As a child I used to believe that only the good-looking were nice people. The others were shrewd and existed on earth only to exploit you.I thought it was God's way of helping man realise which of his peers could be trusted. And the formula was often put to the test.
Juggy, who had a particularly striking mole on his nose, was the one who bullied me the most. Prahlad, who was cute in a television commercial kind of way, helped me with my homework. And Ehsaas, who fell midway in the looks department, didn't bother me too much.
Then one day, I read Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray. This dude, who could easily have won a modern day personality contest, turned out to be such a horrible person.
Things changed after that.
I viewed all beauty queens with suspicion. Surely Aishwarya Rai had a painting hidden somewhere in her house which portrayed her as a hideous leper. Surely Sushmita Sen had bonded with the devil to keep her looks intact.
Years later, I still have no concrete idea how to gauge people. Sometimes I rely on the eyes to judge character. If kindness doesn't seep through the eyes or words, I usually wait for the inevitable moment when their actions harm me. Not a fool-proof test but it usually proves me right.
Beauty and Beast are now viewed with equal suspicion. Flawless cheekbones and scarred forehead are treated alike. Till they pass the kindness-in-eyes test and I begin to trust them. What do you think?
I agree. A lot of people think that gorillas must be kind because of their handsome features, but not all of them are. On the other hand, quite a few humans are very decent characters.
ReplyDeleteThat they certainly are :)
ReplyDeletewell decent characters in humans is a rarity guys! I concur with the thought that good-looking people are usually nice. I grew up thinking that too. Thank god, things changed.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, nice guys (good-looking or not) usually finish last. That's bad, isn't it?
ReplyDeletei agree tony, nice guys do finish last, always and everywhere
ReplyDelete