A question of Whiskers

"You admire a cat for its whiskers. Would you like a cat who has shaved off his whiskers ?". Was just about to catch a wink & this question really caught me off-guard. I hadn't expected him to become so sensitive on the topic.

It was during the overnight bus journey that my colleage introduced himself as a fellow south-indian & went about to a great extent on how his colleagues mocked him for keeping a moustache and laughed at his favourite South Indian stars for dancing around with thick heavy moustaches and scraggy beards.

Though I didn't entirely agree with him, I couldn't disagree too. Agree I didn't because some people really do grow moustaches thicker than their own faces. After all there is some golden ratio and rules of proportion on how things look decent enough.

Then there were some areas that I felt he was justified enough in speaking out against. You don't find Abhishek Bacchan funny because he sports a moustache and beard. In fact you hardly notice that in his movies. You have accepted him that way. Similarly viewers in the southern part of our nation have accepted their stars the same way. Its not their moustaches that matter anymore but their screen presence and acting appeal.

And finally whats wrong if a guy has a moustache. It seems society has this strange notion that young men are not mature enough to sport moustaches but older men must. Girls in their teens seem to drool over men with clean shaven boyish faces but it seems after they marry them they want them to sport a mature look and go for atleast a short moustache. Anyway this clinical obsession with smooth faces is good business for razor companies that can add yet another blade and bring you closer to that "Mach-5" feel while drilling out a hole though your pocket.

Well, I don't recollect when I exactly dozed off during the journey but yeah - I had some really weird & crazy dreams of seeing shaven cats prancing all around !