Postscript

So I spotted Mahendra again on Top Billing yesterday, and was struck by two points that had hitherto escaped my attention:

1. Apparently The Raghunath is "co-authouring a book on black African dramatists". In all seriousness, I can't wait to have a read. I wonder when it will be published and, also, who the co-author is?

2. His hair. I must say I found Mahendra's helmut hair after his race much more becoming than the usual '50s do he favours for his newsreading alter ego. I think his stylist needs to expand his repertoire.

And, on the matter of hair, how very fitting that the Raghunath featured on the very same Top Billing episode that also covered the most recent South African revival of the eponymous musical.

Which brings to mind the lyrics of the song, 'My Conviction'; please humour me in quoting most of them verbatim:

I would just like to say that it is my conviction
That longer hair and other flamboyant affectations
Of appearance are nothing more
Than the male's emergence from his drab camoflage
Into the gaudy plumage
Which is the birthright of his sex

There is a peculiar notion that elegant plumage
And fine feathers are not proper for the male
When ac---tually
That is the way things are
In most species

'Flamboyant affectations'?! I'm convinced that Mahendra must have been an ardent Hair fan in his wild student days, and has taken this advice to heart, or rather, to tie.