Movember men in the city gear up for a cause

What initially started as a movement to raise awareness for male health issues —prostrate and other male cancers — in the month of November, Movember has quickly become an excuse for young men in the city to embrace their masculinity through facial hair. While some opt for the traditional moustache, others choose to cultivate a proper beard. We take you on the hairy trails that have become a rage among Nagpur’s youngsters.
Grooming, with a cause
It is said that give your beard as much love as you would to a girl. Living by this modern day proverb, young city entrepreneur Abhijeet Khandagale is leaving no stone unturned to ensure that his beard remains prim and proper once it grows into a dense stubble. “There is a new range of beard grooming products being offered by an online portal. A friend recommended it to me and I’ll place an order for them by this week,” he said and added, “This month is not just about growing your beard but certain emphasis has to be given to the cause associated with it as well. Once people start asking me about the facial hair, I will alert them about the growing male cancer concerns.”
Beating stereotypes
Despite the beard being a part of leading fashion catalogues, it still remains a taboo topic when it comes to the day-to-day lives of youngsters. Dodging questions surrounding his beard in the campus placement drives, final year engineering student Sacchit Patel is instead using it to his advantage. “I prefer to maintain a beard, which grows to a substantial length during November. So, during an interview, I can use it to my advantage to divert the conversation to my beard and escape the tough technical questions,” said.
Besides being a professional roadblock, the beard can cause trouble on personal front too. However, youngsters like second year commerce student Jatin Dhingra are finding ways to tackle this problem. “Some parents have problems with their children looking unruly with beards. But with the onset of Movember, I convinced my family to make peace with my facial hair,” said he.
A beard for a beard
Word of mouth has done wonders for the cause of Movember. Youngsters, who are letting their facial hair grow this month are also inspiring friends to do so. Second year commerce student Mohit Katariya said, “A few college friends and I have decided to follow Movember this year. You don’t get many reasons to grow your beard at any other point in the year, so this is the perfect excuse. I have been doing it ever since my beard started growing and it has become a sort of an annual tradition for us.” To this, a final year electronics and telecom engineering student Shubham Deshmukh added, “Along with some friends, I have decided to keep a track of our beard growths in the course of this month. We will be clicking pictures regularly and will keep updating our social media profiles.”