The case of Joynath Victor De, an employee of India’s national domestic airlines, and his handlebar moustache has tickled the nation’s imagination no end. But for him it has been a matter of bread and butter. He was fired in 1999 after refusing to trim it, but was reinstated – complete with his moustache – after a ruling by the Calcutta High Court found in his favour. Then the authorities decided to get rid of him through compulsory retirement.
“This week, in a case in which Mr De is suing his former employers, justices in the Indian Supreme Court expressed apparent dismay that the claimant had been fired simply for his moustache,” reports The Independent. ” ‘How can a person with a moustache be removed? This is a democratic country,’ said judges H K Sema and Markandey Katju, according to the Press Trust of India. ‘This is shocking’.
“For more than 40 years Joynath Victor De has cherished his moustache – grooming and caring for it daily with the love and attention one might normally furnish upon a favoured pet. Rod Littlewood, the vice-president of the British-based Handlebar Club, of which Mr De is a member, said it appeared that Indian Airlines was discriminating against him because of his moustache.”
Let us see when Mr De would again be able to twirl his handlebar with pride…within the Indian Airlines office.
Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department’s SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF’s Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on “Development Journalism” to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India — West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.