All about pulchritude

I happened to travel to some beautiful places and seen some beautiful things...some creation of man and others by Nature; in the last few months.....it got me contemplating about the nature of beauty.

I realized, there is a bigger perspective to aesthetics than a parochial vision with which generally,"beauty" is put in context. I have also seen a movie which claims to be a real love story, where a protogonist falls for a beautiful girl ( I, for sure, fell in love with the actress....later to find out that the smart Director of the movie, did make a right choice, and married her :-) ). It is so easy to fall in love, be inspired, overpowered, awed by pysical beauty!! If not for Cleopatra's beauty, there wouldn't have been history making wars that altered our history. Some culture's destiny is determined by women's beauty. Men do impossible things falling for women....in the process create Taj Mahals!! However, we are often told that the "inner beauty" is important than the "outer beauty". But the history and precedence seems to point us to a different conclusion. Are they making excuses?? Is that an escapist route to nirvana (for those majority, whose wishes may go unfulfilled)?

Ok, ok, ok......now, please bear with me till I complete what I want to say!

To me, there are three facets to beauty.....physical (god given), the one of the Mind and the one of the Heart. These three beauties are not exclusive by any stretch of imagination......a person generally has some degree of these....right from the most bestowed....to the disgusting......If we just say "yes/no" to each of these beauties, there are 8 ( 2! X 2! X 2!) combinations!! We could do a scaling of 1 to 10 on each of the beauty categories to be more precise......

Let me give some examples that represent each of the beauties :
Physical : Most movie stars, models (Aishwarya Rai, Hrithik Roshan??)
Mind : Noble laureates, pulitzer winners, field medalists and intellectuals (Rabindrnath Tagore, C V Raman, Srinivasa Ramanujan??)
Heart : Nurses, Nuns, People in Love ("with heart ailments" :-) ) ( Mother Theresa, Florence Nitingale, Mahatma Gandhi??)
Another perpective to these categories :

Physical : Be the best one can be to please the eye of others. The better the reach, the better the use of this caracteristic (so, "High Five" for those beautiful Heroins!!)

Heart : Do beautiful things for the people around them. Spread goodwill, tolerance and hope

Mind : Create things that help others lead enriched lives.....Make beautiful things.

The reason why we hear about the "inner beauty", because, that is what is controllable by each individual and compensate for......the easiest to master is that of "heart".....with kindness, compassion, love, forgiveness, faith and spirit....Mind beauty can be compensated to a large extent......with dedication and committment. A lot of researchers fall into this category. Mind and Heart beauty are character attributes. A beautiful mind creates a lot of beautiful things, music, poetry, literature, gadgets (like your new iPhone?), gardens, movies etc., and enrich the way work and live. Who would argue that Beethovan's "Moonlight Sonata" or Da Vinci's "Monolisa" be not admired by several generations to come??

The last one, and the least controllable is "physical" beauty. And guess what?? That's what we try to compensate most for......it could be the most destructive motivator....leading to fights, feuds, wars and much discontent. The reason is every wants to "own" and "possess" beautiful things....where as, the other beauties are all there to be shared and enjoyed. The proper use of a "beauty" is it needs to warm one's soul. I also find it is hard to "love" other beauties easily as well, because it requires a deeper understanding and appreciation of the Heart and the Mind beauty!!

So, what does it all mean? I figured now :

• Why "cosmetics" sells better than the "books"!! :-)
• Why lot of people fall in Love than the people who do "Charity" or "Voluntary" work!!
• Why Miss. Worlds, Universes etc., take up a cause ( not seriously enough, unfortunately :-( )

The Man - Barack Obama

There are very few occasions in rhetoric and public speaking, like "Gettysberg Address" of Abraham Linclon, "Ask not a country can do for you" by JFK, "I have a dream" or "I see the promised land" by Martin Luthur king, defines what we come to believe and cherish for ages to come. They leave us with most powerful, influential ideas that we carry on through out our lives. In this age of "fast food", these occasions have increasingly become rare. People with courage, ability to take the most difficult issues with honesty and challenge the hipocrisy are almost unheard heard of. Authenticity, ingenuity is all we crave and pray for deliverer.....in the electoral politics. I guess, the search for 'authenticity" is finally over with the man - Barack Obama.

I am particularly impressed with "A more perfect union" speech of him. This is available in youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrp-v2tHaDo&NR=1

I am still soaking into this speech...I do not have enough words to express, my feelings. The speach is stirring, candid, intelligent and high headed..... I am deeply moved!

Barak Obama in real sense is reminds me of the novel written in 1964 by Irwing Wallace's "The Man", where a black president goes through racial prejudice and descrimination, political pressures (impeachement), personal cricises and comes out on top!

Barack Obama is not a black candidate, he is a candidate who is black. He is proving again and again, that is he transcends race with his loftiness, ability to inspire, provide hope and taking a higher road. I hope he will be rewarded presidency for his wisdom and understanding of the complexities of the world. I am sure, that he will capture the imagination of the world, will grow in stature to be a fine stateman.

America, do the right thing, elect your president on merit!! There is a lot at stake : US spremacy as a world power, influence in a multipolar world. Your president should best signify what your country stands for. Prove that you are the country of liberty, unlimited opportunity and a culture of fairness and openness. Prove that you are capable of judging people by the content of their character and not the colour of their skin.

May god bless Obama....