Every family has a barber in these villages!

HIMMATNAGAR: These villages have not taken services of a professional barber for nearly three generations. Every house in the five-odd villages of Poshina taluka in arid Sabarkantha district has a barber who can give professional hair dressers a run for their money.
Shantilal Makwana, a 28-year-old in Suka Amba village on Khedbrahma-Ambaji road, is a teaching supervisor with an NGO by profession. But his claim to fame in the village is that of a 'master hair stylist' who can transform the most mundane of mops into a trendy head.
"Following family tradition where elders cut hair of the clan, I took to combs and scissors since childhood. I may teach as a profession but can do a mean hairstyle in a matter of minutes. I have to keep abreast of latest trends as due to mobile phones, youths are not content with a simple crop. They ask for spikes, crop cuts, buzz cuts and even hair styles adorned by cricketers and film stars," says Makwana. In this village with a population of 2,500, there must be at least 200-odd 'barbers'.
Interestingly, it's not any bad omen or superstition that has kept barbers - ubiquitous in all cities, towns and villages of Gujarat - away from these areas. It's an amalgamation of factors such as remote location, strained finances and emphasis on learning life skills that has prompted these tribal communities to become self-reliant when it comes to self-grooming.
Bhupat Damor, a 90-year-old family head in Jadi Sebal village on Gujarat-Rajasthan border, told TOI he doesn't remember ever going to a barber for a haircut in his life. His son Lumba, 70, agrees. "Perhaps it's the cost - every family has average four to five children. Going to a professional barber cut would cost upwards of Rs 200, one day worth of labour wages. Also, earlier roads were not good and distance in hilly terrain seemed longer," says Lumba.
His son Parbhu, 25, also snips his four-year toddler's hair once every one-and-a-half to two months. Incidentally, unlike their urban counterparts, they do not reserve a Sunday for an appointment with the hair dresser. In fact, it is a highly spontaneous event and a sight to behold.
Children of the house and even neighbours queue up squatting on the ground for the hair cut. One youth sprays water from the bowl while the barber of the house snips away.
During events like funerals where many family members get their heads shaved, volunteers are aplenty. Jethabhai Rathod, 82, a resident of Tebda village, said that his village of 4,000 has not seen a barber. "Almost everyone knows basics of cutting hair as it's also considered a skill one should learn. For us, it's not a novelty. Of course, those who come from outside might find it difficult to believe - you wouldn't be able to tell that the hair are not cut by a professional barber," says Rathod.
Suryakant Prajapati, a supervisor with a district-based NGO working with schools, said that it's not uncommon for teachers to give a haircut to their students. "The youths from this area know the skill and if they feel that the children's hair has grown shabby, they just take matters in their hand literally," he says.