Portrait: Toon Kallydin: A Survivor of Beatlemania

In my teenage years, we were engulfed by a cultural wave that transcended all communities on the island. We wore our bell-bottom trousers, adorned shirts with floral prints, commonly known as 'chemises à fleurs', and most notably, let our long hair cascade over our collars. Beatlemania emerged from the fervor ignited by an English rock band in the sixties. The Beatles' haircut was everywhere. Young men flaunted long hair in fields, factories, the bus industry, and beyond, embodying this cultural phenomenon.