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Tom Jones p95 by Fielding

Barber Shops

Mankind have always taken great delight in knowing and descanting on the actions of others. Hence there have been, in all ages, and nations, certain places set apart for public rendezvous, where the curious might meet, and satisfy their mutual curiosity. Among these, the barber shops have justly borne the pre-eminence. Among the Greeks, barbers news was a proverbial expression; and Horace, in one of his epistles, makes honourable mention of the Roman barbers in the same light.

Those of England are known to be nowise inferior to their Greek or Roman predecessors. You there see foreign affairs discussed in a manner little inferior to that which they are handled in the coffee-houses; and domestic occurrences are much more largely and freely treated in the former, than in the latter. [all of Benares is a large barber shop]

Since most Indians have few material possessions of value dress is used as a major status symbol. Among the women and men, the quality of fabric used by someone is a point of major discussion [gossip]. As children Indians have very little that could be called personal. Living in close, large families, they are raised with a complete

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lack of privacy. This life style is geared to communal living and thinking. Even if he possessed some personal object or toy of his own, it would be extremely difficult to keep it private for long. Forced sharing. So most symbolic status wealth is highly portable: clothes, jewelry for women, wrist watches, portable radios, plus rings for the men. Indians are very conscious of appearance. They gauge the value of any material object quickly. They are great for putting on a front. Almost childish in their boasting, even when they are aware you know the reality of a situation, they plunge deeper into fantasy. They are capable of great duality, it is one of their major characteristics. A businessman will preach endlessly on peace and brotherly love and cheat every customer who comes near him. A teacher will be a great moralist and become incensed at social injustice yet unmercifully beat his wife and children. A student will rant at the corruption of his university and government yet cheat on exams and threaten his teacher if caught. They have little sense of the hypocrisy of their actions? India absorbs and embraces all dualities. Indians tend to be puritanical and narrow-minded and very preachy in conviction that there is no other way. yet underneath they are torn by mourning doubts they will never voice. So they cling with more fury to outmoded tradition, one most always seek some stability, something to hang on to. Religious is always a last-ditch strong-