I am not liking the new blog. Typing here doesn't feel as good as the previous one. But then, that was not free.
I was having a discussion today and someone asked me, 'Are there ugly actresses in Indian movies?'. I was at a loss of words. I could not understand what notion of beauty she was talking about. Perhaps, my Indian notion of beauty is different from hers. This led my thoughts back to the protagonist of the Bollywood movie Aankho Dekhi, which was released recently. The protagonist, played by Sanjay Mishra, had decided that he won't believe in anything that the world has taught him. He would rely on his senses for all his beliefs. Once he imbibes that in, he starts finding every person beautiful. Perhaps, our senses have been corrupted by the beliefs that the world wants us to follow.
It seems there are two kinds of truth. One, which we learn from our senses and the other, which the world teaches us. I think it is increasingly becoming important to distinguish between the two. At least for me, majority of my knowledge is formed by reading about the outside world on the online medium. Since, these online information sources have all sorts of bias, I am tending towards some biased view of the world. It seems, its time to start segregating the beliefs that the world/society has put in me and to start giving more preference to my own experiences, the ones that my senses experience.
I find the notion of beauty strange. Indian mythology is full of dark-skinned people and many of our Gods are known to be dark skinned. And yet, fairness creams in India are selling products worth billions of dollars. Does the notion of fairer beauty arise out of the European supremacy that India was subjected to? Does it propagate just to satiate the needs of the few? It is definitely not a universal notion to associate skin color with beauty. Moreover, different cultures seem to have different perceptions of beauty. My Lebanese friends tell me that they do not associate beauty with skin color while the Egyptians do. Is any standard of beauty, then, just being propagated as a myth? Should we not allow people to follow their own definitions of beauty instead?
Perhaps, we should start thinking outside the chains that these norms have put us in. Perhaps, beauty does lie in the eyes of the beholder.
I was having a discussion today and someone asked me, 'Are there ugly actresses in Indian movies?'. I was at a loss of words. I could not understand what notion of beauty she was talking about. Perhaps, my Indian notion of beauty is different from hers. This led my thoughts back to the protagonist of the Bollywood movie Aankho Dekhi, which was released recently. The protagonist, played by Sanjay Mishra, had decided that he won't believe in anything that the world has taught him. He would rely on his senses for all his beliefs. Once he imbibes that in, he starts finding every person beautiful. Perhaps, our senses have been corrupted by the beliefs that the world wants us to follow.
It seems there are two kinds of truth. One, which we learn from our senses and the other, which the world teaches us. I think it is increasingly becoming important to distinguish between the two. At least for me, majority of my knowledge is formed by reading about the outside world on the online medium. Since, these online information sources have all sorts of bias, I am tending towards some biased view of the world. It seems, its time to start segregating the beliefs that the world/society has put in me and to start giving more preference to my own experiences, the ones that my senses experience.
I find the notion of beauty strange. Indian mythology is full of dark-skinned people and many of our Gods are known to be dark skinned. And yet, fairness creams in India are selling products worth billions of dollars. Does the notion of fairer beauty arise out of the European supremacy that India was subjected to? Does it propagate just to satiate the needs of the few? It is definitely not a universal notion to associate skin color with beauty. Moreover, different cultures seem to have different perceptions of beauty. My Lebanese friends tell me that they do not associate beauty with skin color while the Egyptians do. Is any standard of beauty, then, just being propagated as a myth? Should we not allow people to follow their own definitions of beauty instead?
Perhaps, we should start thinking outside the chains that these norms have put us in. Perhaps, beauty does lie in the eyes of the beholder.
you are beautiful.
ReplyDeleteNice one.
ReplyDelete