India: A Million Mutinies Now - pg. 30

Anwar's father, a small man, though not as small as Anwar, looked frail and unwell; and I thought that some of the son's apparent debility would have come from the father. He was very dark, with a very thick, silver beard. That beard was like the old man's only physical vanity: it was expertly trimmed and combed, and it rippled and shone. And more than physical vanity was there: in India different groups wear different styles of beard, and Anwar's father spade-shaped beard was a Muslim beard. That was the beard's forthright message.