Perspective

I am not a reader of Vogue. But this cover caught my attention today.

The wrinkles add beauty reminding me of scars and the experience that Apo has collected over a decade as her priceless possessions. The red lipstick depicting there is still so much life to look forward to. The eccentric beads of red & yellow bring out the feeling of positivity.

That’s what beauty is about for me. It doesn’t mean age, color or something remotely associated with physical attributes. It goes deeper. Apo is personification of life, positivity and happiness. Someone cheerful yet full of composure. Someone who has seen life through the lens of pain, sadness, loneliness and yet is still ready to go a hundred miles more at 106. Surely, a human I look forward to becoming someday. How I would define ‘cool’ too.

South East Asia is vibrant — every nation is an awesome amalgamation of culture and color that is blooming. Cherry Blossoms, K-pop, art & culture, languages, living together, finding a new normal, economic growth — these will define the new world norm and leadership in the next few decades.

Let’s go on the other side of the planet. Mexico.

Alebrijes or Mexican Spirit animals represent how vibrant their history is too (similar strands found across the Indian subcontinent and Philippines). These bright colored hand made clay creatures are painted with natural dyes where each color depicts a feeling: green depicting feelings of empathy, pink is love, yellow tones express joy in various shades and orange is a mix of negative emotion (I correlate it with ‘Agni’ or fire element, though not always negative in my opinion).

I will add to this story on Nahual or the animal counterparts of humans belief that is associated with Alebrijes. Coming up in a few days.