More Colour Still

Hussein here sporting a pretty well-judged tawny earth tone, cut fine job too. Oh, my! Moustache made it a touch risky. What was one supposed to do there though; it needed complementing. But then you wouldn’t wear mustard polo on top would you? Friday mosque, pulled out of the wardrobe unthinkingly and the wife not the sort who would be up to speed for such matters. From a dozen metres—and the man was sensing the eyes upon him—it did appear the little snowy dusting over the chin and along the underneath of the jaw was left untreated. Difficult. (The men here often kept those sparse strands in check with nail clippers, if you can believe.) Seems the brothers at Wadi were in fact none the wiser about the recent post touching the miserliness and the setting of the cops onto the riff-raff squatting at the rear tables. Younger bro this arvo explained the position from their side, intuiting some kind of reservation on the matter. Later and equally unexpectedly young Muhammad the Malayalee last night, having understood something of the remarks passed over the drinks counter, felt he ought to defend the boss for the sake of truth and justice. Yes, right enough, the man did have a fierce temper. But that was the life journey; the F&B industry. It was not the essence of the man himself. No two ways about, Hussein was a good man.... A persuasive little oration from the young naïf, all of twenty-four was he? Why did one feel it so irksome Hussein stationing himself at the hot-plate calling out in that hectoring tone, Murtabak! Murtabak!? The fire breathing at the poor young Indian foreign worker cowering beneath the assault a few months ago exceedingly difficult to dislodge from the mind.

         A couple of days later too the younger bro at the Drinks counter suddenly seemed to have sprung perfect jet on the crown and also under the chin. Called-out the fellow stoutly denied: - Not at all. Not the case; and proceeded to quote one of the Hadith that laid out the matter plainly. A man could colour any tone but black in fact; in the case of women there was complete freedom to do as their fancy took them. All plain in B/W from the words of the Prophet. Case rested. (Unhappily, not all followed the dictate.)