Is Sonam’s Body Really the Best?

Nips and tucks are the modern woman’s adrenaline rush. Caught in the crossfire to emulate Sonam Kapoor’s flab to fit ‘success’ story and Kareena Kapoor’s dizzying drop to size zero, Indian men and women are redefining the traditional ethos of beauty. Beauty is no longer the preserve of the soigné. It’s almost a commodity off the shelves – if you desire beauty, you shall have it.

Indians are fast matching up to the vanity of say, Americans who spend more on beauty than on education. Statistics, released by the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, shows that cosmetic surgery is becoming popular in countries with emerging economies which generate wealth, such as India and China. ISAPS president Foad Nahai said, "Emerging economies are generating a lot of wealth and as that wealth is passed around, people are choosing to spend their discretionary income on aesthetic procedures. The lure of plastic surgery is firmly getting entrenched on desi shores, says this report from ‘The Times of India’.

With a relentless blitzkrieg of ‘globalised’ international beauty standards to match up to, Indian women are opting for liposuction and breast augmentation. Men and women want hair transplants. Though beauty is only skin deep, every country has a beauty ideal which borders on obsession.

But perceptions vary as perceptions will. So while fat may be fabulous in one country, it would be ugly and distasteful in another. By upgrading to the ‘globalised’ beauty, we are alienating our traditional belief in ‘being full’ as a sign of good health. We end up with a blind belief in the ‘inspirational’ stories which stars spin. Sonam Kapoor has repeatedly spoken of the samosas she would binge on in one sitting and who can forget the well-endowed Bebo before being hit by the size zero mania.

Sonam’s weight loss: Inspiring to alarming

Our idea of the Indian beauty has changed. Now, there’s nothing Indian about her. She’s a smorgasbord of Barbie, Giselle, Miley Cyrus and Lady Gaga with ‘inspiration’ from Sonam and Katrina and Bipasha. We now have beauty ideals represented by catty actors slugging to push each other off the diva no. 1 post. Or the media who keeps bombarding us with images of anorexic beauties or cosmetic companies who gleefully promise the perfect face from a potion in a jar.

We have been conned into believing there’s nothing unusual in sporting a head of streaked ‘blonde’ hair with dark skin and brown eyes. Why don’t we celebrate classical beauty of Madhubala or Leela Naidu? I know, we think they are gorgeous women of times gone by. When did you last hear of a PYT hankering to get her eyebrows threaded a la Gayatri Devi? Give her garish Gaga.

Who defines pop ideal beauty in India? Do you decide whether a biggish derriere is sexy or unattractive? No. Others do and they have no context to you, your lifestyle or your body type. Just like we are losing originality in our movies and music, we are losing the real Indian beauty.

Go ahead and look beautiful. But let it be YOUR choice. Don’t let anyone tell you what’s beautiful. There’s really more to life than trying to conform to someone's confused sense of beauty.