Green Park’s mirrored beauty
The charm of a pavement stall
The two round mirrors are reflecting the green glossy leaves of the surrounding trees. And since the afternoon is intertwined with the approaching evening, they are bathed in the day’s most tender light.
This rarely visited Green Park corner is marinated in a special beauty. Although, some might say, why so much fuss about an outdoor barber’s stall? Well, the stall’s extraordinariness is partly due to its location. The discreet back-lane in which it is situated is just behind the Green Park Free Church. As for the facing garden, in front of the stall, it is overlooked by a giant bougainvillea tree, and further behind soars the dome of the centuries-old Dadi Poti ka Makbara monument.
Can there be a more stunning view to look at while getting a shave?
Barber Pintu Sharma founded the establishment in 1991. In his 60s, he clarifies that the stall’s origins go further back — he inherited it from a long-dead relative. But its beauty is the doing of its current owner alone. The chair is pitch black, and stylishly constructed with its lower portion serving as a closet. “This closet contains all the things I need for work.” He got the chair custom-made about fifteen years ago.
Oh, here’s a fact check correction. The stall doesn’t have two round glasses as described at the beginning. The principal mirror is larger and is in the shape of a rectangle, and it is not round at all. The reflection of the adjacent round mirror is falling into this large mirror and creating the false impression. The deception is picturesque.
Pintu Sharma arrived in the city years ago from his Jharkhand state. “So many people leave our country for America to make their future… I at least remained within my own country,” he remarks.
A voice calls out to him. This is Lokesh, from the adjacent tea stall, which is crowded with chai drinkers. He urges the barber to get him a milk packet as he is running out of milk. Since there are no customers for the moment, Pintu Sharma shows good neighbourliness by quickly walking to a nearby milk booth.
It is only natural to head to one’s longtime stylist for a haircut or a shave, but you still have to visit this stylist, to see how an elegant sensibility has created beauty out of what was at hand. The stall opens daily from 7am to sunset.