While having a haircut, amidst the rice fields on a cold Sunday morning at the farm house, Korutla Ravi, also known as Korutla Ravinder – a barber personified – whispered in my ear gently:
“Sir, I want to contest in the elections for our village Sarpanch position”.
We all belong to a sleepy village, almost by the side of the Jagtial – Karimnagar National Highway, called ‘Ramannapet’ (literally translated – Brother Rama’s village), Mallyal Mandal, Jagtial Dist. Telangana. The lands here are our ancestral lands, handed over the generations by the forefathers. This is that sacred place, where my soul blooms like a beautiful rose flower.
As I said in my earlier article ( https://shitwhole.com/experiences/the-barber-worker-of-telangana/ ) Korutla Ravi is a barber by profession. You can never find fault with his hair styling. He is a devoted social worker too. He finds his own happiness in the happiness of the village. I have never seen him doing any harm to the interests of Ramannapet – a village with which he proudly identifies himself. Any villager’s birthday – he would invariably the first one to greet; and someone in the village is sick – Ravi rushes there to do whatever he could. He has a devoted wife, who mentally and emotionally supports all his service initiatives, and is blessed with a son & daughter respectively. He fought for Telangana formation. He is one of the few unsung heroes of Telangana, a true son of Telangana. Getting a haircut from him is an honor in itself. Listening to the sounds of his scissors & comb is a blessed symphony.
I turned my head, said: “This is a beautiful decision. I am in full support of it. May I be allowed to give some money as donation and campaign for you?”
He stopped hair cutting abruptly, smiling politely, replied: “What will I do with money sir? I do not need money. But yes sir, your support is what all I need”.
I have never seen anyone refusing money. The sentence ‘What will I do with money sir?’ indicates his character and high moral grounds. Without discounting the great deeds done by the earlier sarpanches, I state that Ramannapet village remained as a sleepy and non-descript as it was! A great deal was done till date by the outgoing Sarpanch. This is a fact. Yet, this village surely needs a good haircut, for a complete transformation.
Barber Ravi said many things. I cannot write everything due to space constraints. When hero Shah Rukh Khan’s movie was named ‘Billu Barber’, there was a protest across India; the barber community felt offended for the caste references in a movie title. Here this barber feels proud to be referred as Korutla Ravi, the barber or Ravi Barber. For him the term barber does not refer to caste, but to an honorable profession.
I am with my hero Ravi Barber, and am extending all my support to ensure that he is elected as the village ‘Sarpanch’. He is a grass root level worker. I believe to say that he will perform miracles as a Sarpanch. I request every reader to vote for him.
About the Author
Dr. K. Raja Gopal Reddy is a seasoned internationally qualified Insurance professional. What you are reading here, may not answer all the questions we have, but has the absolute power of asking unsettling questions which increase the interest in the strange world, and show the contradictory wonders lying just below the surface of the commonest things of life. Look at this disturbing but beautiful thought of Friedrich Nietzsche “God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him”. Dr. Reddy can be reached at: raja66gopal@gmail.com
