Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation -- Oscar Wilde

Dressed in a beautiful saree, decked in the finest jewellery, I looked expectantly at the mirror - I looked weird! My face looked bloated and disproportionate. I looked fat and short. 

It took me some time to get over the shock, and once done, I looked again at another mirror…my abnormally thin and elongated face stared back, I looked too slim and too tall!

‘But that's not me!’, I exclaimed. 

I walked across a wall of mirrors and confronted a new series of reflections, each showing a different me…I felt confused and lost.

This frightful experience got me thinking. Why did I need approval for my appearance from the mirrors? Why can't I trust myself and believe, irrespective of what the contradictory mirrors say, I LOOK GOOD. 

In spite of being powerful in her own way, the wicked stepmother called out each day, 

‘Mirror, Mirror on the wall, who’s fairest of them all?’

Why did she need confirmation from her mirror?

Why do we need approval from others? Are we too high on confidence that we are sure of praises, or are we too low that we need crutches?

Whenever we need to back our thoughts or ideas we always quote a higher authority and say how it has somewhat echoed our thoughts and when contradicted we start rethinking. 

Why do we give so much importance to others’ opinions that it somehow starts manipulating our own thoughts? 

Most of the things, these days, have become artificial -  forget nails and hair,  people's behaviour too has lost its uniqueness. Trying to stand out as different has made us the most ordinary. How can we be unique if we are too influenced by someone else?

It took one Pied Piper to lead an army of rats…similarly one winner can suddenly give birth to thousands of aspiring clones, each copying and competing to one day replace the original. Hence, losing their originality in the rat race. 

Instead why don't they be inspired, and aspire to be a maverick?

Protecting or Hiding?

 

While peeling the onions I started wondering why God made them special…are they His favoured children so He is keeping them cocooned?

Or is it His way of saying we should hide our true feelings within layers of made-up emotions? Or is it how He wants us to see life…peeling each layer and finding surprises, smiles even shocks and tears?

Scientists have given findings, philosophers reasons and dreamers their fantasy…but the bottom line is each pair of eyes and brain have their own story and their own reaction. 

Isn't it the same with life? While facing similar situations we react differently, we handle it differently and each of us play a different blame game…

Not many courageous hands would come up to acknowledge the responsibility or to face the criticism. Mostly would prefer to hide under layers of excuses, lies and oh God why me-s!

Maybe realising that layers would only encourage us to be cowards, God decided we shouldn't be  physically cocooned and be bold enough to handle every challenge. 

Instead He gave us emotional layers as both weapons and shields.

A New Beginning?

These days reading the newspaper with the morning cup of tea ceases to be a pleasure...thanks to the increasing violence.

However, what really shocks me is the rise in the number of suicides committed. The reasons for the self immolation are many...students failing in exams, lovers failing in love, dowry harassment, molestation, financial crunch, rising work-life imbalance...the list is unending.

Well, what really gets me thinking are not these external factors behind killing self. I really wonder what a person feels before taking this dire step...is it the feeling of being a failure, inability to cope up with the peer pressure, embarrassment or does it mean ending the troubled life to make a new beginning...........in the next life....

‘Poverty’ in Diversity

I was deeply engrossed in a thriller novel……..was on the verge of finding out how the murder had taken place….when suddenly my concentration was broken by a noise coming from outside…….

I live in a 3 storey apartment. The plot next to my apartment is vacant and is normally used as a garbage disposal bin by the other tenants. Here I would like to add that we do have a facility to dispose the garbage in the common bin on the ground floor!

My interest in the vacant land, however, is mainly because of the tall eucalyptus trees that shelter a family of squirrels and different kinds of birds. It gives me immense pleasure and relaxation to sit by the window and gaze at the trees against the background of the sparkling clear blue sky. It is also fun watching the squirrels scrambling up and down the trees…at times with a prized possession of maybe a fruit and at other times playfully chasing each other. The squirrels, I have noticed, have a special way of communicating with each other. They make a kind of ‘chick-chick’ sound while simultaneously tweaking their tails.

The birds have their own way of communicating. I always thought that crows have a monotonous harsh ‘caw-caw’…..I, however, noticed that the ‘caw-caw’ might be repeated but the pitch, the tone and the frequency are different. Occasionally the melodious ‘coo-coo’ of the cuckoo would punctuate the ‘caw-caw’ of the crows. I simply love my room for the wonderful world that surrounds it.

Oops! I was talking about the noise that diverted me….I guess I got away….

Coming back to the noise…..I thought it was either a stray dog or a mouse – they normally come here to find a bite or two from the piled up garbage. I usually give slices of bread or few biscuits to the dogs. Hence when I thought I heard one, I got the packet of bread and was about to throw a slice out of the window. It was then that I realized that it was not one of my canine friends….in fact it was another human being…..a rag picker! I was shocked and ashamed.

I was shocked to look at the poor guy going through the packets and packets of garbage in order to find something that can be salvaged and exchanged for a little money or for a morsel of food.

I looked out of the window again…….and this time I seemed not to notice the tall green healthy eucalyptus trees against the background of the sparkling clear blue sky. Neither did I notice the scrambling squirrels nor the coo-cooing cuckoo…..instead what I saw was an empty plot strewn with garbage – the things that are worthless to us but which might be invaluable to someone….as it could buy him a piece of bread.
I was ashamed to be a part of the world where such diversity exists……