No Shave November
The congregation of the protein filaments was resonating with an ominous chant; “All hail the glorious Beard”. Fourteen days and fourteen nights had passed and yet none of them were beheaded to end up as midgets. Curiosity was at its peak among the group as they were expecting the worst to happen at the tick of a second. The vision of the shiny, sharp guillotine chopping them up came flashing and sent shivers down their cellulosic spines.
Yet the memory of the horrors seemed to have faded for many. It seemed to them as if the nightmares had occurred eons ago. Each one of them had observed that they had grown much taller than the usual. A few of them grumbled as to how they felt they were better off being short which was immediately met with silencing stares. They also noticed uninvited strangers living amongst them giving off a strange odor; unmoving and dumb. It was thus declared that a meeting had to be called owing to these unnatural occurrences and find out the impending fate of “The Beard”.
The chants slowly died as The Glorious King took center stage and got ready to address the gathering. The whispers were soon replaced by the bellow of the King, ” Fellow brothers, it is time I believe that we rejoice our good fortune. Many nights and days have passed yet our heads are intact. We stand tall and mighty and should thank the heavens as I can see that only good days are in store for us.” The crowd slowly murmured on hearing the assurance of their King which slowly escalated to the chant, “All hail the glorious Beard”. At once, a sharp voice silenced the crowd, ” FOOLS!”.
The crowd turned to see the accuser where they found a lone grey figure standing in a sea of blacks. He was known as ‘The Oracle’. The sharp voice transformed into a calm and mellow one, “The guillotine comes once in a while, amputates us but does it kill us? ” Silence engulfed the entire congregation at his question. “No, it doesn’t. We grow back stronger than ever and live our lives peacefully till the next time the guillotine makes a visit. But did you know that these lands we live in are nothing but graveyards? Where it is barren all the time and not a single comrade can stand to see the light of the day. My friends, the guillotine shall make a visit again but when it does, it is not time to rejoice but to stand together and respect our dead comrades who are unlucky to not enjoy the lives we share”, ended the wise Oracle. Tears were shed making the entire place quite slippery and oily but none cared as the congregation broke into a joyous applause singing, “All hail the Glorious Beard”.
The goal of No Shave November is not only to showcase your glorious beard (if you have one) but to donate the money you usually spend on maintaining and grooming it for a month to educate people about cancer prevention, save lives, and aid those fighting the battle.
Happy No Shave November
-Gautham Bhat, Batch of 2017
