Techno-cut!
Nice to be back here! The Techno-cut is something I wanted to blog about for a while now. A couple of years back, my usual barber decided to revamp his place. I guess the "competetition" was getting to him. I was forced to go his competitor for a few days and that was an welcome change!
It was one of those days when I woke up early by choice, a much needed haircut being the mother of all reasons. I showed up at 6:45 at the saloon, only to be disappointed. The saloon was not open then. After getting bored there for 15 mins, a saw a lone bike approaching. I was glad I had company. He looked a pretty "cool" guy with a brand new shiny bike, a leather jacket ( not an expensive one, a leather jacket nevertheless) and a pair of cooling glasses ( not sure why he needed that, atleast the sun gave him no reason to wear them). He slowly trudged along and as he walked up the stairs, he pulled out his cell phone ( this was at a time, when I still thought I could do without one) and called someone and asked "yellida?". He nodded, switched off the phone and said to me " boys bartidare. Innu 5 nimshadalli bartare". It was a pleasant shock for me to realize it was the owner, and that he had a cell phone and that his "boys" also had cell phones. He let me into the saloon, which apart from the usual works, had a TV, entertaining I thought, and then I saw this other box like device, which was giving out a purple light, something like a insect repellent. I asked him what it was and he explained to me, that it was a UV radiation device to sterilize his tools, which included several electrical blades. I started wondering who the techie was in the room. It was hair-raising experience for me in its own way.
Today after a long time, I went to the same place again. There were a few changes. He had expanded his saloon. A new addition was a disposable cover used instead of the regular cloth to cover the customer during the haircut. After a short wait, I saw the "cool" owner walk-in. The mannerism had changed. He looked like a regular guy. Nothing jazzy about his outfit. He seemed all grown up, an air of respectability around him. The typical local businessman of the yesteryears is what I saw in him :-). I politely asked him if he doesn't cut the hair himself and he said "only as needed". I couldn't stop thinking of Raja writing a script for one of the guys in the team, as needed of course! :-)
Another thing I noticed in our hi-tech shop was, he was certified! He had a certificate from Lo'Real ( Okay. I think I need to spell check that one). Suddenly, I realized certification was everywhere, its only the s/w engineers in service industries that are making a big fuss about it. There is ISO for the manufacturing industries, various quality certifications the world over, but the one from Lo'Real took the cake!
It was one of those days when I woke up early by choice, a much needed haircut being the mother of all reasons. I showed up at 6:45 at the saloon, only to be disappointed. The saloon was not open then. After getting bored there for 15 mins, a saw a lone bike approaching. I was glad I had company. He looked a pretty "cool" guy with a brand new shiny bike, a leather jacket ( not an expensive one, a leather jacket nevertheless) and a pair of cooling glasses ( not sure why he needed that, atleast the sun gave him no reason to wear them). He slowly trudged along and as he walked up the stairs, he pulled out his cell phone ( this was at a time, when I still thought I could do without one) and called someone and asked "yellida?". He nodded, switched off the phone and said to me " boys bartidare. Innu 5 nimshadalli bartare". It was a pleasant shock for me to realize it was the owner, and that he had a cell phone and that his "boys" also had cell phones. He let me into the saloon, which apart from the usual works, had a TV, entertaining I thought, and then I saw this other box like device, which was giving out a purple light, something like a insect repellent. I asked him what it was and he explained to me, that it was a UV radiation device to sterilize his tools, which included several electrical blades. I started wondering who the techie was in the room. It was hair-raising experience for me in its own way.
Today after a long time, I went to the same place again. There were a few changes. He had expanded his saloon. A new addition was a disposable cover used instead of the regular cloth to cover the customer during the haircut. After a short wait, I saw the "cool" owner walk-in. The mannerism had changed. He looked like a regular guy. Nothing jazzy about his outfit. He seemed all grown up, an air of respectability around him. The typical local businessman of the yesteryears is what I saw in him :-). I politely asked him if he doesn't cut the hair himself and he said "only as needed". I couldn't stop thinking of Raja writing a script for one of the guys in the team, as needed of course! :-)
Another thing I noticed in our hi-tech shop was, he was certified! He had a certificate from Lo'Real ( Okay. I think I need to spell check that one). Suddenly, I realized certification was everywhere, its only the s/w engineers in service industries that are making a big fuss about it. There is ISO for the manufacturing industries, various quality certifications the world over, but the one from Lo'Real took the cake!
Labels: Bangalore, life in bangalore
posted by Mukund kamath @ 9:00 AM
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