Anpurna Hair Art

If you walk out of the Vadodara railway station, you’ll find us pretty easily. We are in the Bell Baug Shopping Center, shop G 17, right on Station Road in Sayaji Ganj. It’s a very busy part of town. There is always a crowd of people heading to or from the trains. I started Anpurna Hair Art here because it felt like a good place where people are always passing by. The shop is small. We have the usual mirrors and the black chairs that swivel. The floor usually has some hair on it because we stay busy, though I try to sweep up when I can. The lighting is a bit bright, but it has to be so I can see what I'm doing. Sometimes the music from the shops next door is too loud, but we just get used to it. I’ve been cutting hair here for a long time. You meet all kinds of people—travelers who just got off a long train ride and need to look decent, and regulars who live nearby. We don’t have any fancy air conditioning, just the ceiling fans that hum all day. It’s a simple shop. Nothing like those big salons in the malls. We just do the work and talk about what’s happening in the news. The rent goes up every few years, but we stay put because this spot feels right and familiar to the locals.