As one grows up, getting a moustache and a beard is a very important event in one’s life. Being a natural process, every man grows a beard and a moustache sooner or later. The next logical step is to put the house in order; that is to keep your beard neat. While at school, the sign of being macho is to be shaving as early as possible.
Being from the Sikh religion, shaving was out on religious grounds. One of my dorm mates got an electrical shaver. Now the dilemma was how to put it to good use. So, the only possibility was to try it out on my eyebrows. Amongst the whole crowd I tried it on one of my eyebrows. It became shorter than the other one. So, I tried it on the other eyebrow to equalize it. This equalizing process went on and on till I was left with no eyebrows.
During those days, comics were in great demand. So the alien from Protonia landed in Ravi House. When I went to the dining hall for dinner, it was an experience to remember. The whole crowd in the dining hall queued to have a glimpse of the alien from Protonia.
The next day there was a picnic at the Rohti Canal Rest House. The alien had to be converted back to the man from native planet earth.
Our (Ravi) House Master’s wife (Mrs Tankha wife of MN Tankha ,Ex-Geography) came to my rescue by providing me with an eyebrow pencil. Thus, the alien from Protonia boarded his spaceship and returned to his native planet.
Avaninder Singh Minhas ‘Fatty'(R-120, 1971)
About Avninder from The Chronicle April, 1972
