Rantai

I was in badly need for a haircut so when i stood there at the doors of my favourite barbershop at 9.30 am sharp today it illustrated the seriousness of my situation. Alas, i was not the first customer of the day for there was another dude already there sitting in the antique Japanese-made chair having his crop trimmed and nose hair plucked, thus i sat waiting impatiently while the he had his moustache trimmed to symmetrically.

As i sat there staring with fascination at the tedious process of moustache-trimming (the barber made it look like ballet, with scissors) it occurred to me that for the past 18 years i have had my head dealt with in every way there i never got to know the names of the barbers there, except for the towkay; Atan Arshad. Thus along with my primary objective of getting my lawn mown i would also find out the name of the tall, mustachioed,balding pakcik who'd be snipping away at my mini-afro.

Soon as the fella had his arse off the seat to reach for his wallet i rushed to filled the still warm seat, my head itching to be trimmed of its unruly hair.

"Hah kau ni pulak apa style nak dipotong?" he asked.

I then provided a most detailed instruction as how my crop is to be trimmed, only to buy time to think of what conversation starter to use* before resorting to the lame "sorang je" question which logically speaking would be a dumb question considering that it is clear as padang kawad on Sunday afternoon that there was no one else but the two of us there but he nonetheless answered that his mates are on their way. Not wanting to lose the momentum i asked him whether the shop would join the move to the controversial new market and its an interesting thing how a single question could spawn an entire breadth of conversation.

I had to let out the question that has been forming in my head ever since i saw that the confused mess of a pasar/mall hybrid they have right next to Esso finally finished, will the barbershop join the move to the new pasar/mall or will they adamantly refuse until the pasar/mall resolves its identity crisis and boy did i struck a nerve there.

It was a litany of directed to both sides of the fence, charges of corruption, nepotism, cronism and all its merry friends but mostly it was a tirade against politicians in general, something to be expected from a tradesman in a predominantly Malay enclave. I barely needed to say anything,it was as if he had been practicing to say it for quite sometime only waiting for a poor unsuspecting customer to push the right buttons. Our common point of contention was that why the heck did it take 22 years to finish a measly pasar, yep the project was as old as i am. In that time frame, a government lost its majority, KLCC was planned and constructed (even the brain behind it is already in retirement) i lost my grandad, quite a number of uncles and an aunt, exchanged my diapers for pants, lost my babyfat only to regain it as my adult fat, left school and by God in Heaven i'm almost done with law school and only then the pasar/mall was finished.

*Initiating a conversation or holding one has never been my forte, i'd like to think myself as laconic.