The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : How earnings have been shaved off

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Tuesday, Jul 22, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

How earnings have been shaved off

Aloysius Xavier Lopez

Barbers have little money left at the end of the day after paying off moneylenders

Fiftythree-year-old R. Sivanesan is ready to call it quits. He’s a thoroughly disillusioned man who knows he can’t do anything to change the country’s economy or society.

The Anna-Nagar barber says, “I am going to retire after my son completes his engineering this year.” He says the poor are the most affected by rising prices, and that the privileged really can’t understand the gravity of the rising p rices.

“Barbers have a very low status, despite the service they are providing,” Mr. Sivanesan points out. “When a barber wants to set up a hair dressing salon in the city, mobilising funds is tough.

Banks are reluctant to lend money to barbers; we have to approach moneylenders and pay very high rates of interest.” “This makes it hard for them to cope with rising prices,” he adds.

He works 12 hours a day to make a living, but “what bothers us is the way we are treated, almost like untouchables. People need barbers, but most will not have them as tenants,” he complains.

He has been working as a barber in Chennai for past 25 years. He makes around Rs. 600 per day, out of which he pays two other barbers Rs. 150 each as daily wages.

With the rent for his shop having gone up from Rs.2000 to Rs.5000 and his house rent also going up, he is not able to save any money.

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