Hair
cutting and
costing
1. Dinesh Jadhav is the fourth generation of the Jadhav family to run the hair cutting saloon in Gamdevi.
2. Youngsters want the latest cuts while old-timers want the original styles from Dinesh’s grandfather’s time.
3. Dinesh’s grandfather Baburao and his great-grandfather Trimbuk, who founded the saloon. Trimbuk Jadhav served in the Indian Army.
4. A photo from 1948 of the diamond jubilee celebrations of the Santsena Samaj, the association that governs the Nhavi caste, to which the Jadhavs belong.
5. The annual licenses of the establishment from the 1930s and 40s.
6. Three storeys of the building have already been demolished, leaving the ground floor standing with its shops for the time being.
Gamdevi Hair Cutting
Saloon
40G Jethabhai Kalyanji (J.K.) Buildings, Harishchandra Goregaoker Road, Gamdevi.
17th October, 2017.
Local barbers in Bombay were bound by both the Bombay Municipal Act and their caste association, the Santsena Samaj, to such an extent that the intervals at which the floor of the saloon was swept, the type of bin for the reception of hair and sweepings, the price of the hair cut, and even the fitness of the barber himself, were all pre-determined.
The saloon’s licenses could be suspended or revoked, the barber and his family could be ostracised by their fellow caste members, if he did not comply with the conditions of costing and cutting.
Photos by Hashim Badani a Number 1 Photographer who gets a Number 2 Haircut.