By Pooja Marwah
I believe in magic. I believe in fairies, elves and even little Thumbelina. Our childhood consisted of tales, most of which have come down generations. They have kings and queens – powerful and strong; palaces and kingdoms – conquered and lost. They consist of demons, and princes who slay the evil, they speak of love and kisses and beautiful princesses! These are stories that we grew up with and each that left a thought behind…
Why did the Queen throw Snow White out?
Jealousy?
Why did Jack climb the beanstalk, take the gold coins and come down and chop the tree?
Stealing?
And on the other side,
Why did Beauty want to help the Beast?
Love?
Why did the third pig build his house of brick and stone?
Foresight?
There are always two sides to every picture. There is always more to it than it meets the eye and, yet, we are quick to judge the minute we see. It’s a flaw in human tendency, but one that we are all born with. In the first obvious case, it could be real, depicted exactly as it is. And, in the second, it could be just a part of the actual. There could be a little touch up here and a little play with digital media there!
We live in a world of make believe – photo shopped pictures tops the list on this one! Everyone has flawless skin, well toned legs, shiny hair, the perfect pout… and of course the grand game of numbers…the number of likes! Even that, at some point in time could be controlled with a Bot!!!
But tell me, at the end of the day, when all that imagery comes off, what is it that you are going to bed with?
Deceit? Fake adulation?
There are a lot of stories in every newsfeed. And the ones you chose to ponder on, says a lot about you as a person! People are people the world over. Why they do what they do is actually their prerogative. You could argue over the Queen and Snow White and justify why she was sent away from the palace… or you could graciously accept that, yes, she was wrong and it was mere jealousy. Wrong will always be wrong and right will always be right. The story is just a story. You turn the page and there will be a new chapter.
Life is like that. A friend sent me an audio birthday greeting that didn’t even sound like her!!
‘You sound like Angelina Jolie in Tomb Raider?’ I had texted back curiously.
And I got a few emojis with smileys and tears rolling down!!
‘Wow, nailed it…’ was her reply!
‘I’m learning voice modulation and it’s a lot of fun in my line of work. I can be who I want to be!!’
There are the young who choose to cover every spot with makeup and there are the old who prefer Botox. Then, there are young who pay to have the natural grey and the old who pay to cover theirs!! If you look around, you will see a world covered with colour, touch-ups and technology aided shapes and sizes! Photographs, even the most natural ones will still be tempered to look perfect.
But, what is perfect really? Is this a mere chimera?
I once read… Is the light at the end of the tunnel an illusion or is it that the tunnel itself is one!
There are a lot of questions that come to mind.
What is real and what is fake? What is true and what is a lie?
There are also a lot of questions that don’t warrant answers and then there are some, best left to life.
Life doesn’t come with a direction manual. It changes course as we grow. Each step defines the next and so on. You can’t stop the world around you from being a ‘make believe’ one but you can choose to ponder over the Beauty and the Beast instead of the wicked Queen and Snow White story in your newsfeed.
Wisdom is accepting the changing season and being well clad for it, not dwelling into the one that is passing you by.
(Pooja Poddar Marwah is an award winning author and Blogger. She writes on contemporary living and offers incisive reflections on the world around us. Her blog, Random Conversations is a go to guide to deal with the myriad struggles we face each day.)
