The Bakhundole lane cuts across Patan, connecting Pulchowk with Sanepa. On this quiet lane dotted with eateries, spas, and coffee shops, it is easy to miss the inconspicuous barbershop run by Rajaram Thakur. Named the Sonamai Hair Salon, the facility is run solely by Thakur, who just happens to be an extremely likable character with a smile permanently etched on his face. You are always greeted with an infectious smile. Through exceptional work over

the years, he has built a loyal clientele that includes the former president Dr Ram Baran Yadav and former deputy prime minister Ram Chandra Poudel.

Thakur is either found reading in the sun outside his shop, talking to people around, or of course cutting hair. The shop is extremely small, with barely enough room for

Thakur to maneuver around. He is the only one working, yet there are two chairs one of which he offers to the next in queue: It is not uncommon to find three or four people waiting at a time. The walls of the shop are covered in mirrors, pictures of rather outdated haircuts, and snapshots of himself with his customers. An especially striking one has Thakur smiling his usual smile, with two young boys with shaved heads pulling faces.

“When you work alone, you work for yourself,” says Thakur, 54, who does not want his customers’ satisfaction to depend on anyone but himself. I suspect it is because he doubts everyone else’s hair-cutting abilities.

His confidence, however, is fully justified. When he used to work in the same lane with two other barbers a few years ago, I would always be annoyed when it wasn’t him cutting my hair. Many other customers also preferred him, because he always seemed to be gentler and a whole lot more meticulous than anyone else. Moreover, he really seems to have a passion for the occupation, as opposed to barbers who are just doing the minimal.

Thakur’s ability has been honed through years and years of experience, and cutting hair is literally all he has done throughout his life.

He started at the age of 15 in hair salons in Bardibas, a town in the eastern Tarai, where he learned under his father. Thakur says that he followed his father’s footsteps because of illiteracy, lack of fund, and well, family tradition. You do get the sense that he slightly regrets not studying and doing other things but then again, he seems like someone who would be satisfied no matter what he was doing for a living. In fact, he has no other plans for the rest of his life but to run this barbershop, until he cannot anymore.

Once Thakur felt he had learned everything he could in Bardibas, he migrated to Kathmandu. Here, he set up a shop on the footpaths of the Bagmati Bridge, giving haircuts to willing pedestrians for whatever the person had, sometimes as less as two rupees. His first job in a Kathmandu salon was around 1989, when he worked with a colleague at the Shatrughana Salon in Thapathali. Back then the starting charge was seven rupees per haircut. The rate has steadily hiked since then and is presently Rs 100.

However, the earning is barely enough for Thakur. He earns enough money for rent, and he is sent rice from back home—Sonamai, Janakpur—but no money is saved. On an average day, he gets about five to ten customers, with that number increasing significantly on Saturdays. However, Thakur smiles wistfully, telling me that these past few Saturdays have not brought him a lot of customers, for reasons he can’t put his finger on. Maybe people are keeping their hair longer because of the intense cold.

Thakur occasionally does get more money than his standard rate. Bakhundol and Sanepa are places where a lot of expats and tourists stay, and some get their hair cut at his salon too. Those customers sometimes, give him as much as five hundred rupees. But he says that it is entirely up to them since he does not have a different rate for foreigners.

Thakur is especially proud that the Norwegian Ambassador to Nepal is one of his regular customers. The Norwegian embassy is located exactly opposite to his barbershop. Some of his customers even ask him to come to their houses for a private cutting. His rate for such visits is about four hundred rupees.

People who do stop by at his shop, are of all ages, from tiny toddlers to scruffy seniors. I asked him what age group he prefers working on, and he says that adults are easier, mainly because they stay still. Younger children tend to kick, scream, and cry, which makes it considerably harder for him to do his job: He is scared about accidentally nicking one of his younger customers. He maintains, however, that in all his years, he has never injured one customer. His excellent work has his clientele coming back every time. I asked him if all his years of cutting and styling hair had made the process automatic, something he did maybe in a meditative state. However, Thakur emphasises that he must be completely aware, so as to not make any mistakes through the process.

And this, for him, is what gives him the most happiness in his job: When people are impressed by his services and decide to come again. With so many barbershops and salons opening in the area, some of which are more than ten times more expensive, does he get offended when one of his regular customers gets a haircut someplace else? No, of course not he answers, saying people going to other places is simply their choice and he cannot do anything about it. He is satisfied with the loyal customers he does have.

Thakur makes sure he stays up to date with all the new hairstyle trends, and recommends bringing in a photo for reference for a good cut. Hair is an important part of how you look. A good haircut leaves you feeling all fresh and dapper, while a bad one might embarrass you and leave you angry. That is why people often search far and wide for a barber they like, someone who understands what they want, while also being able to tell them what would look good. Rajaram Thakur, with all his experience and his patient way of listening to a customer’s requests is certainly that barber for a lot of people.

Onta is an A-level student at Rato Bangala School