Pati gets a haircut

Sunday, 9 November 2014, Jaisalmer

Pati and BeeBee had planned to carry their luggage on airplanes (that didn't work) so he couldn't bring anything to trim his beard. After three weeks in India, he was feeling shaggy and wanted a haircut. He saw many "barbershops" in Philodi but wasn't sure about them and the hotel there was so bad, he wouldn't trust their advice. When he got to Jaisalmer, the hotel was nice so he asked where there was a good barber.  They told him, and off he and BeeBee went.

When they got to the shop, it had four barber chairs, three barbers, and two bench seats in a 10 by 15 foot area. A barber was calling for Pati to come and get a haircut from about 50 feet away. He must really have needed that haircut! He went in and BeeBee waited outside. As she waited, shoeshine boys began to circle her and she was likely to get her shoes shined no matter what she said. Pati's barber took pity on her and let her sit on one of the bench seats inside with her shineless shoes.

Pati asked what his haircut would cost and they told him 100 rupees for his hair and 50 for his beard. Since Pati has a complete beard and almost no hair, this seemed like an odd pricing scheme but he said OK. What followed was a reasonable haircut using only scissors and a razor. The barber then asked if Pati would like a good Ragisthani massage. Pati said no, so the barber went to work. Various creams were applied and an electric hand-held massager appeared. It looked a little to Pati like something you would use to unplug a drain or a very small toilet. Pati's face was thoroughly massaged. Pati began to enjoy the massage but the barber would regularly spray cold water in his face like Pati does to his cats when they are very bad. At one point, Pati realized all the creams had glued his eyes shut. He also had quite a bit of pain in his eardrum when the barber covered his ear with the massage machine and massaged away. Eventually, the creams were wiped off and it actually felt pretty good. The barber, proud of his work, said "you look like maharaja now."

With the massage, everything cost 500 rupees. Pati tipped another 100 because the barber didn't even attempt to sell Pati souvenirs while he had the knife to his throat!

Best Barber in Jaisalmer with Maharaja