Hair cut in Bahirdar – a hair raising experience – Ethiopian Journey – Blog Post no 71.

There are some things that are difficult to grow, especially plants and crops. Paradoxically what we want never grows the way it is supposed to grow or grow abundantly! Weeds that are universally hated, proliferate and seem to have the last laugh by cocking a snook at our feeble attempts, to be the creators.

And there are many things that grow easily by themselves and we human beings are bestowed with hair and nails that grow at quite a speed! In India it is quite easy to go for a haircut as good hair cutting salons are available at every nook and corner and they can provide a decent hair cut at a very affordable price. Getting a haircut is a non-issue in India.

Things were different in Bahirdar. Pranav and I sported stylish haircut when we landed in Bahirdar in the month of November. But come February 2003 we realized that our hair had grown so alarmingly, that we could wear a small pony tail!

Ethiopian men prefer short hair. Long hair would curl and grow to be woolly and that was something that the Ethiopians were not happy with! We had a Nigerian faculty member named Ahmed in Management Department.

Ahmed was paranoid about short hair. He would have hair of three inches’ length and hair over four inches would give him palpitations and he would religiously make a beeline to the nearest salon to get his unruly hair back to a disciplined three-inch level. Once his hair was back to three inches, peace and tranquillity would reign in Management department of SBE (School of Business and Economics), BDU (Bahirdar University).

My Ethiopian friends advised me to visit a hair cutting saloon in Kable 7, quite close to my house. The news that Pranav and me were to have a haircut was met with howls of delight from Sahithi and stares of apprehension from Padma. Sahithi liked the fun element. Her brother having a hair-cut and undergoing the ordeal of inconvenience was god’s way of getting at her annoying brother.

Padma on the other side was worried about our Kurula Soundharyam (beautiful hair). “what if the barber spoils your hair”. “Don’t you worry” I assured her jauntily. “Bochhu, Bocche (hair is hair), it is not cast in metal. It grows back”. To be frank I was quite apprehensive. After all I did not want to be the butt of jokes in the department and I was scared of the puzzled looks my Ethiopian students would give me if my hair was botched up.

We set out for the hair-raising experience and tagging along were Padma and Sahithi. They did not want to miss it for their life! It was god’s deliverance to the women folk. They need not get a haircut. They were burning with curiosity to see we would have a haircut in Bahirdar.

The hair cutting salon was a simple affair. It was a tin structure and inside were two very young Ethiopian barbers wearing white aprons just like aprons worn by doctors. ‘Aha, this is where the hair doctors like Javed Habeeb must have got inspiration from”. I smirked.

The Ethiopian barbers were shell shocked seeing a foreign family of four walking confidently into their salon. They were shaking with apprehension and their eyes grew wide seeing the length of Padma’s hair (almost five feet). They were close to a collapse and a seizure. “No, no” I assured them “not for the lady, not for the lady. Neither for Mito (Mito means baby)”.

The senior barber was relieved. He was clutching at straws “Und, Hulat, Sost, Arat” he said.  My face brightened “Sebat” I said confidently. Just to drive the point home that I knew Amharic, I showed him seven fingers. “Intriguing Ethiopians” I muttered to myself. “Why do they want to know the age of the person getting a haircut?!”

“Sebat” the barber gasped. He wouldn’t have been more shocked, if I had shot him with a shotgun! “Sebat, Sebat” he blabbered. He was terrorized. He looked at his colleague, who too was looking to escape the ordeal.

I was getting irritated. “Use a scissors” was my free advice. The haunted barber took an automatic hair clipper and put an attachment. In front of our unbelieving eyes he gave Pranav a haircut that was quite illustrative in itself. At the end of the ordeal Pranav was close to tears. It looked as if he just tonsured his hair at Tirupati, a week ago. Scissors were not used at all! I was flabbergasted. we dumped the five-birr hair cutting charge on the table and stormed off.

The next day, I recited my experience to my Ethiopian colleague, Abraham. Abraham almost fell off his chair. “Sebat, Sebat, Sebat” he roared. He was uncontrollable. “Dr. Anil” he was giggling “The barber was not enquiring your son’s age. The numbers 1,23,4 signify the length of hair that has to be cut or trimmed.

1 (one) means sporting very closely cropped hair and 4 (four) means that he would hardly cut any hair and only trim lightly and make the hair presentable. You said seven and the barber did not understand what you meant. Not giving you any benefit of doubt he gave your son a crew-cut.

He must have thought he was saving your money so that you need not visit a hair cutting salon for the next few months. Don’t blame him”. As I made an inglorious retreat, his mocking laughter followed me. “Sebat, Sebat, Sebat” he would whisper and wink conspiratorially whenever he saw me after that incident.

Much later Suresh and Bala guided me to another hair Saloon in Kable 13. The Kable 13 barbers used scissors and delivered a passable haircut. But the way the scissors was held and hair was chopped never inspired any confidence among the Indian teachers. But we never had a choice. What we had was a Hobson’s choice!

Ethiopian barbers were supremely confident with the usage of automatic hair trimmers and were very tentative when it came to using scissors and did not have finger dexterity like the Indian barbers in creating hair styles. But they can’t be blamed.

Their clientele consisted of customers with small curly hairs. And all that the customers demanded, was short cropped hair. Ethiopian barbers had never seen straight hair and never had fastidious and disconcerting customers, bent on having many different hair styles. All said and done getting a haircut was a hair raising experience in Bahirdar and definitely not for the faint hearted!