you meet and the equipment or services you receive, the feeling you get when you walk out of the saloon is only comparable to the feeling you got when you were getting ready for a date or for your wedding. You feel good, you feel you have suddenly become good looking and the confidence shows on your face. In fact all others are very well gazing at you because you look freshly cut. This dawns on you only when you reach the office and wicked all-knowing glances are cast or so you feel. The light feeling is worth visiting the saloon once a month....and even entertaining if you are observant.