The bee's knees

When I look in the mirror each day, what do I see? I see every physical flaw (I can hear you saying ‘oh… not another blog on aging’ and let me assure you it’s not). I have crow’s feet around my eyes when I smile. I had a cowlick on the back of my head which made my hair stick out in the wrong place. I had hair that looked funny on the back of my neck causing the layering pieces to look like I had a ducktail.

Why it is that most of these problems are named after animals? Do crows have a problem of ‘Human Feet’ or cows have ‘Ducklick’ and ducks a ‘Man’s Tail’?

You would have noticed that I used the past tense for the last two problems pertaining to my hair. The reason is I could find an easy solution for them. It is called tonsuring. It provided solution to many other problems as well… baldness, graying etc. But let me hasten to say that it’s not a symbol of my renunciation of worldly attachments and esteem as the old scriptures dictate. I am not old enough for that!

Crow's feet are fine lines and wrinkles radiating from the eyes. I would call crow's feet "laugh lines" or "character lines," but these slightly more flattering terms or euphemistic way of saying still refer to the same, inevitable sign of aging: the wrinkles that begin to form at the outside corners of ones eyes when you hit your mid-forties. Anyway I have decided to call them happy feet. I am happy and many references say that the ‘crow’s feet’ appear more on people who laugh a lot.

Cowlicks appear when the growth direction of the hair forms a spiral pattern. The term "cowlick" originates from the domestic bovine's habit of licking its young, which results in a swirling pattern in the hair. Everyone has one such swirl at the back of their head. In Tamil it is called ‘Suzhi’… incidentally I have never come across an English word with the phonetic ‘zhi’ as in ‘kuzhi’, ‘chozhi’ etc.

I am digressing.

It is believed that the number of these ‘suzhis’ decide the number of wives you will have. One wife for each ‘suzhi’. My wife initially was worried. Then I annulled her fears by saying I never do the same mistake twice.

Now let me come to the ducktail part. It is a haircut style that was popular during the 1950s… the same time when ‘poodle skirts’ were fashion amongst young women (later being replaced by ‘flamingo skirts’ - again note that the names are after a canine and a bird!) Even after tonsuring my hair this problem continues as it is in the neck nape. Maybe I should look at growing a tuft – a ‘kudumi’ – to get rid of this problem! But this again is not to be construed as any renunciation.

Athlete’s foot is another problem I seem to have got after the recent rains. At least I am proud that it is an athlete that my problem name has taken after rather than a bovine or canine. And now for the title of this blog - ‘The Bee’s Knees’… It has nothing to do with any knee problem and it is just an expression or idiom for ‘Excellent - the highest quality.’ I just thought that it sounds appropriate with the content I had taken, though not connected. Humility prevents me from saying that my blog is in that category and yes there is a connection!

All these blabbering are meant to tickle your funny bone but don’t ask me where that bone is!