World's Most Beautiful Woman

I have always found most air-hostesses really beautiful...not just because they appear well-groomed... more because of their temperament. It really isnt easy dealing with airborne apes otherwise, more so in international sectors. Its about standing up to the occasion (literally!), and delivering service still wearing a smile.

I think people in mumbai look so beautiful...not just because I live there...I see the way they go about their life ..amidst so much chaos....still with such determination...that u r left awestuck with admiration.

Beauty as a concept is very debatable, beauty as reality is even more contentious; Its more to do with one's expression i guess. Barring the chiseled-body exhibition, most beauty pageant organisers seem to be in agreement with this...or so it seems with a question and answer round designed to map one's expression.

Coming to the heart of the matter...Yes I have made up my mind for whom I would vote for as the World's Most Beautiful woman....and thats my paternal Grandmother..whom i fondly refer to as Chithi.

Chithi, undoubtedly must have been one of the early words in my vocabulary. Since childhood, my grandparents lived with us. So stories of Krishna, Indira Gandhi (I now realise was more of fiction than facts !), the sparrow stories were regular lunch-time tales. My sister and myself have always belonged to the group with a higher Body-Mass Index. Thanks to chithi's rasam chadam with applam and ghee fed with her own hands. She never used to refer to my grandfather by his name, and used all kind of pronouns to refer to him..and when we (Sis and I) asked her to refer to him with his name...I still remember her cheeks turning red and the lovely smile adorning her lips.

All said and done..she was a task master too. Attention to studies and music lessons were mandatory, failing which we would be victims of her wrath. The kitchen ladle being her favourite weapon.

In-laws never r easy to get along with is the common premonition...My amma's comfort zone existing wherever chithi was, to the extent that she refused to get back to her parental home to deliver her children... or so I gather!Yup..they did have their share of arguments and differences, but then it was all back to normal the very next day...with the discussion and consensus over whats to be made for breakfast and lunch.

Every examination I went to...right from school days to my mba papers...i used to do a namaskaram to her and ask her to pray for me...and came the same reply....Do well..U'll top the class!

She had this thing that her son (my father) takes up medicine as his profession. He chose to be an engineer instead. She now banked on my sister and me to do it for her...We too displayed little interest in it!

Chithi has been every maid's 'dream employer' for she used to flood them with goodies to eat and wear...perhaps because of the not-so well to do childhood she had had...She heart in hearts felt she was no different from them..but for her marriage to my grand father.

She's been at her resilient best in tending to my mother all through her ill-health (which lasted nearly over 2 decades).

There may be so many people who have renounced everything in life to serve humanity. My Chithi decided to take on life instead...by giving...She gave 100% of herself everytime...seeking nothing more than our happiness and well-being.

One of these days, while I was on my way out, I overheard her talking to my 3 year-old, while feeding him rasam chadam who seemed to be examining her chest (imitating his pediatrician), that she had only wish...that she passes away calmly after she recieves treatment from my son...while he becomes a doctor.

Now..thats one wish encompassing so many...now thats what I call...Expression of Beauty.