The Real Beauty

I got back from my vacation day-before-yesterday and when I checked my mails I found out that Indiblogger has come up with a new contest, a contest where Yahoo! and Dove has teamed up and asked us to blog about what real beauty means to you.

What real beauty means to you! Whatever you mean by that, I mean everyone knows what real beauty means to you. It's Kim Kardashian, right? Ummm, depends. It might mean Meg Ryan too. As they have wisely said, beauty lies in the eye of the beholder.

For some people, beauty means a voluptuous woman with a pretty face. For some it means just a pretty face. For some real beauty is skin deep, and people have started taking this aphorism so literally that they have started using Botox treatment. What they don't realize is that aging gracefully is also a beauty in itself. Again, for some, beauty might mean love of a mother, and for some, like Wordworth, who were born loners, beauty would be the solace they find in nature and their imagination.

But if you ask me what beauty is, I would say beauty is none of these. Absolutely none. Real beauty is the meaning hidden in the following lines by Nida Fazli.

Ghar se Masjid hain bahut door, chalo yu kar lein,
Kisi rote huye Bachhe ko hansaya jaaye.

You don't believe it? Well, they say that a picture is worth a thousand words, so here goes one.

Do you really think anything can be more beautiful than that? Children are the most beautiful of God's creations, a smiling one like her, a real Angel! Innocent, oblivious to all the cruelties of life, the smile of a child can win the heart of even the most ruthless savage alive on earth. Haven't we heard about babies being raised by animals who are carnivores by nature? Even they understand the beauty of a child. Children, whichever caste, creed, color or sex they belong to, after they are born they all speak the same language, the language of innocence.

Even the beauty of a mother fades in front of the beauty of a smiling child because the child is what make the mother, a mother. You have often heard of a child abandoned by their mother and father, but have you ever heard of a mother or a father abandoned by their baby? Probably that's why its written in The Bible,

Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them; and when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them to him, saying, "Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it." - (Luke 18:15-17)

That's why for me, a smiling child, a laughing baby is the most beautiful thing in the world. When I wake up every morning to some of the harshest realities of life, one smile from her makes me forget all the pain, one smile from her makes me realize that life is beautiful.

But how often have you tried to make a child smile? On the road, in the bus, on a train, have you? You too can make a child smile. Trust me, you won't have to be Mother Teresa to make a child smile, you can start off in much simpler ways. Want to know how? Try Akshaya Patra, The Missionaries of Charity, World Vision or maybe the UNICEF. So try and lend a helping hand to them, or even simply buy an ice-cream to a street-kid on a hot summer day and see him/her smile. Believe me, that smile would make you a lot more happier than you were.

So make a child smile. That way you too can make this world really beautiful.

P.S.: If I happen to win this contest, I would donate a part of the prize money to Akshaya Patra to feed a child. So if you are an Indiblogger, please click on the this link to vote for this writeup. In case you are not an Indiblogger member, please take care minute to register yourself (it hardly takes a minute and trust me you won't repent your decision, I don't) and then vote for this article.