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BEARDS
By : M.R.Sethi
GRANDPA'S beard
was stiff and coarse
And that's what caused his fifth divorce.
Thus goes a Burmese barber-shop sign.
Love for sporting beards can be traced down to the earliest of
times. The ancient soldiers, sailors and heroes had one thing in
common — a beard. Mohammedans sometimes still swear by "the beard of
the Prophet."
The Old Testament tells us that Absalom sported a beard that weighed
30 ounces. Patriarch Abraham too had a beard. Ancient Egyptians were
usually clean shaven but engravings on tombs show that on certain
ceremonial occasions, the Pharaoh wore an artificial beard.
Scented Beards
ANCIENT British heroes also sported beards. But beards became very
popular during Queen Elizabeth I’s rule. People treated their beards
very lovingly. They combed, curled or even scented their beards.
Most of the adventurers, warriors and dramatists of that time had
beards. Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir Francis Drake and William
Shakespeare — all had beards.
Beards have somehow come to be associated with revolution. Karl
Marx. Lenin, Trotsky, Bulganin, Castro — all have become famous for
their beards as well. Abraham Lincoln too had a beard that filled
the hollow caverns of his cheeks and gave him a distinct
personality.
Philosophers and writers have also been very fond of beards. Bernard
Shaw, H.W. Longfellow, Walt Whitman, Tagore and Tolstoy sported
their beards with pride.
But merely sporting a beard is not going to make you a philosopher
or a learned man. A Danish proverb says. "If a beard were all, a
goat might preach." And Lucian has this to say about beards: "If by
growing a goatee you hope to come upon wisdom, then O wise friend,
any smelly goat in a handsome beard, is at once a Plato."
Bernard Shaw's beard was always a centre of attraction in literary
circles. He had his own reason for growing a beard: "I was about
five at the time and 1 was standing at my father's knee whilst he
was shaving. I said to him, 'Daddy, why do you shave?' He looked at
me in silence for a full minute before throwing the razor out of
window, saying 'Why the hell do I' He never shaved again, nor did I"
Problems
Beards can pose problems too.
A young man had been sporting a fine beard. One day, however, he
reached home after having his beard shaved off. His wife gave him a
warm embrace.
"I look much better this way, don't I?" the highly pleased husband
asked.
"Oh, it’s you!" exclaimed his wife, "I didn't recognize you."
There is an infinite possibility of variety for the bearded man. He
can grow his beard in numerous ways: He can have an Italian beard, a
renaissance beard, a French cut or just let it grow to graceful
lengths. Some persons part their beards in the middle as women part
their crowning glory.
A Scots Gaelic proverb says: "A kiss from a man without a beard is
like porridge without salt," But it must also be kept in mind that
like Beatrice, "not every woman can endure a husband with a beard."
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