On being a ‘mansome’ Sikh
“But, when you have a beard, a mustache, it’s like a mask. You can’t see the person’s face. It’s hidden.”
As disagreeable as the words sounded, my friend’s tone was very gentle and civil. It was almost as if he was asking me the question: why bother?
I was a nine-year-old Sikh boy with a little mustache fuzz and a patka (a Sikh boy’s headcovering), speaking with the clean-shaven teenaged Hindu boy next door whom I befriended on this extended trip to India. I would often play games with his younger brother, but with this older brother, our interaction usually took the form of conversations about our different cultures and religions.
His point about hair left me somewhat at a loss. I remember his facial expression after he made his statement – curiously waiting for a response that I would not have.
Later that evening, I presented this argument to my father. “He said people can’t see our true faces because of the hair on our face.”
My father didn’t take a second to respond. “This is my face”, he said very matter-of-factly, “this is how a man’s face naturally looks.”
6 Responses to “On being a ‘mansome’ Sikh”
Great article!
Well-written, and some good points. My only quarrel is with the second video where the girl says hair is essentially a storage vessel for essential nutrients etc. I don't know where she got this from. Hair has or had its purpose, but there is a reason humans have naturally lost hair. We were once much hairier naturally. I don't think Sikhs should use the biological function argument. It dilutes the discussion.
absolutely. i love my beard, but it does not intrinsically "balance my emotions." haha. 3HO mumbo jumbo. i mean that in the least offensive way possible…
Hey, if they find my beard attractive, who am I to argue with their reasons?
haha, true enough. it is a refreshing departure from the norm of beauty standards i suppose. though i don't really know what to make of this NYT article from this week. did you see this? "http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/31/fashion/oh-to-be-just-another-bearded-face.html?_r=1
I've seen that article. I think there's some facetiousness there. Perhaps the beard is always longer on the other face, but there does seem to be an acknowledgement that facial hair is an indicator of masculinity. So, even if he may choose not to grow a beard normally, the author wants to know that that he could if he wanted.