A light stream of midday pedestrian traffic flows, unhurriedly, past the North Vancouver salon where Dilshad Pastakia works as a hair stylist.
The storefront scene is a stark contrast to the streets outside Pastakia's two Mumbai salons where, at times, thousands of crazed fans and paparazzi would swarm around the front doors hoping to catch a glimpse of the latest celebrity du jour.
In India, Pastakia made a name for herself as a hair stylist to the Bollywood stars, best known for creating the signature 'do of film legend Shahrukh Khan.
"Earlier he had all this volume at the back, and then he had this short top," she says of Khan's early '90s style. "So I changed it. I kind of gave him the volume at the crown."
Eventually Pastakia started cutting Khan's hair at his home to avoid the crowds.
Last summer, she left the bustling centre of the Hindi film industry and moved to North Vancouver in search of a quieter lifestyle and a better future for her two children. Upon arrival, she walked up and down Lonsdale Avenue checking out salons and decided to rent a chair at Mira Studios on East 13th Street.
Just a few months into her new laid-back life, the province announced plans to host the Times of India Film Awards, which took place in early April. During the three-day event, Pastakia set up a studio at the Pan Pacific Hotel in downtown Vancouver and, with a team of 50 stylists, handled the hair and makeup of hundreds of musicians, dancers and presenters.
She also reunited with Khan.
"He was a little upset with me when he first came because I hadn't got a chance to say bye to anyone when I left," Pastakia says.
Evidently, any hard feelings were soon forgotten. Inside BC Place, in front of 30,000 people, Khan took the stage and thanked his longtime stylist. He also attributed his tiny ponytail to having forgone haircuts in her absence.
It's not the first time Khan has let his hair grow out. When Pastakia was pregnant with her first child and restricted to bed rest, he went nine months without so much as a trim.
"He just didn't touch his hair," she says, "I mean, that's being loyal."
It was 20 years ago that Pastakia first laid hands on Khan's legendary locks. His wife, a client of Pastakia's, brought him into her salon. At the time, he was already a household name.
"Of course I was nervous. My scissors must have fallen two, three times trying to make him happy," Pastakia recalls.
He was happy, though, and for years to come Pastakia continued to coif his day-to-day 'do and create styles for his film characters.
Other Bollywood stars, directors and producers would also frequent Pastakia's salon, where she would design different looks for different roles.
"Then one of my stylists would go along to complete it, or one of the film people would be there doing the rest," she says.
Business took off quickly. "Just through word of mouth (celebrities) started coming to me and I started doing films with them."
Over the years, she has maintained the manes of such Bollywood superstars as Preity Zinta, Rani Mukherjee, Katrina Kaif, Shahid Kapoor and Karan Johar. And during that time, she has watched the Indian film industry explode.
"It's become a lot more professional, it's got a worldwide appeal, it's reaching a wider market. There's a lot more on the canvas for (actors) to do, there's a lot more interesting roles," she says.
One of her favourite film character stylings involved lopping off the locks of actress Urmila Matondkar.
"She was one of the film actresses who had always been known for this gorgeous, long, beautiful kind of shampoo ad hair - and I had to cut it off," Pastakia says. "And she looked fabulous."
In North Vancouver, Pastakia doesn't expect to draw the same star-studded clientele she did in Mumbai, but she says she loves cutting hair, no matter whose head it's on. Making people look and feel their very best gives her a great deal of job satisfaction, she says.
"Women are multitasking and most of the time they're being the mother, they're being the girlfriend, they're being the wife, they're doing so many things, and then they're doing a job. Who's going to make them feel good?" she asks. "Me."
