The Beard of Swaran Singh - Part Two.

I am sitting here near Seattle on the hottest day ever recorded here. 102F, 38.9C. Not all that hot in Amritsar or Las Vegas, but deadly hot to these weak Seattlites. I'm OK, with a fan and a spray bottle of water.

So, for a summer break...

I know I have posted about Bhai Swaran Singh and his beard before, but I just came across this Youtube video and want to share it with you.

First, a still from the video:


Then the caption from the video:

Mar. 11 - A Canadian man who has grown a beard that measures over seven feet long is all set to be endorsed in the record books.

Swaran Singh, a music teacher from Canada who is visiting his native Punjab, is the pride of all the Sikhs for sporting a beard that measures over 7 feet long.

He expects it to be endorsed in the Guinness Book of World Records.

As a devout Sikh, Singh wanted to inspire the young members of his community to retain the hair and not crop it.

(SOUNDBITE) (Punjabi) SWARAN SINGH: "God blessed every man with beard, but I have received special blessing from Him. I have done nothing special except caring it (beard). I have never applied any special hair oil on my beard and of course, I haven't done this for the sake of Guinness record."

And, at last, the video itself:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvnWUftW4uE

Happy summer to all (in the Northern Hemisphere). Happy winter to you in the hemisphere of Oz.

A Beard Is A Beard Is A Beard

I love beards. I love facial hair of all sorts on men. It's a Sikh thing, of course. It's also a masculinity thing. To me there is nothing more attractively masculine than a nice, full beard. I have been told that I must have something wrong with me, that there is something wrong with my love of hyper-masculinity. This is not to be confused with machismo, which is aggressive and tends toward violence. I don't think so. Beards are attractive!

This brother has a truly extraordinary beard - and it's still growing.

From The Province:

Devout Sikh with two-metre beard aims for world record

Contest tomorrow at Akal Academy, where 42-year-old teaches

Matthew Ramsey
The Province


Monday, November 10, 2008

A Surrey teacher's fantastic facial hair may soon earn him a world record for the longest beard.

Measuring about two metres in length, Sarwan Singh's face coat would trip him up if he didn't keep it under wraps or throw it over his shoulder, says Dr. Pargat Bhurji, also a bearded Sikh and an organizer of an event tomorrow night in Surrey to try to find a record-setting man veil.

The record is now held by Shamsher Singh of India with a beard last measured at 1.83 metres.

But, says Bhurji, "[Singh's] beard is still growing" and, at age 42, he has lots of time left.

Friend Avtar Gill says Singh will be tough to beat, but it was also a challenge to convince the devout Akal Academy teacher and father of two to put his beard forward for the hirsute honour.

Singh wraps his beard and conceals it from view at the Sikh school, said Gill, concerned that he would be seen as improperly flaunting what Sikhs believe is part of the human body and therefore sacred.

"[The beard] is gifted by God. It's not his own creation," said Gill.

Singh himself told The Province yesterday that he considers the beard "more important to me than any other body part" and would sooner lose his head than shave it off.

Bhurji described Singh as a "very humble and pious man" who is respected worldwide as one of the very few learned Sikhs permitted to sing in the Golden Temple.

Between 150 and 200 people are expected to show up for the beard-off and the event is open to all who wish to put their Grizzly Adams jaw shrubs up for consideration.

"There may be someone else with a longer beard [than Singh's], but we don't know," Bhurji said.

Anyone who wants to show off their full beards, goatees, chin strips, soul patches, chin curtains or mutton chops can do so starting at 5 p.m. at the Akal Academy, 204-12639 80th Ave. in Surrey.

The importance of hair to the Sikh religion will also be discussed.

The world record for the longest beard ever belongs to Hans Langseth of Norway, who died with Rapunzel-esque jaw rope measuring about 5.4 metres.

The longest beard on a woman was a 36-centimetre shoulder tickler belonging to circus "bearded lady" Janice Deveree, who set the record in 1884.

mramsey@theprovince.com

© The Vancouver Province 2008