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COMMENTS: I am Shaved
Mara Schiavocampo's one-woman digital camera brought NBC images of temple barbers and straight razors performing the tonsor ritual at the Venkateswara Temple in southern India. The 18m pilgrims who visit the shrine each year outnumber those traveling to Mecca or to the Vatican. They allow themselves to be shaved bald as an offering to the god. The temple in turn exports the high-quality human hair to be used for extensions by western salons. Schiavocampo showed us a storage room for eleven tons of hair. The trade earns temple charities $18m annually.
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