Years ago, a friend of mine produced for a local television station a 13 half-hour mini-documentary entitled "Saudagar Senja." That's Bahasa Melayu for " Merchants At Dusk." Literally translated.
The series highlighted merchants who were plying trade which was already at its tail end. In short the series was about "dying trade." This producer friend of mine listed firewood cutting and the traditional "dobi" among the trades about to disappear as the result of modernisation.
With electric oven, gas stove, automatic rice cooker and other cooking utensils, nobody saw the need to use fire wood anymore. So the people who cut wood as a source of living diminished fast.
In fact,wood cutting "died" a long time ago. And with washing machines becoming affordable and more folks sending their clothes to the modern laundry for fast cleaning and washing, the number of the traditional "dobi" has shrunk considerably.
Victims of modernisation and high technology. And added to that list of dying trade portrayed in the TV series was the traditional barber.
The days of the "barber rider" were long gone. Younger readers do not even know what a barber rider is. Well, they are folks who rode their bicycles around the villages and made house calls to cut the hair of clients.
Talking about good service... They come to you. Not you go to them. Then there were the "under the tree" barbers. These skilled folks would crop hair of customers under the shade of big trees. Open air shops to be precise. And many such barbers doubled up as "specialists" in cleaning your ears as well. They rid your ears of the wax.
Yes, such trade are no more. And in the late 1970s and early 80s when the modern hair saloons with their London, Paris and New York trained hair stylists made the scene, (together with the shampoo girls) the traditional barber shop operators found themselves under threat.
Many said they would not last the modern day "onslaught." Many gave them a couple of years to close shop. My producer friend echoed the same opinion and it was reflected in his programme shown on TV.
But they were wrong. Their crystal balls did not give them the right picture. Somehow the traditional barbers survived.Till this day. Especially the Indian barbers. Not many Chinese traditional barbers, old Chinese gentlemen donning singlets and striped pyjama like shorts, are still around.
But their Indian counterparts are still going strong. So too are the Malay tukang gunting rambut. Many continue to thrive, providing good service to their regular faithful customers, charging reasonable rates which are indeed welcomed especially during these hard economic times.
The traditional barbers did not fall. They have not become victims of modernisation. In fact they are giving the internationally trained hair stylists a good fight, so to speak. With a steady stream of regular clients the traditional barbers are set to stay. Is that the case?
Sadly no. They too are under threat. I read a report recently which was rather sad and disturbing especially if you go to the traditional Indian barbers to get your hair cut and want to look good ( they can also give you a good clean shave after cutting your hair, something the stylish hair stylist don't. But the stylists can give you a rebonding. The traditional barbers can't).
Anyway, according to the report there is a shortage of traditional barbers in the country. And the situation said the report has worsened. And this may force may barber shops to close within the next six months.
Said the Association of the Penang Indian Hairstylists (somehow they don't call themselves barbers), there is a shortage of 2000 barbers. And 50 barber shops had ceased operations in Penang the past three or four months due to the shortage.
However this shortage problem is faced only by traditional Indian barber shops. The Malay shops have a steady supply of barbers. And the barbers are getting younger. Somehow many Malay youths have no qualms learning the trade (pass down) from the old masters.
So since it's an Indian problem, local (Indian) barber shop operators had to depend on imported players, i.e. barbers from India. The only problem is according to a committee member of the Penang Indian Hairstylists Association, applications to bring in traditional barbers from India were rejected by the Home Ministry. Which to me is odd.
The traditional Indian barber shop which I go to do not seem to have this problem (yes of course I get by hair cut there lah, that's why I'm writing about it this week). The shop that I go have at least four barbers and they are all from India. Working here legally with proper documentation. And they are a hit among the locals.
Malaysians, (Chinese, Indians, Malays, especially Malays) do not like people to touch or mess around with our heads. Very pantang and kurang ajar. Taboo and rude. But we have no qualms when foreigners touch and play with our head as long as at the end of it all we look good. Or at least we think we look good. (By MOHSIN ANDULLAH/MySinchew)
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