Straight Road - Jalan Trus (Johor Bahru, Malaysia)

Another arm of the barber shop beside Masjid India, which also ran the naan outlet there. Even five years later the barber here who doubled as a waiter at the other place was immediately recognised. At entry a chap sat in the end chair with the short man beside him at some kind of loss, it seemed. Within a few short minutes the latter, a man from Andhra Pradesh it turned out, was crying, pleading with the abang, brother. Oiled and sleek, Abang looked just cut, perhaps seeking some kind of final adjustment. Unclear the to-and-fro and what had preceded; in the end sounded like the guy would accept some no.2 trimming on the sides and that would do.  Met with reluctance by the barber, who seemed to know better than to enter the challenge once more. An impasse. Unmoving. Only tears and tissues from the little barber, who briefly retreated at one point to a corner in the back room. Tissues were needed to wipe around the eyes too, separate sheets for each. Here was the big owner arrived from up the road, short conversation ensuing that excluded the barber. Customer arguing his case; owner countering and politely encouraging custom elsewhere out the door. In brief, the chap had been in twice before, dissatisfied both times and refusing to pay. A simple no.1 following brought some relief to the short Andhra barber, simple and no fear confusion. Three single blue ones—a little short of a Sing dollar—presented after the red ten seemed not to surprise the barber. One met the good with the bad alternately. En route along by the shuttered old stores that awaited demolition for the avant-garde Coronation Square, an elderly man, neat and clean Malay by the looks, had stretched himself out on his scavenged cardboard, possibly fetching some sleep. What was the pillowing though, rolled newspaper bundled that size? (The man’s head was lifted some way.) No. A few thin sheets covered a single, sandy coloured brick. Truth was nearer the water in the old quarter that was slowly getting the make-over with the new investment you winced more at the displays.

NB. In slightly revised form published by Frederick Barthelme at New World Writing, Oct 2023, a sequence titled “The Malay Archipelago In Short.”