A day within the lifetime of a New Delhi roadside barber

Rajesh Kumar moved to Delhi from Bihar in 1999 on the age of 18 to assist his father run a barber’s stall on the roadside within the Jasola space, a combined neighbourhood in southeast Delhi. However after some months, he began working as an assistant to a physician on the Apollo Hospital in Jasola, handing out prescription papers and organising affected person information.

After his father’s loss of life from most cancers a yr later, Kumar took on the enterprise himself, persevering with the roadside custom. “I needed to proceed his legacy,” he says, however he additionally hopes his youngsters will pursue “higher profession selections”.

“I reside in a one-room flat, however they need to have large homes,” he says.

Delhi barbers
Roadside barber Rajesh Kumar inside his one-room condominium, which he has lit up with festive lights on the eve of Diwali [Meer Faisal/Al Jazeera]

Swami, 40, stopped his training whereas he was nonetheless in main faculty as a result of he was sad there however says he’s decided to help his daughter’s dream of changing into an architect.

He first began slicing hair in his village in Uttar Pradesh. However 20 years in the past, he moved to New Delhi and arrange a roadside stall within the combined, upper-middle-class Sarai Jullena neighbourhood, and it turned his everlasting handle.

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