21 September 2006

Being olive

in colour has its advantages. Apparently, the texture of the skin is "just beautiful". No wrinkles near the eyes and mouth and no lines on the forehead. At least, not till you hit the forties.This is what the beauty therapist told me the other day when I went in for a facial. She sighed and said she wished she could have skin like that. Hyuk, hyuk, that was an ego boost alright.

Who'd have thought?
But, word for word, this is what I heard.

Not that I didn't know about this before and not that I haven't observed it meself here - olive skin does age better. But still, it took a lilting Irish voice to drill this into my head.

Honesty also forces me to add that maybe she was being too kind. Simply because the massage table over-balanced as soon I sat on it(I swear this was because the table was awkwardly positioned and had nothing to do with my being overweight - really)and she wanted me to feel better. After all, she didn't mention anything about the sunspots on my skin, caused by years of wandering around in Chennai summers. Nor did she say anything about my double chins.....

Btw, she used the PC word 'olive'. I, being the plain speaker that I am, would have probably said 'brown or dark' skinned.

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Wishful thinking:
I've forfeited the right to be obese. All I can aim for and achieve is being overweight. Which I already have. Sigh, I am a underperformer.

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The post on kids by Lak brought home to me, yet again, that no culture can take a morally superior tone. We Indians here lament so much how children here are treated -as in, no picking them up, putting them to bed in separate rooms even if they are only 10 days old, etc (never mind that they cry for hours together when it first happens). But in India, we have mums who are not mums, and kids still being lonely even while surrounded by people. I have to agree with Lak completely on this one. My take is: if you don't /can't spend the time on kids, maybe you should try not having any. After all, what's the point?

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6 comments:

rads said...

olive eh? Sounds definitely PC than saying brown :) Lemme use that and see people's reaction.

Chennai doesn't give you sunspots, just an overall bronzed shriveled olive look ;-) *am from chennai too, so its all cool*

There is a flip side to all aspects including raising kids in different locations, but this memsaab and maid attitude, i don't tolerate well. There's a difference between responsibility and chores

Castor aka Kiwilax said...

Hey Rads
Fellow bronzed skinned one: how is it going. Keep visiting me often.

The Inquisitive Akka said...

Olive huh?? Hmm I wonder what else we can come up with! As a child, growing up in Germany I used to tell all my friends- " I am chocolate and you are just stinking cheese" :)They were actually jealous :)

Castor aka Kiwilax said...

Hey Akka,
Yup. There is no limit to being PC - dunno what will be next. But I know of some others that happen in this part of the world - people avoid saying no, etc, like the very plague. And end up using 10 words instead of one simple one....

LAK said...

Well, olive sounds exotic! PCness apart, skin texture really begins to be important later on in life. like you said, Indian ski ages well. But, must confess, wrinkles are attractive too---when they are Clint Eastwood's crow's feet!

Castor aka Kiwilax said...

Lak: Have to admit that olive sounds a lot more exciting than plain old 'brown' or 'wheatish' (whatever that means, haven't quite figured it out). Although they all mean the same thing....and not all of us are as good-looking at Clint for wrinkles to suit us as well...