Cherry Blossoms | One For The Road

I met up with one of my seniors the other day, a female, and I could not believe what I saw. It has not been very long since I saw her last, but then I never really knew that youth and beauty could fade or to take it in another way, age could catch up in so short a time. She was a year senior to me in school and has always been the 'evergreen' type, good looking and to add to that a look that never showed her real age, at least that was my impression till just the other day. It was as if God had suddenly decided to put off the switch to her ageless look.

The way I look has always been an integral part of my life and it specially took a high place in my priority list during my teenage days. I was lucky however; that it did not become such a preoccupation that I neglected everything else due to it. I have in my limited experience seen such a preoccupation becoming a pain for people and their obsession with their look becoming a pain to others as well.

Every time I am at the barber's for a haircut, I see an amusing spectacle. During my stay there I see at least four to five people come in, pick up the comb and tidy up their mop before the mirror, straighten up their collars and the lot. You just need a reflecting surface in front, a comb or a brush in hand and its grooming time. Nothing harmful as such, feels good to be looking good I guess, but then it makes me even surer that looks find quite high a slot in people's priority list.

Then there are the times, when I am all set and raring to go and then my partner goes, "just a minute hai!" It's the hair, the dress, the shoe, the nose, the eye and sometimes, nothing at all and yet, it needs a proper review and it means a round of frustrating delay for me. Situations like these usually elicit from me my standard, "Oh! God gimme a break", but then again that is the best, me a mortal, can manage against this "looks" obsession.

I have nothing as such against this "look" thing apart from these minor and insignificant bouts of frustration and amusement. It's no real bother as such, when it means just a little wait or maybe an obstruction of the mirror before me but then, there are times when people expect to see their reflection through my eyes and that bothers me.

I am no expert on beauty or looks, I am totally incapable thus, of rating people as such but what I tend to do is categorize people broadly into two groups, the ones who elicit the "second takes" and the others, like me, who are lucky even to get one. The general rule for me is that the people that belong to the former group are more difficult to handle than the latter. The more the takes the harder it is dealing with them.

When I say that the people from the former group are harder to handle, I may be accused of generalizing, maybe I am, but yes, even among them there are a whole lot of people who elicit multiple takes and yet, they are real cool about it and carry their look well. Acknowledgement of one's look is quite a moral booster and that might be the reason why I do not miss at least my once in the morning look at the mirror. If I am lucky and my day starts off well, I sometimes even get the nod from the people around me, feels good, real!

I do a lot of them second takes, at times even fourth and fifth takes. A whole lot of things please my eye and I like soaking them in, nice and proper, faces included. The problem however, starts when that second take of mine gets interpreted as an admittance of my inferiority. I am not giving in or subjecting myself to their derision by my second take, my eyes and my senses instinctively go in for good and pleasing things and the second take may just be a response to a stimulus without actual physiological meaning or thought behind it.

In very simple terms, taking on airs because of the way one looks is, I feel, BAD! That must be one of the biggest wanes of human company and relationships. Looks are not a sign or a measure of superiority and pride and vanity on account of that is nothing but foolishness. Looking good may have its advantages and I admit it may take some people to places but then in the business of life, which I feel is one business that really matters, it's the person inside that matters and not the look outside.

Being born with good features is cool but then, just as a person needs to be able to carry the clothes that he wears, a person needs to be able to carry his looks as well. Recently, I read someone commenting on someone else, it went something like this, "he may dress up in a $90 suit and yet it looks like a $900 one while we may dress up in a $900 suit and it looks like a $90 one!" Similarly, good looks, if carried well and cool without airs look even better.

There is nothing wrong in looking good but taking on airs and resting on the laurels of your looks is dicey business; you never know when God switches off the source to your look!