Beauty and the Beholder

 Why is it said that beauty lies in a beholder's eyes?

Mainly because beauty has multiple definitions. The skincare companies would like you to believe it's skin deep, but that's just one (visible) aspect. What about the beauty of the mind, which is creative, inventive, imaginative? 

A particular body shape may look attractive at first sight, but that too is subjective, depending on which part of the world you live in. Again, the fashion mags would have you believe that what they propagate as the shape (forget the clothes) is fashionable, as a body type.

Ask a person in love. It could be a gesture, or the way she/he carries herself, or almost anything that creates the beauty in their eyes.

Or ask a child. To him, his mother would be the most beautiful creature. Likewise, a mother would think the same about her kids.

Look for beauty beyond the obvious, and if possible, appreciate it too.

A Gathering of Cousins

 I have several, since only my Mom alone had six sisters and a brother. And we have had many gatherings of cousins, almost each year except during the pandemic. So it was one more, that happened recently. A pretty good turnout, in which I tried a shot of Chinese Whisky ( a pic of the bottle follows), and we had a lot of food, banter and antakshari. A couple of nieces were in attendance too.

Most of the attending party. Two aunts were also there.

Grand nephew Khayal.. who I met for the first time.

Taking pics is a challenge. My brother at it- above.

Another niece.. Aparna, with Milind and me.

The Chinese whisky tastes a bit like Feni, but comes in a cute bottle 

Whodunit and Whydunit

This saga unfolding on Indian shores beats anything that I have read in terms of mystery stories. Tragically, it is a true story. A mother stands accused of killing her own daughter from her first marriage. Her collaborator in the crime seems to be her second (? not sure of this) husband, and her third (?) is a star media man-pun intended, as he headed Star TV in India around the time it started operations here.

What was the poor girl's crime (the daughter who was killed) is not clear yet. It could have been the fact that she was dating the son of her mother's current husband (the star). Or it might have been something else. There is further muddying of the waters because the mother (and accused) passed off her daughter (the victim) as her sister, for reasons best known to herself, to her current husband.

It is also suspected that after killing the daughter, she (the mother) used her cellphone and impersonated her in text messages, including one where she announced a breakup with her boyfriend (the current husband's son). The murder lay undiscovered for three years.

Bizarre, to say the least.