Sttudio292

There is a regular visitor to my mother’s garden. A peahen comes every day to have her daily meal. I’ve seen many peacocks come but saw her for the first time.

A first look at her and my pre-conceived notions of beauty came into full play. I looked at her and remarked how god had given all the good looks to her counterpart, the peacock, and made her so plain and uninteresting. I even felt sad for her lacklustre looks.

Now if you’ve seen a peacock you will understand what I’m saying. He is gorgeous to look at. Brilliant jewel like colours of emerald green, blue sapphire, turquoise, purple amethyst, all blended together. A magnificent long plume, with feathers used by gods and kings in their head gear.

Indian mythology shows Lord Krishna always with a peacock feather in his hair and the peacock is used by Kartikeya as a form of transportation. Understandably, the peacock struts around proudly. Head held high.

So, when I saw the mousey looking peahen, I felt sad for her. I thought of her spending her whole life colourless, besides a beautifully coloured partner.

I took out my camera and started clicking pictures of her. Somehow the setting on the camera was perfect for her. I did not have to adjust any of the settings.

She quietly, hungrily ate, while I clicked pictures of her. When I downloaded the pictures, and saw her as my lens did, I felt ashamed.

A being, who I had thought dull and uninteresting, glowed in my pictures.

Granted her colouring was in dull shades of brown, but her personality leapt out to change my attitude.

What I thought were dull browns blended well and her crest gave her head a dignified posture. Her elongated eyes were beautiful. Just looking at her pictures I could feel the calm and patience emanating from her.

Then it struck me, these views were my ideas of beauty. Maybe in their world, she was considered the beautiful one. The thought humbled me. A notion of beauty that had been ingrained in me since childhood, unraveled in me to let me see beauty in another sense.

In spite of her insipid looks, the beautiful peacock does spread out his gorgeous plume to court her. He dances and prances around her to make her his. He knows her value as a partner and a mother to future generations of peacocks.

This article is by Shivani Khanna

All pictures are personal images of Sttudio 292