Hair Cutting Salon Saga :)

Amid bore dome, laziness, a drizzling weather I finally decided to do some time pass & went to my very old salon for a hair cut.   Its like being there so many times as a child, as a collage student, but still even now when I come home invariably I go for a hair cut to the same old salon, as far as I remember it must be there since class IV or so. Its hardly a walk of 10 minutes from my house if you walk gingerly. Accidently & pleasantly one of my oldest friend who happened to be in the town as well, who stays about 20 yards from my house, both of us along with lots of other close friends used to play cricket in the street we stayed. Now when I imagine more than 10 growing up children playing there in a narrow lane with such a high risk of hitting glass windows, pedestrians, cars, two wheeler lamps, etc etc its just unbelievable that we managed to play with full energy & strength for all those days, years.

Anyways I walked to his place & made a "Tackkk" sound by rolling & hitting my tongue on my teeth which was indication of someone calling in our olden days, I was doubtful if it will work now as well, but to my surprise it worked !! Yes my dear friend came out & I asked him if he would like to join me, he got tempted but the laziness overpowered his temptation & he went back to sleep.

As I walked towards the salon I realized that along with the people even the buildings were started looking quite old as compared to last time I saw them, of course few were demolished & new ones were build. I greeted few of them, waved at few & finally reached the place. It was same 8' x 5' Men's salon, the only change being the board was newly made in red colour & the father & son duo were proportionately looking older. Immediately they recognized me & asked rapid questions in typical Hindi & Marathi about my well being, if I got married, about work & now where I work. I answered all the questions & told them that recently I have moved to Mumbai which is quite closed to Indore as compared to the my earlier location Bangalore. The conversation went something like this :

Father  -तो बॉम्बे की लाइफ तो बड़ी फ़ास्ट है यार, एकदम बेकार , आदमी को आदमी  से बात करने की फुर्सत नहीं है , क्यों छोड़ दिए बैंगलोर यार।  वैसे अपन को इतना मालूम नहीं है फिर भी सुनते रहते है न लोगो से तो एक आईडिया आ जाता है. एकदम गंदिवाडा है वहा, और ऊपर से साली बरसात !! हे !

Me : बस कुछ नया opprtunity  मिला इसलिए बम्बई शिफ्ट हो गया, देखते है अब, कर लेंगे कुछ न कुछ। 

Son  :  अरे तो आजकल पैसा और तरक्की जहा, आदमी वहा !! शहर तो अब सारे ही एक सरीखे  हो गए है, क्या बैंगलोर क्या मुंबई क्या पुणे ,  सब जगह वही हाल है.

me : हा बिलकुल सही बात बोली आप्ने.

Father  : मगर एक बात बताऊ , सब शहर एक तरफ अपना इंदौर एक तरफ, इधर भी अपनी समस्याए है मगर आदमी की कीमत है यहाँ। 

Son : वो तो है यार भिया, कुछ भी कह लो, यहाँ की बात अलग ही है. चलो अच्छा एक बात बताओ, आपके आस पड़ोस में आप जानते हो किसीको ?

Me : hmm , बस एक दो लोगो को , वो भी बात चित एकदम कभी कभी होती है

son : वही तो बोल रहा हु देखो जरुरत में आस पड़ोस वाले ही काम आते है , मगर ये सब सिटीज में कोई साला बात ही नहीं करता ठीक से. पुणे की बात बताऊ मई आपको, हाल ही में जाना हुआ मेरा पुणे में, कोई मेरेज फंक्शन था छोटे काका के यहा. गया मै  तो , पर क्या बताऊ सिटी बस वो लाल वाली पुणे की उसमे बौठा, साला  साथ बैठा  आदमी लोग तो दूर कंडक्टर और ड्राईवर भी सीधे मुह बात नहीं कर्ते. कौनसी जगह उतारू जो पास पड़ेगी ये बताने को तैयार नहीं, अपना इंदौर होता तो अनजाने आदमी को भी घर तक छोड़ी आता इंसान, हे, मानते की नहीं बोलो.

It was as if he wanted me say yes he is correct & sadly yes he was very much correct. I said so & he completed my hair cut. I gave him a Rs 100 note & got Rs 60 back, which in Bangalore would have costed Rs 80. I was happily surprised & though how cheap is Indore as compared to other so called "big metros" even though the expenses have gone much higher in its own terms here.

In life we move on to bigger cities & metros for better opportunities, life styles, money but what we leave behind is the life we once cherished, the interpersonal relations with people around you, neighbours, the chakki wala, the glossary store, the hair cutting salon, even the postman, but as I say all this the change is inevitable & we have to move on & must go back to the place where you work, signing off with yet another good start to the day here in Indore.