Idyllic Thoughts

Many people have called me beautiful, some very beautiful, attractive and so on... But I have a confession. I have never found myself beautiful except on very rare occasions when the light falling on the mirror reflected on me making my face glow. May be I have not yet found the proper definition of beauty yet. Should it be inner or superficial? Should it be natural or artificial? Whenever you ask anyone who is the most beautiful, the faces or names that come to your mind are those of celebrities with their engineered beauty. Obviously we don't remember the good-at-heart persons even though we preach about inner beauty. Is it just a topic for seminars which makes for a beautiful, catchy sentence to impress the listeners? And I have another question. What is the need and use of this beauty? To please the roving eyes of others? To get appreciative glances and feel as proud as a peacock? I don't know. I haven't found an answer yet.

Today I went to Kukkarahalli lake alone. I was very much disturbed and wanted to avoid familiar people. I sat on a stone bench facing the lake. The view was breathtaking with birds flying home in 'V' shapes. There were many trees full of migratory birds which was itself a treat to the eyes. I forgot all my sorrows and loneliness in the cool wind and sweet nature. There were many evening walkers on the lake bund . Why are they all in such a hurry? Why walk so briskly? To decrease your body's fat content? Or just because your doctor tells you so? I don't know. Maybe both. But I did not see anyone turning their heads to enjoy the scenic beauty of the dark clouds, flying visitors or the dark green trees dotted with red and yellow flowers. Out of the hundreds of people who walked in front of me, only two girls enjoyed it all, including the rapidly vanishing sun and its faint light on a part of the lake water. Maybe others were afraid they would waver from their path if they...

Yesterday my mother told me of an incident, a small one, yet it disturbed me the whole day. Mom was standing at a flour shop waiting for her order. A poor woman came and asked the price of Wheat flour and Ragi flour very meekly with her body bent out of embarassment. The shopkeeper said Rs. 24 per kg for both. She bought half kg of flour each and searched for the money. She had some two rupees short, yet counted all the loose change and gave it to the shopkeeper. Then she asked for c hatnipudi . He said it cost around Rs. 18. She went away crestfallen as she did not have the money. It is unfortunate that it did not occur to mom until she went away that she could have bought it for her. By the time she did, the woman was gone. At the other end of the spectrum are the rich of our land who buy helicopters every year and cars every month and quarrel with the government for petty 'special' privileges. And they are readily obliged. Such is life. Who are going to help those people wh...

I read an interesting argument that art should serve the society by expressing that society's aspirations and reflecting its achievements. If not, they must be disqualified from the realm of art. And I tend to disagree. If art becomes a mouthpiece for the goings on in the society, it would be similar to writing which has to straighten the crooked lines of the society through its opinions. Of course art should do that, in any form, but it should not be limited to that alone. Art is unique and unparallelled just because it has no fence, no rules and it need not even depict anything in particular. But it should be meaningful, its intend to be understood by persons as per their perspectives. And should be something beyond judgement, only a thing to be enjoyed, comprehended and followed in its full. It should be a path unto itself, not a vehicle treading down the path created by others, crooked or straight.