Cheap Labour

Labour is so cheap here. This afternoon we went into town for lunch and then to do some errands. Along the way, I saw a shoe stand/shop at the side of the road. My well-worn, Naturalizer sandals are holding up quite well, but they have a small Velcro fastener at the side and it was not sticking so well anymore. We showed the man who spoke a bit of Hindi, but not much, and he nodded that he could fix it. They kind of wobble their heads here to mean yes, or okay, or sometimes we’ll see.

So I sat barefoot on a little stool while he cut, glued, and stitched on the new Velcro and then polished the leather straps. This took about 15 or 20 minutes and Nadim went across the street to the post office to drop a few things in the mail. And the cost for this repair and cleaning? It was Rs 30, which is the equivalent of 75 cents!

We had our last day with the kids at the boarding school. We played games, did a bit of dancing, and singing too. We exchanged addresses so that we can drop them a post card at some point on our travels. We also told them that our friends would be starting something with them in the new school year and they seemed to be quite happy with that.

Nadim has run out for a haircut. We had borrowed some clippers from the other fellow who is living in the centre. They weren’t very powerful and half way through cutting it, the darn thing quit on us! So Nadim’s been walking around with half a haircut for the last day or two. At least it quit after I had done the sides fairly symmetrically. Yasmin said he looks like he has a Mohawk, but it really wasn’t quite that bad! I pushed him out the door for a cut because we’re off to Ooty tomorrow for an overnight stay and will return late the following day and the next morning we are off to the wedding so there will be no time. Crazy guy doesn’t seem to mind walking around this way, but it’s me that has to look at him so off he went!

CM

Breaking story: I just got back from the barber shop, and cheap labour confirmed – I got a nice haircut for 30 Rupees (75 cents). I asked the barber to clean all his tools with cleaning solution before he got started, and he cleaned everything right in front of me. I did not want to bring any “friends” home with me. I think I will get another haircut before we leave India, so I won’t have to pay European prices!

NM