A quest to the meaning of "Beauty"

How would you describe the word "beautiful"?
I had been pondering to the actual concept of "beauty" for a long time now.  How would you describe a beautiful woman,are there any scientifically-defined requirements to be counted as beautiful? Or is beauty all about what the other person sees,of his perception?

Across the cultures,the concept of "beautiful women" vary.
For example,In America,women who are slim are considered more desirable and beautiful, while, in Mauritania being skinny is definitely not a sign of beauty. Here a beautiful woman is a woman with curves…big curves. The female members of the Kayan tribe (situated on the border between Burma and Thailand) have another idea of beauty. Also known as “long necks”, they measure a woman’s beauty according to the brass rings wore around the neck. As they grow older they increase the number of rings which gives them an elongated neck appearance. In some other areas,a women with a broad jaw line,or sullen lips is considered beautiful.

An ostensible idea out of what has been described above is: the concept of beauty varies across different continents,and "beautiful" is thus something dictated by cultures.


True? I don't agree with this conception. We all have heard the famous proverb: "Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder". Now consider this: In Middle East,the idea of a 'beautiful woman" is not related to what one sees,but what one imagines about. One believes the women behind the black cover(which runs from their head to toe)  to be beautiful by their fragrance,or by their eyes. Which brings us to the conclusion,that beauty is not in what one sees,it lies in what image their brain contemplate,in how beautiful THEIR mind and heart is.


If we look at the above maxim through an angle of practicality,we see its loopholes . We have many instances where "beauty" is measured by how a person appears. How many girls would agree to marry a guy not-good-looking enough (Iv banned the word "ugly" from my dictionary,there is nothing "ugly",I believe! It may be "less-good-looking",but not ugly! ),or someone who is half her height? (leave alone the idea if the guy being affluent) If at all beauty is just about "eyes of the beholder",then why do we still cant stop gazing at the beauty of Megan Fox? Why do women still continue to feel jealous from that lady with pout-lips,slender neck,sharp nose,big eyes? Seems like beauty is ACTUALLY all about the physical appearance,isnt it?

The above two explanations of "beauty" are a paradox in themselves. We have proved,that beauty is neither gimmicky,nor is it solely based on the "beauty in the eyes of the beholder",what can possibly be "beauty" then?

Wikipedia describes the word "beauty" as "a characteristic of a person, animal, place, object, or idea that provides a perceptual experience of pleasure or satisfaction". Fair enough,anything capable to bring the euphoria back,something which makes us feel happy is beautiful. Beauty lies in the children playing the park,or the rainbow in the sky. To a bird in the cage,beauty is "freedom to fly"; to that rag-picker lad on the road,beauty is in a sumptuous meal,or clean clothes ;to a child who has been alone since childhood,beauty is the image of his mother. This succumbs us to the conclusion, beauty is in EVERYTHING : it holds no specific definition. We are surrounded by different things beautiful in their own ways.  And thus,it had been rightly said:

                    

                      “Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it." - Confuscius

From negative,to positive- my blooming sense of respect for Indians! :D

All those who are close to me know how much I "love" Indians(read my previous posts,you'll get to know how much I "adore" all the Indian elements). There are innumerable reasons which make me hate them,but lately,Iv developed a feeling of respect towards the Indians. What made the transitions? Read below,you"ll start "respecting" them too!

1.Their consistency- superlative and incomparable. Why do we always reach late at our workplace,and seem not to change this habit unless given the last warning? Why do we continue to take things for-granted unless we get to see the consequences? Take for example,the working of our very own government. It has been consistent-in not bringing out any change in the current status of education,of being passive when it comes to increasing job opportunities for citizens,of being negligent to the requests of the citizens for a commodity as vital as clean drinking water(remember the latest scene of the deaths that took place in the NCERT colony due to "murky" water that was being supplied to them,something which the residents have been complaining about to the officials for long) .We are so obstinate!

                                    

                             

2.Business minded- No,I dont mean to say that non-Indians are not sharp minded when it comes to making money. All Iam referring here,is the extent to which people can stoop down to make money. The incomparable example,is the very own Uttarakhand- kedarnath flood scene: the locales are busy making money out of the scene at such a time. A rescued pilgrim revealed that they were robbed by some miscreants. More shockingly , thieves are not even sparing those who have lost their lives in the disaster. The bodies of pilgrims were robbed of money and jewellery. Even their trousers, belts  and other valuables are being stolen.I need not to exemplify my point further. 'Nuff said.

3. Indians have one quirky trait,they sound very promising and persuading (do NOT pre-assume that they fulfil their promises as well,because in most of their cases,they do not). The politicians promise us multifarious things every year,how many of them get fulfilled? None.  Every other salesman tend to prove that their product is of the best quality. "Gurantee hai iski,chahe 2 bar dho ya 10 bar,color aisa hi rahega is shirt ka madam ji". And then what happens after the first use? you feel fooled,neither can you complain to anyone because you know,its a common practice! I have seen students who will say on the face, "yar tu marle bunk,mein proxy laga dungi" and how much they actually help,we all know!

4.Chivalrous- that's what describes majority of them. "Oh you spoke against me?dare you,you are dead"(and really,the person is found dead next day. There have been innumerable cases where collegiates have been reported to be involved in similar cases). "Tu janta hai mein kiska beta hun? Tera bap mera kuch nhi bigad sakta!" And if you think this attitude is restrained just to guys,you are probably wrong. Ladies here are courageous enough too,you can get to see their gallant side on a situation as mere as a light scuffle between her son and the child in your family. I "love" Indians for their chivalry.

                                     

5. Philanthropist- really?
Yes,they suddenly turn good philanthropists when it comes to their purpose. They wont think even for a second when it requires filling the houses of  an officer with gifts,whom they have requested for some favor(but it hurts them so deeply to give away a piece from their wardrobe,no longer in use, to the homeless out there on the road). They suddenly engage themselves in the work of social welfare,when they have a purpose. We all wondered what could be the reason behind Mr. Ahluwalia working so hard to serve the poor,we have always known him as a haughty,rich man. It was when someone told us that Panditji had asked him to do jal-seva every Tuesday outside the temple for 2 hours,which will help to remove the "grehen" from his "kundli". Had it been a case where Mr. Ahluwalia would've been asked to do charity with zero profit,he would've denied without any second thought.

Its not just these things,I can go on writing about their traits unceasingly(as I've already mentioned in one of my previous post) Indians and their eccentricity are,and will be topics of interest to me forever,it seems.