| Every age had given its fair share of accolades to | | | | even more surprising are the statistics, which |
| the beautiful men and women of the world. Fictions | | | | showcase the winning saga of all the so-called |
| and fairy tales are no exception either. The proverbial | | | | unsightly men and ugly women of the world. |
| beauty of Helen, Cleopatra, Juliet, Nefertiti, Cinderella | | | | While people's desire to be more beautiful is justified, |
| and Snow White cannot wane with time, nor can it | | | | it is also true that ugliness is never a handicap. We |
| slip into oblivion. Good looks have been the cynosure | | | | are often baffled with some trivia claiming that |
| of numerous human actions-legendary love stories | | | | good-looking men get better jobs and salaries than |
| were made and nations were ravaged in wars, but | | | | the ugly men, and pretty women get more |
| beauty never stopped bewitching the human race. | | | | handsome raises than their uglier counterpart. No |
| On the flip side, the not-so-pretty people have | | | | matter what amount of truth is there in such claims, |
| consistently been pushed aside into the dark alleys of | | | | it is as true as it can get that many of the ugly |
| obscurity and ridicule. They have always been | | | | people have made it to the news. Take for instance, |
| portrayed in shades of gray as vamps, villains or the | | | | Prince Charles, Mick Jagger, Francis Ford Coppola, |
| 'bad guy'. But who or what decides ugliness, or if at | | | | Mike Tyson, Camilla Parker, Woody Allen, Eleanor |
| all this is required, would be another issue of course. | | | | Roosevelt and more. All of them have struck gold in |
| Nevertheless, art, literature and history bear ample | | | | their own individual ways. This only goes to show |
| testimony to the fact that the ill-favored faces have | | | | that looks are never deterrents to fame or success. |
| been the object of scorn and despise for reasons | | | | Who would mind an ugly face when there is enough |
| quite unreasonable to sanity. | | | | virtue in the other aspects of the person? Possibly |
| Like we all know, beauty lies in the eyes of the | | | | none. |
| beholder, but whose eyes is it anyway? Are these | | | | Fair or dark, fat or thin, perfect or grotesque, earning |
| the eyes of the socio-cultural construct, which entails | | | | a name for oneself does not rest with the face |
| beauty is all about face? Or are they eyes of the | | | | alone. While a pretty face can of course be a |
| thought that connotes the archetypal 'white is | | | | vantage, it is never the be all and end all of making a |
| beautiful and black is ugly' notion? Answers are not | | | | mark. Stripping off all socio-cultural constructs, what |
| exactly what we are looking for here. Much to the | | | | ultimately shines through is that the ugly ducklings of |
| contrary, it throws up more questions before us. And | | | | the world can indeed make it big in every way! |