What does real beauty mean to me? My two bytes

Pic Credit- Pramathesh Borkotoky

       What does real beauty mean to me? Now that is something really tough to define. Not that ,I haven't tried to think about it earlier, but before I could go really deep into it and form my own analysis I chose to follow the the easy path and just accept the  world's definition of 'Beauty' being all about the inner beauty of a person, although I was somewhat confused about the part which mentions the 'beauty within'. It seemed to mean different things to different people which explained maybe why different people defined beauty differently. For some inner beauty meant a beautiful soul, for few it meant strength of character, while some others had a healthy body and spiritual out look in mind. Some perceived innocence as beautiful, while others found the raw earthiness an exquisite thing,  but it definitely was different for everyone. In fact even the same person had different perceptions of beauty at different period of time.
           So what did I perceive beauty as? 37 years of my life and it needed a contest by Dove to prompt me to do some serious thinking about it! Hail Dove!  "Beauty being about the beauty within" definitely has a point ,but some how, there seems to be a missing piece somewhere-some thing that my heart cannot connect to... Well at least I feel so . If inner beauty is everything why don't I find every great person in history, beautiful, the way I would like to. I love them, admire them, look up to  them. Their strength of character awes me.They inspire me. They definitely make me feel that the world is beautiful, but...yes there is something definitely missing. Maybe I will have my answer ,only if I look back in time.My time!

      Parveen Dhanani was the class monitor in our sixth ( or was it seventh ) standard. I remember once there being some celebration in our school - a cultural function followed by fete , when I suddenly fell faint and sick in the Auditorium. After ensuring that I would be fine with some rest, our class teacher sent me back to the classroom with Parveen. I was weak with exhaustion (maybe) and once there in the class room, she wiped my face with a wet cloth, made me drink some water, all the while asking softly if I felt better and if I needed anything else. There was no hint of irritation in her voice ,no trace of forced politeness and all I could see then, was a genuine concern. I was in the seventh standard and hardly had a clear idea of inner beauty , but at that moment, seeing her stooping in concern over me , I found her face angelic and the memory of how she looked then, is still etched in my mind as clear as if it was just yesterday.

       My cousin sister- She was orphaned early in her life and she was just eighteen years old when she came to live with us . I was six then- a good twelve years difference between us. She was my best friend and also a proxy mother to me. When I was in high school, Daddy used to keep unwell often and as there were no other male family member( I, being an only child) at home, she used to do all the outdoor work like marketing for groceries, the banking, household repairs etc. and gradually she became the Proxy dad too. People used to say that she wasn't beautiful and that she couldn't get married because of it, but seeing her getting dressed for work, combing her hair and tying it in a neat bun,I couldn't help but think- "Whoever said she wasn't beautiful was a fool". I was in high school and still hadn't an idea of inner beauty, but I used to often gaze at her admiringly, watching her apply some powder and lip balm, while she got dressed ,to be the 'man of the house'.

         Mom- Ma and I used to be always at loggerheads with each other over something or other. I don't remember consciously searching for beauty of any form in her at any time. She was just Ma to me. But I remember once when Daddy was taken suddenly ill at night, he was admitted in the nearby hospital in emergency. Ma stayed with him there in the hospital, while my sister stayed back with me at home. Early morning Ma came home to freshen up after Dad recovered somewhat  . I still remember her face as she leaned back on the chair and shut her eyes, her face tired, eyes puffy with lack of sleep, the bindi crooked and some strands of her hair escaping from her loose bun. At that silent moment when we hardly exchanged any words, I found her the most beautiful in a calm and soothing way and never had any picture of her, have that same effect, thereafter.

            Drew Barrymore- I was in college when I and some friends, decided to watch Poison Ivy on the sly. I have forgotten everything about the movie except an image which simply refuses to go away! The image of Drew Barrymore swinging from a tree in a tyre tube with gay abandon, smiling contentedly,her hair flying in the wind , swinging away as if she had no care in the world, symbolising freedom in its most beautiful form. There is no connection of that image with 'inner beauty' as such, but that image does come to my mind when I think of beauty.

              Mala didi was my senior in medical college by good five years and  the Resident Doctor in Gynaecology  ward when I was just posted as an intern. We were allowed to handle the simple uncomplicated deliveries by ourselves but one night there was a difficult labour. After trying for some time we ( I and another intern) decided to call her up in panic. We had waited too long and the patient was getting worse. I still remember her face-masked and capped , smoothly working with the forceps, unperturbed, calm with concentration, efficiently bringing the situation in total control while we looked on bewildered. I could just see her eyes and her precise controlled movements, but at that moment, even  Madhuri Dixit wouldn't have been able to match her grace and fluid movements, as she stitched up the patient and tidied up. That was of course not a solitary moment of revelation  because her confidence and efficiency always made her seem beautiful in my eyes.

                Maybe the first instance  of 'inner beauty' making a mark on my mind was when Sushmita Sen declared that she was going to adopt Renee, but may be there were also other factors associated with it, still Renee was the prime reason for the beauty I saw in her. 

                Even now as I type this, I can see beauty in my three year old daughter who is making eyes at me, mouth smeared with chocolate and smiling mischievously challenging me to a game of  hide and seek, and I know that ,when at night, I wash her up and prepare her for bed ,caress her hair and try to croon her to sleep, she too finds me beautiful , which she conveys by touching me lightly on my cheeks with her tiny hands.

        So did I find my answer? Yes! I did. I did define what beauty means for me. Beauty is when you touch the right chords in some one's heart by any way or means to make him/ her blind to the imperfections and just see your best. It might be your goodness, your complexion , a perfect figure, confidence, innocence, any thing good in you, but yes you must strike just the right chords in his/ her heart, be it in a moment in eternity or the whole of eternity.

This post has been written as an entry to the 'What does real beauty mean to you contest' brought by Dove in conjunction with Yahoo and you can promote it in Indivine if you feel it deserves to be. The link to my Indivine post is http://www.indiblogger.in/indipost.php?post=58905