FIFTH COLUMN

Beauty Hungama

Children hear stories of the beauty and the beast; but do not really relate it to their own lives. The narcissistic trend of judging oneself by a mirror has started too young, thanks to the adults who are promoting beauty pageants for small girls in schools. No matter how much the well tutored little misses may spout theories of how their confidence has got a boost through the pageant and etc., the fact remains that the main criteria for the contest starts with one’s looks.

Coping with one’s looks is a big hurdle by itself for adult females in a world that places a great value on good looks, physique, etc. Only after a great deal of introspection, mental torture do average or not good looking females learn to accept the way they look. It takes them a long time to learn that there is much more to life for others too, who are not genetically blessed with good looks. To expose young, immature minds to the world of vanity is to encourage wrong values in them.

To take the competition to schools encourages misplaced importance on what it takes to be a success up on a stage. Strutting on a stage and spouting well rehearsed answers alone is certainly not the answer to a well rounded personality. If confidence boosting by bringing children on a stage was the main issue, that could be done better by involving them in dramas, plays, debates and many other activities on the stage. This would be another avenue through which children would get to discover their latent talents and develop those skills.

Talking about adult beauties, their geniality lasts as long as they are in the process of grabbing the attention of the press. One such beauty stared blankly at an interviewer only two months after the interview. The interviewer was sure her face had not changed so much as to be unrecognisable; though the veneer of the ‘beauty’ had undergone dramatic changes after a foreign jaunt.

We already have an excess of media bombardment that glorifies beauty and encourages the not so beautiful to dish out large chunks of money to buy beauty. Very few heed the small print that spell out contraindications and the short term effect of the expensive products. Get quick results no matter how, seems to be the mantra of today. Not only do the vulnerable get taken for costly rides but after sometime, the beauty seeker would be lucky if she ends up becoming even one step ahead of where she was before she decided to take on the ride.

It is increasingly becoming more evident that we need to get our self image positioning right and learn not to be carried away by clever adverts. One cannot repeat it enough that true beauty begins from within; beauty that really lasts and costs nothing in monetary terms. Women oozing with self esteem and confidence really do not care about the size of their nose or thighs. They have better things to do and worry about and they are comfortable the way they are, which is usually the best they can become.