Joy Of Thinning Hair And Grayer Beard

Joy of Thinning Hair and Graying Beard!

When I was in my early schooling days, I used to stand watching my dad undergoing the daily ritual of shaving. He never used a blade but a barber-razor which he would sharpen on a belt hung from the wall. I used to watch fascinated when he lathered up his cheeks with shaving cream. I always felt attracted by the process and anxiously waited for an occasion to use the kit. The intensity of my prayer for using the razor was soon answered when my dad had to go out of the town for a couple of days and he forgot to take his shaving kit with him. I quietly entered the bath room and started sharpening the blade as my dad would do. I soaped my face and started running the razor across my hairless cheeks. It was when I came down to my chin, the catastrophe struck me. I could not manoeuvre the razor across the curve of my chin and cut myself deeply. I started bleeding profusely and shouted for help. As usual my mother came running and took me to a doctor nearby. The cut required a couple of sutures and I came back home sobbing. When my dad returned home, my mother broke the news of my misadventure to him. My dad got wild with me but since he would never beat me, he slapped his own head for a couple of times! And that cut has stayed as a permanent remembrance of my dear father till now.


It was at that precise occasion, I vowed not to touch a razor again in my life. My resolve was further reinforced by the pictures of Roman and Greek philosophers who all sported luxuriant beards that cascaded down to their necks.


It sum how gave me the impression that facial hair was a sure sign of wisdom though I was not sure if a man’s wisdom helped in any way a denser growth of facial hair. In any case, I was convinced that facial hair had a symbiotic relationship with wisdom. If Socrates and Plato had such lush beards, who can question its authenticity as the mark of wisdom? So my mind was set on growing a beard. I did have some set back in my early stages of beard growing when I was handicapped by its spotless dark colour. It made me look more as a vagabond than a scholar. I knew I had to wait for my beard to become grey to impart a scholarly appearance. My patient waiting was not in vain. I developed not only a grey beard but a bald head to boot. As Socrates and Plato did not wear spectacles, it only required removal of glasses to look like them.


As any smooth progress in life will have some testing time, my beard faced a testing time at the time of my wedding. Both my parents and those of the bride felt that a beard would be very inappropriate for a groom. I pleaded with them to let me tie the holy knot with my beard but I had to agree to remove it for a while. I bid a sad farewell to an integral part of my being and its removal by a visiting barber made me feel heavy in my heart. For a brief moment, I even wondered if my decision to get married was wrong. I had no choice but to undergo the cleaning up of my beard which made me look like a de-haired chicken. Fortunately this phase did not last long and I went ahead with my beard growing with gay abandon. Very soon, my face got covered by heavy black foliage. This caused my wife’s face to grow longer by an inch and I told her that she looked prettier with a longish face.


As years rolled by, the beard became gray and in a matching gesture the hair on my head started thinning. I was jubilant as I started getting closer to the ‘Platoish’ look. In flights, trains and theatres people offer me the seat of my choice no matter what has been allotted to me. Now that I am armed with a walker, the public treat me like a saint whose blessings are vital for their wellbeing. There is of course a small catch. I have to curb my impulse to shout ‘Yahoo’ when I feel a rush of jollity in my heart. I know it will be a fatal error if I do. But then, in earning greatness some minor sacrifices become imperative. I sigh and appear more saintly than ever before!

 

@iamsrihere
Hello!
I too am Sri here!
Thank you for your first FB to my rambling. Beard is my strong ID. Without it, even I cannot recognise myself. By the way who told you that men 'dont understand colours and designs'? Fashion is still a man's world. Some of the best designers of women's apparel are men!
Sri

 

@satchitananda
My dear Satchi
Only our sages sported beards but not our gods. See the picture:

You may notice that the trinities are all clean shaven though in the case of Brahma, you have a bearded one:

When I asked a scholarly friend of mine, he told me that Brahma had a life cycle of his own and when his time runs out, a new Brahma comes into being. There is a reason for Brahma appearing with a gray beard in some pictures. It is because he has a definite life cycle similar to ours. "The life span of Lord Brahma, the creator, is 100 'Brahma-Years'. One day in the life of Brahma is called a Kalpa or 4.32 billion years. Every Kalpa creates 14 Manus one after the other, who in turn manifest and regulate this world. Thus, there are fourteen generations of Manu in each Kalpa." says our trusted resource.
If a man does not want to be equated with God, he grows a beard. Rishis grew beards for this reason only.
By the way, thank you for giving me a chance to show my scholarly disposition!
Sri

 

@shyamala1234
My dear Syamala
You have forgotten one important reason for growing a beard- Laziness. Certain pilgrimages require a beard to be grown like the one to Sabarimala. Young men grow beard to indicate their anguish at being parted from their loved ones. If you want more reasons for growing a beard, let me know!
Sri

 

@Srama
First things first.
I love that man with a misplaced mustache. It suits him too. Wonder how many men can try this with the same degree of success!
I have always had this colour confusion being a product of a Tamil medium school. When I tell my daughter to get me my pink shirt, she tells me "Dad, you never had a pink shirt'. I walk angrily to my cupboard and pull out a shirt and show it to my daughter. She sighs deeply and tells me 'Oh dad, it is mauve'. I tell her the usual 'what's in a name?' and she tells me that it won't make mauve into pink!
I am now confused. Is my beard white or gray?
Sri