Price rise, salary hikes and haircuts

Years ago, back in my village, we used to get communal haircuts. By the time the barber got home, 6-7 kids lined up and waited for him to snap his scissors and every kid got his hair cut so short that the mothers could not hold them by their hair atleast for a week to come. At that time, he charged 10 rs for all of us put together. The service was standardised. One size fits all. Shorter the better. Cut all you can.Value for money and so on and so forth.

Turn the cycle 10 years forward and welcome to Hyderabad. Owing to advanced technologies and locational disposition, the service has now moved on from door to door to a shop floor model. We now went into shops where there were a row of 3-4 seats resembling chairs we see on the stage in marriages. The shop itself is lined with sleazy glam mags and bollywood newspapers for customer retention. Fortunately or unfortunately, the tools barely changed. The same metallic scissors and the comb. The price shot up to 15-20 rs a cut. The offerings however now had 2 options.. Short and medium!

Come 2012, the landscape just seemed to have altered leaps and bounds. I am now in Bombay. I by chance, or lets just say by force, had to enter into one of those "hair therapy lounges". A.C., Vogue, computer with internet for bored souls. I ended up paying 150 rs for a service that the guy was extremely reluctant to provide. Apparently getting the hair cut short isnt the in-thing anymore. He ploughed through my hair like he was trying to invest in paddy fields. The best part was that I got an appointment for an hour later as the place was full. But thank god some things dont change much. It is still the same scissors and the same comb to weave his magic! Wonder whats next?