Doffing it Gandhi-style

I'm walking past a well-known Mumbai beauty parlor in Khar called Juice. The girls who work there are going about their day as usual, humming the latest Bollywood song while blow drying hair, except today they're sporting a new accessory -- Gandhi caps.

The parlor supports veteran social activist and anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare, who has been on a "fast-unto-death" since April 5 seeking tough new laws in India. 

Hazare on the third day of his indefinite hunger strike.

Seventy-two-year-old Hazare wears a Gandhi cap. So do Mumbai's famous dabbawallah delivery men.

It's part of the ethnic dress of their home state of Maharashtra, where Hazare has spent most of his life working to improve rural conditions. 

Khadi Gandhi caps were popularized in the pre-Independence era by Mahatma Gandhi who spun his own khadi cloth as a form of non-violent resistance to British colonial rule.

This is the first time I've seen young people in Mumbai wearing the topee, or cap, as a symbol of their wish to free India from corruption. And not just at Azaad Maidan where peaceful protesters gathered yesterday, but at your neighborhood nail bar.

"Don't smile," the receptionist at Juice tells the girls as I take this picture. "This is for Anna." But they can barely help it. 

Expect to see more Gandhi style tomorrow April 9 at Azaad Maidan, where pop singer Kailash Kher will perform a free concert in support of the cause, at 4 p.m..