Punyananda Thakur goes around the village for three months, shaves his beard, cuts his hair, disappears for some time and returns to the village, collects the harvest of his previous labor.
The wind was blowing the dust blown by the cars that were moving in the hot sun of Baisakh towards him. 60-year-old Punyananda Thakur didn't care. Sitting in front of him, leaning against the thin shade of the roadside, was his old client, the local Mahanand Sardar. Punyananda first applied cream to Sardar's beard and then used a sharp razor. This is his ancestral profession.
Punyanand, who was driving a razor while laughing and joking with customers on the Ghanaghat-Virat Chowk road in Gramathan Rural Municipality, said, 'This profession started with my grandfather. After my grandfather, my father did it, now I have taken care of it.' His grandfather and father roamed the countryside around Biratnagar with scissors, mirror, brush and the same razor in a bag.
Now he also carries a bag with the same items. The generation after him did not choose this profession, they embraced other professions.
It has been almost a hundred years since the Thakur family started moving from Bihar to Viratnagar. His grandfather came first, followed by his father. After the death of his father, Punyananda's cycle began. "It's been more than 40 years since I started running," he said, wiping the hair from the razor on his left palm after shaving his mustache with his right hand, "It feels like Nepal is coming, how quickly time has passed!"
Punyanand spends 6 months a year in Nepal. He walks around the village for three months cutting his beard and hair. They lose some time. And again for three months they walk picking the crops of that labor. Especially from January to February is the time to pick their crops. The 'Balighare custom', which has been rooted in Nepali society for decades, is now on the verge of ending. In cities, markets and educated society, this custom is becoming a thing of history, but it still persists in the rural areas of Eastern Terai. Especially the Thakurs who come from Bihar, India are continuing this custom.
After laboring, some give paddy to Thakur sincerely, some turn him away saying 'no'. Punyananda complains, ``They are afraid to come tomorrow, Parsi will come,'' Punyanand complains, ``It seems that there is nothing in this world as difficult as raising crops.'' He sometimes goes to Bihar with paddy. Sometimes they cross the border after selling paddy and pocketing the money. "Earlier, I used to cut the beard and hair of more than 2/300 houses," Punyanand recounts, "now I cut only 30-40 houses."
As he is getting older, he is now starting to wander around the village cutting his hair. The son has also said to 'rest now'. But the heart does not agree. He says, "Having come to Nepal, I have become addicted to cutting hair." Now I will do it for two more years. Punyanand, who is camping in Jorhat, goes around the village every morning with a bag full. In villages like Pidarwani, Palasi, Neta Chowk, Jorhat, Tetaria, there is no one who does not know him. Local Mahanand Sardar says, "We have been cutting beards and hair together with him for years. He is our trusted Thakur.'
