ELECTIONS '98
COMMENTARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ARCHIVES

Kolhapur barber styles his way to Limca record

Ramdas Namdeo Aswale's saloon is no different from any other barber shop. But in this obscure village Prayag Chikali, five kilometres from Kolhapur city, the proprietor of 'Gyan Jyoti hairdressers' is a celebrity.

Wouldn't you be too, if you were 25 years old with 18 years of hairdressing experience, and have just entered the Limca Book of Records for a remarkable 460 haircuts in 27 hours with just two breaks of 10 minutes each?

Talking to you and attending to a customer at the same time, the record-holder goes cut to cut with precision. "I could have finished 14 more, but then Mayor Shivajirao Kadam came to visit me on the second day. A lot of time was lost in the bargain," he says.

With his series of continuous haircuts, Aswale has broken the previous Limca record of 410 haircuts in 27 hours and 18 eighteen minutes in two ways: He gave 411 haircuts in 24 hours and 18 minutes, and 460 haircuts in 27 hours and 18 minutes.

Hairstyling seems to run in Aswale's blood. And his record is not surprising considering the fact that he took to the scissors when he was just seven.

"I established this shop two years ago. I always wanted to be a barber; my father was one and so was my grandfather. I completed my matriculation and then I stopped studies," he says.

Aswale's tale sounds like the script of a Hindi film. He took up the profession at that early age so that he could educate his brothers. Today, one of his brothers is the principal of the village school.

"I also employed four people whom I taught haircutting. Now all of them have established their own shops," Aswale says. "I have around 30 to 35 customers coming to my shop every day."

Aswale always wanted to make a name for himself. And he thought he could be a cut above the rest by cutting his own hair. Thus, on January 26 last year, he set a local record of sorts by cutting and styling his own hair in five minutes flat. The next thing he did was to write to the Limca Book of Records about the feat.

"But they sent me a letter saying that many people could do that. They told me what the previous record for maximum haircuts was. So I wrote back to them mentioning that I would like to perform a hairstyling job on around 500 heads," he says.

And the rest is in the record books today. As tens of heads came to 'help' Aswale, two independent observers watched him constantly. Aswale marked each and every head he styled in his log book.

"I did not charge a single person," Aswale says. "And I took their remarks in my book at the end."

The master coiffeur is now aiming for a place in the Guinness Book of World Records, registering 4,000 haircuts in 366 hours.

"I will now write to them and acquire more details. After that I shall proceed to break that record, too!" Aswale says, wiping his scissors carelessly on his towel.

Tell us what you think of this report