Have you ever wondered why the lazy lions for whom the lioness got to hunt and prey are crowned ‘The King of the Jungle’ and the foxes are pegged ‘Cunning’? Is it not because the nature has gifted the former a mighty mane and latter a crooked face?
At the height of evolution was born the civilization. As we were growing culturally, some misconceptions also grew with us like weeds among the healthy crops. One of such parasitic perpetuations is the prejudice of judging a person by their appearance. We so blindly started to believe that we ignored the forewarning axioms by our intellectual ancestors ‘Appearances are deceptive’ and ‘All that glitters are not gold’.
Of course, every one of us wants to look and feel great. But that holds good to a point until they spend all their hard earned money to upgrade themselves to the latest in market and show off with pride calling themselves the ‘Fashionista, Trendy’.
In the pursuit of this fake materialism, we forgot what is the real beauty that we humans are imbibed with. Luckily three instances in my life lately shackled the very idea of it.
One evening, I was travelling in a crowded MTC bus where some ladies shabbily dressed, foul smell emanating from them got into the bus a few stops away continuously talking aloud in the local slang. Same time the women who were seated neatly dressed with tags of various colour hanging around gave a nasty look at them wondering why they even travel in the same bus these locals do. Somehow those ladies managed to get seats soon and I was still standing. Seriously, I lack that tactics of finding seats you know. Then boarded a mom with a One-year old baby. Guess what, those ladies are the first to offer her a seat. Others, the so called professionals paid no heed to this, enslaving themselves to the gadgets with earphones hooked. I seriously wonder what could they even hear in the reverberation of our MTC buses condition. But that day, I understood the real beauty is not how good you look but what good you do.
The second incident is when I saw that girl in the bus stop who I wouldn’t call a victim but the survivor of a fire accident. The scars of her skin which had bravely fought the flames extended from left lower cheek till the tips of fore arm. I’m sure she felt the eyes around her prying the scary scars. Even I tried my best not to react and turned my gaze away when our eyes met. But she didn’t have the stole wrapped around her face to cover that up or a full hand cloak to hide her misfortune and was battling the fate with brave. I then realised the real beauty is not treading the earth with mask of cosmetics, but it is the courage with which you step out as you are.
While these events were still lingering in my mind, I came across the whatsapp image – the meme of Bill Gates meeting with Marc Zuckerburg with the message ‘138 billion in one picture and No Gucci belt, No Armani suit, No D&G shoes, No Rolex watch, No fashionable outfit and no single piece of jewellery’. That Note hit the nail on my head that the real beauty is to be ingenious and inventive and not the image you create with your branded apparels and the latest model gadgets that you own.
If you have read of the King Maker of Indian Politics K. Kamaraj who ruled TamilNadu for 9 years and the Honourable Former President of India Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam, they possessed not more than 2 pairs of suits. Don’t we feel a sense of respect for them indeed? Like Budha under Bodhi, I attained the wisdom that beauty is not how different you look to the world but the difference you make to this world to be a better place to live.
So, my dear readers, please, please do not look down at anyone if they look ordinary for they might have something extraordinary that we cannot even imagine. Everyone in this world are perfect as ‘God makes no mistakes!’
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