Indian sisters pretend to be boys to keep barbershop afloat.

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Teenagers used disguise to maintain customers after their father became ill.

Neha Kumari shaves a customer’s beard. Photograph: Satish Kumar Singh
▼ Two teenage girls have been honoured by the Indian government after it was discovered they had pretended to be boys for four years to run their father’s barbershop when he became too ill to work.
Jyoti Kumari, 18, and her 16-year-old sister, Neha, took over their father’s salon in their rural Uttar Pradesh state village after he became ill in 2014. The barbershop had initially closed but was the family’s only source of income, compelling the girls to try to run it themselves.
Customers were initially sceptical about having their hair or moustaches trimmed by young women, while others “did not behave well towards us”, Jyoti told the Guardian. “So we decided to change our whole get-up so that none could identify us.”
The girls cut their hair short, donned the stainless steel bracelets worn by men and adopted the male names Deepak and Raju. Several of those in their village of about 100 houses knew their real identities, but for the next few years, most customers from surrounding communities had no idea, Neha said. “You could not identify me even today.”

Neha (left) and Jyoti were honoured by the Indian government. Photograph: Satish Kumar Singh
The pair earned at least 400 rupees per day from the business, enough to pay for their father’s treatment and support the family.  (▪ ▪ ▪)

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