"Looks"

There is a girl in my hostel, who is constantly nagging about the way she looks. "I wish my nose was smaller. I wish my skin was fairer. I wish my hair were thicker.." and so on and so forth. This has impelled me to ask the question: How important looks are? Also, who decides, who looks better or worse, and who are we to judge the "beauty" of an individual? All of us, on this Earth are creations of the Almighty, and complaining about one's own looks, is like questioning His creativeness and art. The way we look is not in our hands to change (unless, offcourse, you take plastic surgery into account) and so we must be thankful for whatever outward appearance He has given us.

However, there are many much more important things which are in our hands. Have you ever thought how fortunate you are? There are hundreds of people dying of hunger. I have a friend who cannot see. There are so many who lost their parents at a very young age and so many who have never seen their mother. There are so many who need help. Reach out to them, try and make a difference and when you see the smiles which your effort brings, the importance of physical appearances will indeed be diminished to nothingness.

One more question has hit me. How important are "looks" in a relationship? Well, in these times, when the meaning of the word "relationship" itself has become unclear, it can be noticed that there in fact are many relationships which are based on looks alone. This, however, is not important because the kind of relationships I am talking about are the real ones.. the ones which thrive on love. So the question is "How important are looks for love to exist between two people?" Well , at this point it may be appropriate to differentiate between "love" and "attraction". While it is possible to be attracted to the outer appearances of a person, loving that person requires much more. At least, this is what I think. Love needs a much more solid basis, a deeper connection , friendship, trust and respect. A relationship based only on attraction will ultimately perish. Moreover, love does not feed on "looks" . For instance, suppose that there is a girl, very beautiful and you fall in love with her. And suppose she also starts loving you and you both are together, for say, six months. But then, one day she meets with an accident and is no more beautiful. Will you stop loving her? If you really love her, you won't. You would still love her like before. I believe that love has to do much more with the soul than the body... Once you are in love with a person, looks do not matter. You get so habitual to that person and you are so compatible and comfortable with that one person that you can give away everything (including outward beauty) just to be with him/her.

On a winter evening....

It was a cold winter evening. She was alone and had nothing to do. After sipping some tea, she put on her coat and boots and went outside for a walk. She kept walking, feeling the cold breeze in her hair, until she realized that she had reached the dead end of the town. Here, there was a lake and the air was chiller. She decided to walk up to the edge of the lake. Hundreds of ducks were swimming in the lake and she could hear their shrill quacking sounds. It was starting to get dark, the lake was covered by a thick mist and the fog was dense enough so that it gave the place a very smoky feel. With her eyes, she could not see the objects very clearly, but it was just then that reality struck her. For the first time, things started to become clear in her head, for the first time, she saw the meaning of everything and the purpose of everything. This small incident changed her life and views on life in a significant manner. In a sense, she started to think of herself as being enlightened. To be precise, she realized that how useless were the things that she learned in class. What she wanted to know and understand was far beyond the scope of any of her lectures on economy. She wanted to understand life. What was her purpose of being on this planet? Where did life, anyway, came from? Is their really a separate God or is He within all of us? The questions may seem to be very basic, but she knew that the answers won't be that easy.. and so, to edify herself, she began her search for truth and knowledge....

time...

Its said that time is the best healer... then y doesn't it heal me?? The question has been spinning my head for quite some time now. The more important question is: will i always live in d past... will d memories of the past always hold me...? Even though i try to keep only the good memories with me, somehow even the good ones haunt me.. and make me remember the bad ones. Beautiful memories are addictive.. you want them to continue forever and as we all know.. it is hard to let addictions go. When you are happy for a very long lime, when you have known a state of absolute happiness...  you become addicted to the happiness.... happiness becomes a habit.... and when you have to let that habit go.... its painful.