THIRU - The STAR Barber

 

Thiru and his VVIP customer HRH Sultan Nazrin 

2010 MBI Liscense 

K. Thirunavukarasu or Thiru in short is the elderly barber at the arty area of Kong Heng Square in Old Town Ipoh that people remember giving Sultan Nazrin a trim some years back.

I visited him 10 years before when I heard that he would be closing.That was when he used to run Star Hair Dressing Salon a large shoplot along Jalan Sultan Yusof or Belfield Street as it was called in the old days.

I recently saw him again in his new Star Salon which is really a cubicle and inquired after him.

‘I don’t mind the small cubicle. It is difficult to get workers now so this is all right" he said.  

The cubicle of 'New Star Salon' in four languages

"The business before the pandemic was all right. But now since the lockdown the business is dull and very weak. I don’t know how long I will keep this barber shop.

My children told me to stop but I still want to work as it is not heavy. I live just 4 blocks away and walk to work. Sometimes I return for lunch and don’t come back but today my son gave me a lift after lunch”.

Thiru's family

Thiru, 82 has three children, two boys and a girl all of whom are working in Ipoh. His first boy was mechanical engineer but now has his own barber shop. His second a girl is a headmaster and the third is an architect.

Coming to Malaya

 In 1953 when he was 13 his father brought him to   Malaya from India. His father was a barber and worked at Little India, Ipoh just several blocks away. Thiru however went to work with his uncle at Star barber.

 He learnt barbering when he used to cut the hair of young boys at half the price. It was a training and gradually moved to the adults.   

 “Do you know that I studied in St Michaels Instituition” he said it rather proudly.

"The school was run by the Mission of the Christian Brothers. When they came for their haircut my father talked to them to get me into school. They told me to come to the school office.

The brothers gave me a paper for an English test to see if I could study. I wrote and entered. I did 4 years of schooling until 1957".

He remembered that on the weekends the barbers would go to school to cut the hair of the boarders. But on any school day the discipline master would march boys with long hair to the shop to get their haircuts.

History

"Star barber was started in 1927. At that time it was a half shop while the other half was owned by a Japanese tailor. During the Japanese occupation the Japanese tailor ran away so then we took over the whole place”

The original 'Star Hair Dressing Saloon'in four languages

In the 60’s we had 14 barbers plus a cook all of whom came from India. All stayed in the 2 story shoplot. 

....a spacious shop lot ... 

tools of the trade ...

List of Barbers

 In 1966 his uncle and cousin decided to retire and return to India. They requested Thiru to take over the shop and run it for as long as he wanted to.  

 Thiru operated the Star till 2011 when it was taken over by the new owners.

 The Regular Customer

 On the wall of his cubicle is a black and white photograph of the old shop with all the barbers and a regular customer. 

 The customer was Dr Moreira who had his clinic 3 blocks away next to FMS now called Durbar at FMS.

(Seated) Regular customer Dr Moreira (centre) with Thiru relatives seated. Thiru is on the floor.   

“Dr Moreira frequented the salon a few times a week after work to have a shave and once a month for his haircut. He was a regular customer so we would bill him once a month. However when any of the barbers we went to his clinic for checkups his treatment was free. 

We were very grateful so I arranged for a group photo to be taken with the doctor. I called Fun Photo from around the corner at Market Street who came with his big camera just for the regular customer.”

Thiru stayed at the shop until the early 80’s when he shifted to the 20 story Kinta Heights which was managed by the  Ipoh Municipality.

 Municipality staff too frequented his shop. Upon inquiring about the flat they asked me to apply. I am still staying there.

Thiru and his wife at their Kinta Heights flat.

Thiru has six grand children

Thiru has lived his whole life in the Old Town of Ipoh and has seen the changes taking place.

From the 19th floor "I can see the whole of Ipoh...points towards Ipoh Airport  

From his flat on the 19^th floor one can see the whole of Ipoh and it has changed.

“Previously Ipoh had two-way traffic, buses were always fully loaded and the town had less cars. Now we have more cars, empty buses and one-way streets …..and more buildings” 

JAG