12th of July was not much of a red letter day (except of course it is your birthday); but for the rest of us, it’s just another day and for me, it’s just my date night. Which, I decided to make special by actually dressing up, masking my face with make-up and attempting to bewitch my boyfriend. So I put on a little blue dress, matched it with a pair of star shaped earrings and a pair of blue wedges. To top it up, I applied light make-up: just some kohl, pink lipstick and brushed my cheeks with some foundation. Yet to successfully lower my spirits, my boyfriend didn’t even react (not that I wasn’t acclimatized to the reactionless, non-romantic charm of that guy whom I had hand-picked to be with). But that day, I had dressed up. And if not a “Wow! You look beautiful”, the least I was expecting him to say was “You look different”- thus proving that he had noticed, thus providing ample testimony to the fact that he still did care and most importantly, thus making me believe that I was beautiful.
Now do you get what I’ve been trying to say? If not, then let me explain further: the next morning, after a night of feeling hopeless about my looks and finally deciding to do away with my blue dress, a friend of mine complimented: “You looked good in that blue dress”. That was the “apple to my pie, straw to my berry”. And I’m keeping that dress!
‘I do look good after all’, was my first thought, even before I smiled a heartfelt thank you.
But that is not the way I looked any other day nor was I comfortable wearing the kohl (I couldn’t rub my eyes for the next three hours). I was just trying to fit in the utopian definition of beautiful. Make up is every girl’s birthright and I in no way am against it. But the question here is, are the ones who don’t choose to look fair, pluck eyebrows, and straighten hair ugly? Or maybe it is just us who have defined beauty as having perfect eyes, nose and lips. And it is also us who go out of our ways to get that approval from others despite knowing the fact that what others say doesn’t matter as long as I feel the same from within. Even the most gorgeous person might feel ugly from within. And even the one with a big mole over her lips may walk with her head held high emanating a beautiful aura.
Dear girls, we are all beautiful- with or without face paint, we are beautiful- keep this at the back of your mind- even while you nod to others kudos or denigration. We don’t need others to approve of our magnificence. We are beautiful being just us. As long as we can brighten up our surroundings and lighten up others, we are beautiful. Now if of course, plastic defines the very aura of being beautiful, then we all can be that, if we choose to be.
So next time you wear a dress and no one comments, don’t be disheartened: you’re beautiful.
When the heart speaks... 