Today is the 81st birthday of anti-apartheid South African leader Nelson Mandela. Muthuraj, who works with the American Hair Dressers, sees it as an occasion to drive home the anti-untouchability message and show his admiration for Mandela.

Muthuraj launched a free haircutting yagna for one lakh Dalits in the City on Sunday, called the `Kshowra Seva Yagna. The occasion had an equally novel inaugural, with the chief guest giving the first haircut to the guest of honour. Kannada and Culture Director Y K Muddukrishna inaugurated the yagna by giving a haircut to noted `Bandaya' (the non-conformist stream of writing in Kannada literature) writer L Hanumanthaiah. Armed with his favourite pair of scissors, Muthuraj will tour the State alongwith 25 of his colleagues from Tuesday to give one lakh haircuts.The free service will go on till October 2, Mahatma Gandhi's birth anniversary.

Muthuraj, who wanted to cut Mandela's hair last year, had to make do with free haircuts for 5,000 destitutes in the City. Mandela, who had planned to visit India, later cancelled it.

``This is an attempt to eradicate untouchability, which exists in most of our villages in spite of a ban'', Muthuraj added.