Being a barber for over 70 years comes with its achievements and a unique history from the beginning to date. Now you may be wondering where you can find this heavily experienced barber and if you guessed Marabella, you would be right.
From the age of 14, Basdeo Boney has been a barber. Back then, he was also a tailor, but he retired from that shortly after starting that business because it was too expensive for his customers at the time.
Speaking to Business Day at his barbershop at 21 Union Road, Marabella, Boney said, “Well, I was duncy-head to start with, so my father took me out of school and said, ‘Look, you go and learn tailoring.’ And after tailoring, he told me I have to learn barbering.”
Recalling his business from its inception to now, he said, “Although I was duncy-head, if I didn’t obey my father, I wouldn’t be here today enjoying the best of everything.”
On our visit, Boney had customers who have been with him for decades. He said they would have first begun paying him six cents for a haircut to now paying $60.
Though there is a price, Boney said, “We don’t give our customers any problems. Whether he have money or not, if he wants a trim, he is entitled to it.”
With his vast wealth of knowledge and experience, Boney said the only negative memory he has from when he began his business is being fined by Constable Phillip – a name he said he will never forget. He said back then a haircut would cost 25 cents and the fine was $15 or five years in jail, but with the help of his customers who were around at the time, he was able to pay off the fine.
[caption id="attachment_1021238" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Basdeo Boney taking care of his long-time customer Burl Hosein. - Vishanna Phagoo[/caption]
“It hurt to know that as a young fella, this is what I had to face. If I wasn’t strong enough, I was going to leave barbering because it hurt me to know I was willing to grow and a police came and charge me. That was one of the worst experiences. But otherwise, with my trade, customers and my people around me, I couldn’t expect a better society than where I am.”
Boney said his customers are like family to him and has a great love for them as they all joke around with each other and some have even grown up with him being their barber.
One of his customers who was getting his hair trimmed during Business Day’s visit said he remembered coming to the shop as a boy with his father. Burl Hosein said his father was strict and told Boney to give his son a short haircut, but Boney refused and asked Hosein what he wanted. Hosein said that was the first time he saw someone stand up to his father.
He said he asked Hosein, “Young boy, what do you want?”
Boney said it is about learning what your customers want and understanding them.
Aside from his usual clientele, Boney has done trims for people such as the late prime minister Patrick Manning, late leader of the 1990 attempted coup Yasin Abu Bakr and the infamous drug trafficker and convicted killer Nankissoon Boodram, also known as Dole Chadee
