Meanwhile, several years after being shot dead by police in 2004, India’s most notorious but fiercely bewhiskered bandit was resurrected by a UK-based cosmetics manufacturer on the lid of its moustache wax jar. He said it had taken him 25 years to grow and attracted nothing but admiration, especially – or so he believed – from women passengers. “I never dreamed of trimming it,” De had declared. Later, the Supreme Court also upheld his termination. Supported by his flight attendant wife, he took the prickly issue to the Calcutta high court which ruled against him after months of rumbustious, amusing and learned arguments on facial hair. “My moustache is me,” the attendant maintained, determined to keep and flaunt it. In 2008 the airline said De’s precious asset was a health risk, especially as he handled food, besides unnerving passengers. ![]() One such case involved Joynath Victor De, a flight attendant with the erstwhile Indian Airlines flight attendant who was grounded for refusing to shave off his luxurious handlebar moustache. ![]() Moustaches have even resulted in legal battles in India. Policemen were discouraged from duplicating moustaches sported by Bollywood villains, often portrayed in films malevolently stroking their whiskers, whilst either torturing their victims or looking malevolently at women. Bushy handlebar models were permitted, but only if they did not look overly menacing or challenging. Only “proper” moustaches were encouraged, ones that twirled rakishly along the upper lip. Over time, these mustachioed policemen came to subtly occupy an unstated, albeit higher status in the state, but senior officials kept a vigilant eye on the shape and size of their whiskers, mindful that they did not look too intimidating. This led to him encouraging his force to grow them. Constables with moustaches in the gathering, he observed, were looked upon with particular reverence. He hit upon the cash-for-moustaches idea following a seminar attended by district policemen and local residents. The officer who introduced this special allowance, believed that whiskered lawmen generated a positive and masterful aura, which in turn spawned respect for lawmen. Some years ago, policemen in Madhya Pradesh were paid a monthly allowance of Rs 150 to grow moustaches, as senior officers believed they bestowed gravitas and authority upon their force. There are innumerable folk tales that recount with great detail how an enemy was humiliated and humbled by having his moustache shaved off by an antagonist and the vendettas this spawned.Įven the Indian state is captivated by the moustache. This is widely considered an unpardonable insult that can, and often does, lead to prolonged feuds. Loss of face in both states, like elsewhere across the country, is likened to cutting off the moustache.
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