What’s in a beard, you may say. Ask Sudhir Padiyar, a 52-year-old ageless model from Mumbai, who claims to have been ‘reborn’ since the time he started growing a beard and ditching the dye. When he’s not busy trading stocks, he can be found strutting the ramp, for various designers, at fashion shows in India and overseas. He humbly claims to be the only senior model from Maharashtra, as on date, to have walked prestigious ramps like Lakme Fashion Week and Bombay Times Fashion Week. His tall stature, long wavy hair, silver handlebar moustache and a well-groomed gray beard commands attention every time he takes to the ramp.
However, this wasn’t always the case. “The length of my beard today is more than the length of the hair I used to sport, on my head, back in my corporate days,” he chuckles. “In our industry (stock broking), growing facial hair is generally discouraged. Heading the sales desk and interacting with international clients, being well-groomed and presentable was an un-written rule, which implied sporting a clean-shaven look and short trimmed hair. And I played by the rule book. Nothing wrong in that. However, I was very conscious of my looks, back then. Being ridiculed for my thin structure and funny looks in my younger days had built a complex in my mind. So much so that I used to run away from the camera the moment I spotted anyone picking it up to even click group pictures. I don’t have virtually any pictures of mine from my younger days.”
“When I chose to permanently quit working for others (at the age of 45), I realized I didn’t have to follow their rules anymore. I chose to do all those things that I wasn’t ‘allowed to’ in my corporate world, growing a stubble included. It was then that things started turning in my favour. Sporting a gray stubble altered the way I looked, made me look more rugged. I randomly started getting compliments, which helped build my confidence. It was then that I decided to quit the razor permanently. After all, who doesn’t like being complimented? And I could never have been happier with that decision of mine. Encouraged with the new-found praises, I chose to let the facial hair grow into a full-grown beard. Little did I know that one small decision could alter my life, and my confidence, in such a way. After all these years of being camera shy, I now love to face an audience and pose.”
“Armed with a phone having a better camera and much higher memory space, my photo gallery is now filled only with my show photos or my selfies,” he laughs. “From being ridiculed earlier to now being termed as Zeus or Stud or whatever other fancy names that my well-wishers call me; this is how my life has changed, for the better, thanks to my gray beard and long hair.”