Man who had earned high praise for his walrus moustaches from former Pakistan President General (retd) Pervez Musharraf, is no more.
Hazarilal Raghuvanshi, a veteran Congress leader and former deputy speaker of Madhya Pradesh died on Thursday at the ripe age of 93.
Raghuvanshi had been a man of many seasons. In 2007, he had visited Islamabad in a team of Indian presiding officers at a convention of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association held in Islamabad between March 25 and 27, 2007.
When the Indian panel members called on President Musharraf, Raghuvanshi had instantly drawn the former Pakistani army chief’s attention. Delhi-born Musharraf could not resist asking him, “What are you doing in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly? Why don’t you be a Pak regular?”
The invitation to join the Pakistan Army was in jest, but to fellow delegate Ishwardas Rohani [now dead], the Speaker of Madhya Pradesh assembly, the comment said a lot about Raghuvanshi’s moustache. “It was a genuine compliment, I guess,” Rohani, a former BJP leader had commented.
For Raghuvanshi, Musharraf’s comment was the ultimate compliment. “Few accessories,” he would say later, “convey wisdom and mystery better than an impressive moustache.”
Raghuvanshi had taken the opportunity to invite Musharraf to visit Bhopal. “He readily agreed, saying ‘please send an invitation.”
About his favourite topic — moustaches — Raghuvanshi used to claim he has had to shave his only twice since 1948 when he lost his parents.
“It had to be done in keeping with Hindu rites,” he had explained, pleased that his prize possession has braved custom and scissors to lend gravity to his visage.
Raghuvanshi had a dream — before the hairless hunks take over the world, men will pause and reflect on the timeless elegance of the growth beneath the nose.
In an age where clean-shaven seems to have lopped off to a great extent the machismo of the moustache, the Congress veteran considered himself to be an exception. “Moustache deserves to be celebrated, not scorned,” Raghuvanshi would often say stroking his walrus undergrowth.
Not all agreed with him. The stubble is in but for the trendy, urban male, a hairy bush is no longer a mark of virility.
Droopy or Daliesque, where long, narrow, pointed ends curl upwards; handlebar or toothbrush, walrus or pencil, the heyday of the moustache is over. And there’s no need to split hairs over a losing battle, say those against the mouche unlimited.
Family sources say until the age of 80 plus, Raghuvanshi, would still do 100 sit-ups a day and eats five parathas dipped in ghee for breakfast and insist that a moustache is an important part of one’s personality. Yes, it takes time and a few trials to settle on a particular style, but once finally adopted, there’s no going back.
He had one regret, though, that is apart from the fast withering support for whiskers that go on and on. Neither his son nor his grandson sport a moustache.
He had tried every trick in the book, including a long period of sullen silence when he avoided talking to them, but without success. The old man is dead but for him, it’s long live the mouche.
(ORF Fellow and Journalist Rasheed Kidwai is Author of Neta Abhineta, Bollywood Star Power in Indian Politics. Views expressed are personal)
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