Hair and Thought
Dedicated to K. B. Firaq

Shariq Ali
Valueversity

At Sarwar Baloch’s barber shop in Gwadar, a child sits reading a Balochi magazine as he waits his turn. His name is Meraj, and he is in his fifth year at school.

He came for a haircut after school, but found himself in the company of books. There is little room in the shop. Yet a few books and magazines have opened another world for him within that small space.

According to Sarwar Baloch, customers waiting their turn used to grow impatient, engage in idle conversation, or leave, saying they would return later. When the books arrived, the mood began to change. Some became so absorbed in reading that they gladly let others go ahead of them. The barber’s hands continued their work, while books began to open in the hands of those waiting.

Behind this scene, described in a report published in November 2020, was an idea conceived by K. B. Firaq, the poet, educator and social activist from Gwadar. Jeeuz, the social and literary organisation he founded, had supplied the barber shop with books. The aim was to bring books to places where ordinary people come, sit and wait.

Recently, I had a long conversation with K. B. Firaq. He told me about his life and his projects. As I listened, I kept thinking of the little library he had established in Gwadar. We often invite people to come to books. His idea had brought books to the people.

Outside this shop lies Gwadar. Situated on the Arabian Sea, it is an important centre of coastal life in Balochistan. Along the Makran coast, curving bays, cliffs and mud volcanoes tell the earth’s ancient stories. Gwadar’s hammer-shaped headland was once an island. Gradually, accumulating sand joined it to the mainland. Nature, too, takes time to build its connections.

The connection between people and the sea is also very old here. For a fisherman, the sea’s beauty comes with the concern of earning a living. The fish caught in his net carry the promise of food for the household, necessities for the children, and money for the next voyage. A boat resting on the shore offers us a picturesque scene; to its owner, it holds the worries and questions of the coming day.

K. B. Firaq has continued to give voice to these concerns. He has highlighted the need for legal protection of fishermen’s rights and spoken of the importance of skills and alternative livelihoods for local people in a changing Gwadar. On the city’s flooding problems, he has maintained that construction planning must take account of natural rainwater channels and local knowledge.

I see a clear connection between these different aspects of his work. Whether the concern is access to books or the protection of livelihoods, his attention remains on the ordinary person whose life so often fades into the details of grand development schemes, overlooked and forgotten.

Let us return to Sarwar Baloch’s shop. Meraj still has the magazine in his hands. Before long, he will close it and settle into the barber’s chair. He will have his hair cut and go home.

We do not know which article he read, what he remembered, or what he forgot. But those few minutes of waiting certainly gave him a chance to read and look beyond his own world. The child who came to have his hair tidied also found a brief opportunity to nurture his mind.

Sarwar Baloch gave shape to his hair. The book K. B. Firaq brought within his reach gave his thoughts a chance to grow more beautiful.