Uncle....Uncle.....Uncle!!! - The mustache connection......

I was sixteen when I was first called an Uncle....it was out of the blue...I was walking towards my college....it was early morning and a few playing kids wanted to check time...so they ask me : "Uncle what is the time??"......


That was a rude shock.....for someone who is just out of school and into his plus one....being referred to as uncle can be depressing!!!

Acceptance is such cases takes time...First there is denial....Look there wasn't much light around and i was growing a beard ( as if I had one by that time :))

The second stage is trying to convince yourself that it was just a one off mistake made by that kid...and you can get on with ur life....

The third stage is where you accept the fact and move on....(but to reach this stage you would need a few more ppl to call you uncle...hehe)


I would like to believe that the world has changed since I was sixteen...but sadly that ain't true....The world is still the same.........

By now i have got used to kids calling me uncle......It no longer bothered me....
But it wasn't to be the end of my woes....

When i reached mumbai for my internship and entered the office.... i cud hardly see anyone sporting a mustache on the entire floor... i looked entirely out of place.. .but was I going to shave it off......I shud say I was tempted.....But my pride was too strong to be influenced by others...

So I move on displaying my proud mustache....and all of a sudden one night...an autowallah says to me : " Uncle change do!!"...Now that guy is in fact older than me.......Hmm i convince myself that it was dim enough and given that I was sporting a mustache I should give him the benefit of doubt........

But then this incident happened which shook me pretty strongly.......

I went to a medical shop with two of my friends to buy some antibiotics..when suddenly the guy who's handing over the medicines says to me : "Uncle yeh lo!!"....

Now i was devastated...there is no logical possibility of how that mistake might have happened.....the store was well-lit :)

As if that weren't enough... the guy realizes that he made a mistake and starts joking with his friends as if to add insult to injury.......But by now I had been too many times at the receiving end to be too surprised......But this incident had established beyond doubt the bias held against mustached guys...............

Now am I going to remove my Mush?? No way...I am not changing just because someone's calle d me an uncle....

When ppl ask me the reason..i tell them that I would be thrown of my house in case i remove my Mustache :)...but the real reason is I love the way I am and even if someone's going to call me grandpa...i don't care.....