Save the 'stache for charity in November

Moustaches and beards are not an endangered species in India as they are in some other parts of the world, so their reappearance — like the rare fanged Kashmir musk deer sighted this week in Afghanistan after 66 years — may not immediately register as a significant occurrence. However, it is the 11th month of the year, the time when two related movements called No-Shave November and Movember create a fuzz among the male population in the west. And there is no reason for it not to cover India too as both simply entail men first beginning with a close shave and then conspicuously letting facial hair grow luxuriantly — the former more general and the latter confined to the upper lip — to create awareness about male health issues. Competition can get pretty hairy, so it makes sense to donate the 'staches thus generated by not buying shaving products for the month to relevant research funds and charities.

Given the enthusiasm that Indians showed this summer for the Ice Bucket Challenge and the fact that tonsuring is already a popular practice here, it would not be stretching it to presume that with proper grooming, both these movements can grow — on Indian men at least. They can pull off the challenge with ease; they just have to go slow on the lassis and cappuccinos for a while.