A Guide to the Bizarre Beards and Magnificent Moustaches
of Hindustan
The splendid variety of India's moustaches and beards has been
captured in a new book
Picture: Chris Stowers/PANOS
Britons Richard McCallum and Chris Stowers travelled across the
country to take hundreds of photos of people for their book, A
Guide to the Bizarre Beards and Magnificent Moustaches of
Hindustan
Picture: Chris Stowers/PANOS
The unusual work divides facial hair into groups including "the
chin strap", "the soup strainer", "the wing commander", "the
walrus" and "the Danish" (pictured here)
Picture: Chris Stowers/PANOS
Among those pictured are both the world's longest beard,
measuring six foot long, and the world's longest moustache, at 11
foot six inches
Picture: GETTY
The record-breaking moustache is a big earner for Ram Singh
Chauman, 54, who charges modelling fees and whose whiskers have
starred in Bollywood films and even had a cameo in the 1983 James
Bond film "Octopussy"
Picture: AFP/GETTY
But the stars of the book are perhaps the ordinary stall-owners
and rickshaw drivers showing off moustaches and beards that are
cut, dyed, waxed and preened in an endless variety of shapes and
sizes
Picture: AFP/GETTY
Sikhs, for whom "kesh" (uncut hair) is a religious principle,
feature heavily in the book, and moustaches remain a professional
requirement for the doormen of five-star hotels
Picture: GETTY
But otherwise the traditional belief that facial hair is a sign
of virility appears to be facing the chop
Picture: AFP/GETTY
"Young people don't want an itchy moustache or beard which they
think makes them look old," said Lalan Singh, 40, a restaurant
doorman in Delhi's Connaught Place and the owner of a handlebar
moustache that took three years to grow
Picture: AFP/GETTY
