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End of an era: COVID kills salon
Updated On: 02 August, 2020 07:16 AM IST | Mumbai | Mitali Parekh
The salon that changed the way Mumbais cool ones wore their hair has shut shop. COVID-19 got to it. Mad O Wots creator Sapna Bhavnani on what went by, and whats in store
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Sapna Bhavnani's Bandra salon, "home" for years to a staff of 11, was dismantled on July 28 after she realised she had run out of means to pay salaries and rent post lockdown. Pics/ Shadab Khan
When I was distributing relief packages to migrant workers at the beginning of the lockdown, I didn't realise that I would be affected by the pandemic, too," says Sapna Bhavnani, "But we are just a mom-and-pop shop like Altaf bhai two blocks down who makes cushion covers. Small businesses like ours can't survive this lockdown. I've already heard of suicides among small barbers in Pune."
Mad O Wot, the hair salon at Pali Hill, is shutting down. Covid-19 got to it. The brand will live online as a hair academy, with subsidised fees for the underprivileged. With no relief packages from the central or state governments, Bhavnani cannot afford to pay the rent in one of Mumbai's most expensive areas, nor keep her staff of 11 on the rolls. One of them, Nazia Darvesh, has been with her since 2004. For the past few weeks, she has been running the shop with three stylists. On Tuesday, the staff came together for one last haircut in the distinctively kitschy interiors with a 1970s nai ki dukaan vibe.
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