Shades Of Life....

What’s in a person's color or complexion? This question might be one of the most clichéd topics ever, in any discussion or debate! Forget all that, I just wanna share my own views here :-) First of all, have no doubts, I am dark and I have no regrets about it (even if I did regret, wouldn’t make much of a difference would it? hehe ). I've released quite a few things as far as attitude towards 'looks' go. You hear people say that 'looks don’t matter', and its just 'how beautiful you are in your heart, that matters', and lotsa crap like that... I call it 'crap' cos only a handful actually mean what they really say in this regard. "Beauty is only skin deep", “It really doesn’t matter how you look", are all feel-good sentences, used most of the time, just to escape a tricky situation!

Do you think how you look, your complexion, and your features, just do not matter? I tend to disagree, mate. The first sign of attraction is always how you look. The inner beauty, your character, what you really are, and stuff come later! That’s the truth, so face it.. This holds true with 'first impressions' only, mind you. People, who already are your friends, will of course know you. It’s quite obvious that at any given point of time, lots of people are looking at you, and framing opinions, without even you knowing it. Some might be liking you, some might find you repulsive, and so on. These impressions are being formed, just based on how good/bad you look. People don’t know what kind of a person u are at heart, they don’t know your 'lovely character', but they can only see how u look from the outside, plain as that. It is your look, which will make people notice you and make them want to know you in the first place. It’s only after this, that they get to know the inner, 'real' you. And this might be where all the above mentioned 'quotes' hold true. Thus for the wise men’s sayings to make sense, a lot of things have to happen, as a precursor!

Let me share a very funny incident that happened, when I was 5 years old. My mom had just given birth to my brother, and he was this Fair, chubby veryyyyy sweeet baby. Like any small kid, I could not tolerate the attention that he was getting, from all the guests, and sometimes even my parents! Very natural, a baby needs much more attention, than a 5yr old. But how was I supposed to understand all that then? I used to ask my mom, why I was not 'white' like George (my brother's name). She used to pacify me with some answer which I don really remember ( cos I was not really intent on her reply, I was busy wondering how I could become 'white') One fine day, my parents realized that I was missing for an hour or so, and thus a search was launched, to find 'naughty' me. Everyone grew quite anxious when a few minutes of frantic searching did not yield any results. After sometime, my mom found an empty Talcum Powder tin lying on the ground. It was emptied to the last bit of powder! And she could see a small trail of white powder leading to a bedroom. When she opened it, there I was, standing at the corner of the room, all smiles! Yours truly had a 'sense of accomplishment' written in Bold, all over his face! I had applied the talcum powder, all over my body! I dint spare my eyes, legs, toes, ears.... I stood there with a barely visible smile, a genuinely innocent face, and slowly asked my mom these very words "Amma, now do I look like George?" Even now, my mom tells me she could see how much I really meant those words! That tells a story in itself doesn’t it? :-) I look back and laugh at all those memories! Truly fascinating, this mind of ours.

All said and done, its been a long 17 years since that happened and I have been through many experiences and situations in life! But all these had just one thing in common, and all my experiences taught me just one thing - to be really happy and proud, that I was 'ME'! If you don’t feel good about yourself, no point in living! How will someone feel good about you, when you yourself doubt the very person you have been all your life! I have no regrets whatsoever... How a person looks, is a totally individual and independent opinion. Someone might have a face that 100 people find 'not-so-interesting', but the same person and the same face, might be the reason why someone else wakes up everyday with a smile on his/her face! Life has a lot to offer, if we care to look around.... :-)