streetwise: MAJESTIC HAIRDRESSING SALOON

MAJESTIC HAIRDRESSING SALOON
© Farouk Asvat

The township comes to town

In their Saturday best
To a calendar full of foreign places
I have stopped dreaming of
Where it is still a wonder to behold
Amitabh Bhachan embracing Elizabeth Taylor
On the peeling walls of the barber shop
In defiance of the laws of the land

"We Do Not Allow Credits Here"

We know all too well
Watching Overcoat Chacha reading the horses
Through a magnifying glass
While hen-pecked barber clip-clips away
In spite of the modern unisex salons across the road
As Enver Notorious
Who still bumps with the swagger of his youth
Comes in
And takes his usual seat rather obtrusively,
While the child looks with apprehension
At the dentist's chair upholstered in maroon:
Clerk, wife and two children,
All seated neatly in a row
Patiently waiting for their turn
Dreaming of the fading promises on the green wall
Before returning to their homely ghettoes

'I have been in all

The racecourses of the country,'
Mandrax Kapoor boasts,
'I know about horses, I tell you;
And I know about bets.
You just ask me.'

'Yes. But don't ask me for money.

              People don't give you money
              To pay your rent;
              In that I've passed my matric,'
            The Balding Barber asserts
            With forced dignity.

"Allahnah Goodana kassam.

But Hot Curry got no chance,
I tell you,"
Junior Shariff predicts with confidence,
"Biryani is the horse for today's race;
Ask me.
And if you don't believe me,
Ask Kaka.
But where is that squint bastard anyway?
I haven't seen him for weeks."

'Kaka is in jaihl,'

Mandrax Kapoor informs him absently.

"Yes, I've heard.

              Pulling time at the Fort;
              At Number Four,"
            Enver Notorious confirms.

"Is that true heh?"

Junior Shariff feigns surprise;
"Kaka in jail heh?
But what was wrong with that bastard,
Staying with us?
But very independent,
Ridiculously independent,
I tell you.
And what he does?
Gets involved in drugs.
Is that now something for our people to do?
I ask you,"
Junior Shariff continues

As the snip-snip of the barbers carries on

And the bright colours
Of another Saturday morning
Pass by in their hustle-bustle
To the cinemas

composed 1995 [Johannesburg, South Africa under new apartheid]

[] Acknowledgements:

Majestic Hairdressing Saloon was previously published in:

The Wind Still Sings Sad Songs (piquant publications, p62, 2006).

____________________________________________________________

[] WIETIE WHAT-WHAT

Bra Frooks is ...

                                [] nes 'n skollie
                                [] 'n egte skollie
                                [] 'n tsotsi
                                [] a real scamp
                                [] streetwise
                                [] the jokerman

Bra Frooks ...

                                [] praat soos 'n skollie
                                [] wietie soos 'n joster
                                [] wietie what-what
                                [] tunes like a durbanite
                                [] speaks like an englishman

Farouk Asvat asserts his moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

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without the prior permission of the author in writing.
Permission to publish or reproduce the writings in any format can be obtained from the author.
Reproduction of this work without permission, except for scholarly purposes,
is liable to a payment of 10, 000 ren men bi or US$ 1,500.

farouk asvat can be contacted at: farouk.asvat@gmail.com

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