'Looking' For People?

How important are looks I wonder. I hear people admire others,, just because the look good, others who weigh their own worth only for their physical appearance, those who obsess about it day and night and then ones who form relationships based only on looks. I feel like a stranger in a world obsessed with physical beauty, mostly because I don't look like a dish myself I think, and partly because I knew from a very young age, that looks mean nothing in any relationship. Not everyone is all about the looks ofcourse, but there is no denying that the world as we know it today is growing more obsessed with looks each passing minute. Is it not?

I am not completely unbiased about looks ofcourse. My first crush was a looker, the second was one of the hottest boys in school, I think there was a point in time I watched sports only to drool over the male players,then of course there is my life long love for Akshay Kumar, purely based on his looks, (but we will discuss that some other time, )and I definitely like looking at people whose appearance is pleasing to the eyes. But somehow when it came to friendships, I never ever cared for how the person looked, in fact I think I specifically went for people who were never the best lookers around.Part of it is possibly because I was this huge, wheatish, buxom creature growing up in a sea of pretty, fair and nubile girls in school. I had no illusions about the way I looked, and I think subconsciously I knew I would never fit into a group of lookers and always managed to hook up with the others. But whatever the reason, whether its my own looks or just my principles, or whatever,looks never mattered to me when I connected with another person.

Why am I blogging about this you wonder, because it surprises me each day, every single time, when I meet people who never look beyond the physical appearance of anything. A friend in college, had one criteria for picking a man, his meter reading on the fairness scale. Only a boy with a peaches and pink complexion was acceptable, in fact the reason she is not in touch with me today, is because I don't match the required criteria. Strange? Maybe not, but it is to me. I hear people eulogising about their spouse, of many many years based only on their looks. An aunt married for about a quarter of a century now, never fails to bring up the fact that her husband is an exceedingly fair complexioned man, the fact that he used to beat her up black and blue at one point of time, seems to be of little consequence. Another couple, well into their fifties, and the man will always talk of how gorgeous his partner is, and forever fear her running away with someone else for the very same reason. Just does not make sense to me.

When I am hurt, or in pain, or need support, when I am sad and need a shoulder to lean on, the looks of the man is the last thing that counts. Strangely enough, for someone who was as kiddish as kiddish gets, I never wanted to fall in love with a man, because he looks good. The GP's looks somehow never even registered in my mind when we fell in love. I loved him for the person he was, and I love him each day for that, but looks, they never mattered. The fact remains that he comes across as quite a looker to many. A recent incident, where someone wanting to buy the flat we owned in India, came to have a look, and seeing the GP's photo in the living room, was convinced that it was in fact John Abraham (thanks to his long straightened locks during the time.), and we all agree John Abraham is drool worthy right? Everyone who knew him in college, and even some others, have commented on his striking resemblance to Dino Morea, I have never managed to observe it myself. I couldn't care less if he was a short, fat, bald man tomo, as long as he remains to be the person he is today. I never cared, and I hope I never do. So what I cannot understand is, how do people form relationships based on just looks, how and just how? How obsessed can one be with an outer appearance.

Its great to look good, and more importantly feel good. I would love to have a flat tummy and smaller face, but I would hate it if people liked or disliked me based on just that. I wish I never have friends or for that matter what is more likely, foes, based on my looks, and I hope I never ever change so much that I base my own likings or friendships based on looks. What is your take? How important are looks to you?

On an aside, a salesman in the mall yesterday congratulated me on my imagined pregnancy. How do you think I took it? I sulked for the entire fifteen minutes on the way back home!! And then of course tweeted about it to glory. And thanks to everyone who tried to cheer me up, I enjoyed the attention!