New Jhik Jhik Saloon

We’ve been here at Phool Bagan for quite a while now. The shop, New Jhik Jhik Saloon, sits right on Kankurgachhi Road. If you know this part of Kolkata, you know how busy it gets. Every morning, we roll up the shutter and sweep the floor before the first person walks in. The chairs are old but they work fine. We don’t have fancy lights or anything, just the usual stuff you’d expect in a local place. People from the neighborhood stop by, sometimes just to chat or check the cricket score on the small TV we keep in the corner. It’s a simple life here. The Kankurgachhi Road traffic is always loud outside, but inside, it’s mostly just the sound of scissors and the ceiling fan humming away. We’ve seen kids grow up coming here for their first haircuts, and now they bring their own kids. That’s how it goes in a place like this. Kolkata - 700054 is where we are, right in the middle of everything. Sometimes the spray bottle leaks a bit or the mirror gets foggy when it rains, but we just wipe it down and keep going. It isn't a big fancy place with air conditioning that freezes you out. It’s just a corner where you can sit down, get your hair trimmed, and hear what’s happening in the locality. I usually have a cup of tea sitting on the ledge while I wait for a customer to walk through the door.