Most men have special place in their hearts for their moustaches. There are dialogues and sayings dedicated to moustaches…

Uttpal Dutt, the veteran actor of yesteryear erupts into his famous dialogue “moochh nahi to kuch nahi” in the movie Golmaal. And an English proverb goes… “A man without a moustache is like a cup of tea without sugar”. (Really!?!)

My father has a French beard with his moustache merging in the beard….My uncle keeps twirling the ends of his small moustache when ever his wife is not around…Even my husband loves his ‘moochh’ too (as do I ;p).

In Rajasthan since last two years, I have seen men with various sizes and shapes of moustaches and seen them gloat with pride for this outcrop of facial hair. Intrigued by this love and  obsession with the moustache, I did little research and was surprised to find so many nicknames for it…

These were the few which I found interesting. Did you know these nicknames?

Best Friend, Bristle batons, Bro-merang (like boomerang), Bro-mo, Bro-stache,   Caterpillar, Cookie Duster, Crumb Catcher, Dirt Squirrel, Face Lace, Face Furniture,  Facial Fur, Grass Grin, Handlebars, Lady Tickler, Lip Cap, Lip Foliage, Lip Luggage, Lip Toupée, Lower Brow, Manometer, Mouser, Mouth-stache, Mouth Brow, Mr. Tickler, Muzzy Nose Bug , Nose Neighbour, Pushbroom, Smoke Filter, Snot Catcher, Snot Mop, Soup Strainer, Tea Strainer, Upper Lipholstery, Whiskers, Wing, Womb Broom

On a recent trip to Udaipur, while we visited the city palace, we met Ram Singh the guard at the entrance to the palace. He sat outside the “Ganesh Dyodhi’. Ganesh Dyodhi is so named because the kings installed an idol of God Ganesha at this door so that everyone could seek blessing of the most important God of Hindus before entering or just before leaving the palace.

The ‘moochh’ proud man with an equally huge moustached guard painted on the wall of palace…

We were quite amused by his huge moustache and my daughter whispered “Mommy, how do they make this shape stay?” To her little embarrassment, I decided to ask the Man with the Moochh himself!

The man was pleased to find his prized possession that covered half of his face to be the centre of attention and not only did he gladly allow us to click photographs but also told us his routine of the care that goes in the upkeep of his moustache….

Would you believe that Ram Singh takes half an hour every morning to shape his facial hair? (And men always crib about the time women take to dress up!!) Every day he washes, combs and shapes his ‘moochh’ patiently and then applies a moustache fixer to keep the shape of the hair. He then applies an oil to bring on the shine in the coarse now white hair. This has been his ‘moochh story‘ for as long as he can remember…

On a whim, I had requested our camel guide at Sam dunes, Jaisalmer to pose for us which of course he agreed. Notice his ‘Henna-dyed’ moustache jutting out like two frayed daggers? Does anyone know the name of such shape for moustache?

The camel guide with his henna dyed mooch

People of Rajasthan have always been depicted as men with huge moustaches and well maintained shapely beards in paintings and till date many have kept the tradition alive like the guard at City Palace in Udaipur and men who take part every year in the desert festival at Jaisalmer to showcase the traditions of Rajasthan.

A Rajput warrior at Desert Festival in Jaisalmer

It is established then that men love their facial hair …there is even a world beard day! And whether women like their men with a moochh or not, they can not but agree with this:

So true…it does tickle!!

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Published by Shoma Abhyankar

I believe "Life is short and the world is wide"and travel is best possible solution to make the best of this life. I am Shoma Abhyankar. Welcome to ASTONISHING INDIA. View all posts by Shoma Abhyankar