In a small salon in a nondescript town in northern India, a haircut is not just a trim or a crewcut, but an opportunity to have some art embossed on the back of your head.
Brothers Rajwinder and Gurwinder Singh Sidhu in Dabwali in India’s Punjab state are now famous in their small part of the world for giving haircuts shaped in images of the customer’s choice.
From the Taj Mahal, complete with its many turrets and towers, to a lifelike portrait of Michael Jackson, the brothers use a range of trimmers, scissors and pencils, among other tools, to get every minute detail of the hairdos correct.
Photo: Reuters
“In the beginning we used to give anyone we could get hold of free haircuts so that we could practice our skills on them. Some days we used to practice till 2am, because during the day we used to run the regular salon,” said Rajwinder Singh Sidhu, the younger of the two brothers.
These days the brothers, aged 29 and 31, charge anywhere from US$20 to US$30 for their special hairdos, and say they have plans to take their business outside of India as well.
From requests of images of Bollywood stars to popular sports stars and even an impression of Mickey Mouse, the brothers’ salon is seeing a steady stream of customers who want to draw attention to themselves at social gatherings or events, but do not want something lasting, like traditional tattoos.
“Today, I got a tattoo of the Taj Mahal. The monument is very beautiful and with this tattoo, I will stand out in the crowd,” said salon customer Darbar Singh, showing off his brand new haircut.
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
Polish presidential candidates offered different visions of Poland and its relations with Ukraine in a televised debate ahead of next week’s run-off, which remains on a knife-edge. During a head-to-head debate lasting two hours, centrist Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, from Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s governing pro-European coalition, faced the Eurosceptic historian Karol Nawrocki, backed by the right-wing populist Law and Justice party (PiS). The two candidates, who qualified for the second round after coming in the top two places in the first vote on Sunday last week, clashed over Poland’s relations with Ukraine, EU policy and the track records of their
‘A THREAT’: Guyanese President Irfan Ali called on Venezuela to follow international court rulings over the region, whose border Guyana says was ratified back in 1899 Misael Zapara said he would vote in Venezuela’s first elections yesterday for the territory of Essequibo, despite living more than 100km away from the oil-rich Guyana-administered region. Both countries lay claim to Essequibo, which makes up two-thirds of Guyana’s territory and is home to 125,000 of its 800,000 citizens. Guyana has administered the region for decades. The centuries-old dispute has intensified since ExxonMobil discovered massive offshore oil deposits a decade ago, giving Guyana the largest crude oil reserves per capita in the world. Venezuela would elect a governor, eight National Assembly deputies and regional councilors in a newly created constituency for the 160,000
North Korea has detained another official over last week’s failed launch of a warship, which damaged the naval destroyer, state media reported yesterday. Pyongyang announced “a serious accident” at Wednesday last week’s launch ceremony, which crushed sections of the bottom of the new destroyer. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called the mishap a “criminal act caused by absolute carelessness.” Ri Hyong-son, vice department director of the Munitions Industry Department of the Party Central Committee, was summoned and detained on Sunday, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. He was “greatly responsible for the occurrence of the serious accident,” it said. Ri is the fourth person
RSS