#Surya Nair
Indore| What makes a person beautiful? Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder as the clichéd adage goes. The essence of beauty can be debatable in modern times. Vanity has become the order of the day. Growing self image has been causing a lot of angst among the youth with the advent of social media applications and networking. However, it is heartening that there are individuals who are beautiful despite their skin tone, their stature or their flawed physical features.
What then does the concept of beauty mean? Is the world benevolent to good looking people? Do things come easily to them? Do good looking people enjoy an unfair advantage in situations? Sometimes, they do, without a doubt! The initial impressions of a person can play a major role to get a foot in the door to opportunities. However, only consistency will help them stay relevant in the larger scheme of themes though. Beauty contests should be renamed as ‘personality contests’ wherein individuals with an all round personality can compete for what they can offer in terms of value than mere good looks.
There is a specter of insecurity that haunts the youth these days. There seems to be a sudden mindless urge to seek attention even if it is negative. Self love is surely the key to extending one’s influence but being obsessed with the self can be to one’s detriment. It has been observed that children who have qualms about the way they look in their formative years do carry the baggage through their youth. It is, therefore, important for students to work on their holistic development than being merely fixated to external appearances. Multiplicity of skills makes an individual incredibly attractive and confident. It helps attain an edge and high self-esteem.
The youth needs to be made aware of the fact that most super-achievers in the world are not good lookers necessarily though exceptions abound. They attracted the power and the popularity with the beauty and the power of their minds. The human mind has infinite potential. All of us are born with enormous capacities to be better at what we do. It is just the desire and the persistence to improve that makes some people comparatively better than their counterparts.
The manifestations of beauty are relative and open to individual interpretation. There is so much beauty in the way some people choose words to articulate. In this context, one cannot help but say that an extensive vocabulary comes with indiscriminate reading. A person driven by restless discontent with one’s own performance always strives to be better as opposed to someone who is complacent. When one watches a fine game of football, there is beauty and elegance in the way a player chases the ball on the field. There can be immeasurable beauty in the patterns in nature; needless to say the sounds in nature too. There is beauty in the coordinated acrobatics of jet planes in the blue sky. There is poetry in the way the waves in the sea toss and turn. When one looks outward and appreciates what is outside, a lot of it comes back to us and adds to our beauty not just superficially but also spiritually. The body is a mere vessel carrying our internal gifts. When one travels inward, one develops an eye for beauty in everything one sees. As a pursuer of multiple interests, I have found immense solace and inspiration in being open minded and observing the world keenly like a child would. The nature of our communication evolves as we develop this deep rooted passion for life. My endeavour as a mentor to my students has always been to nurture multiple interests and evolve beautifully as human beings that can be inspirational just by their approach towards the sublime aspects of life.
(The author is an educator at The Shishukunj International School, Indore)
Members of the Balai community participate in a procession during Gangaur festival celebrations in Bhopal on Monday.
