Conceded, that at birth, none of us were consulted on the way we might want to look. Nose, lips, hair, body parts, general body structure, nada nada nada. But it struck me this evening as I was on my way home from work, could the way we were born looks-wise have influenced the way we act and behave? Do our looks typecast us into certain behavioural patterns?
In the traffic jam at a busy junction this evening, there was this vai guy driving one of those chirpy little new cars, I forget which, besides not being really able to identify any car other than the ubiquitous Maruti 800. Anyway this guy reminded me of someone I had seen recently somewhere though I couldn't immediately place who or where. So he wasn't to blame for how he looked but that being the way he was, I mentally typecast him as one of those vai men in their 30s or 40s, averagely well-off but not too affluent, conventional but a bit of a lech when opportunity presented itself, reasonably well-educated and bright but not overly so, fairly widely-travelled, a paunch held in by a tight belt (he was sitting and I couldn't actually see anything other than his face), a bit of a fatty chest, probably smelling of aftershave or some sweetish body spray such men seem to favour.
Ok so I was probably stereotyping him but it did bring me to reflect on the question I brought up earlier: do our looks typecast us into certain behavioural patterns? I think it does. And about 5 minutes after I sighted the guy, I realised who he had reminded me of - Principal Figgins from Glee.
I don't know if our looks influence the way we behave but I do think it influences how we look at others. I have to constantly remind myself not to judge a book by its cover.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you mean by a vai guy? I am not familiar with that term.
Long title,short post,but it got me thinking for a long time. I think, yes, perhaps it does. This is probably why some person's behavior appear out of place with their look, while most of us behave, as in our mannerism, the way we look, so we become 'common'.Don't know if I'm making any sense!!
ReplyDeleteIf you were a good looking kid, you'd probably be popular in school, and you'd most likely end up to be a pretty confident person, taking most things for granted. If you were a dowdy little kid, you could grow up being something of a bookworm and you could end up pretty successful in life. Or I could be totally wrong on both counts.
ReplyDeleteLoch, "vai" is local parlance for plains people, like the Bengalis, Cacharis etc.
ReplyDeletedaniel, yes I know, stupidly long title. I just wasn't sure how to shorten it. And my blog posts tend to be short because I can't get used to reading lengthy write-ups on a computor screen myself. I'm from the print generation! And yeah, I think I get what you mean about some people's behaviour contradicting their looks. If they cultivate a bohemian appearance, you'd expect them to be rebellious and unconventional, rather than quiet and submissive.
diary, true true, but surprisingly enough, I know a few people who are not in the least attractive physically but brim over with self-confidence, and then there are others who are quite good-looking but tend to be shy wallflowers with low self-esteem.
ReplyDeleteKinda crazy to think in this fashion dont ya think?
ReplyDeleteNot especially. People run more to type than you might ordinarily think.
ReplyDeletePrincipal Figgins Lolzzz So must be a hell of a guy if he could trigger so many imaginations on a first, fleety glance...personally, I really really dont stereotype people at first sight...my blank simply draws a blank there. However, first attitude at first acquaintance makes all the difference to me.
ReplyDeletemy mind simply draws a blank, sorry :))
ReplyDeleteIt's also called "sizing people up". Plenty of info on it on the web. The practice of quickly assessing or analysing people. It comes with experience, I think, although one easy way is from the way people talk, especially the quality or timbre of their voices - huge difference between the educated and uneducated. I can tell pretty accurately what kind of economic background a (Mizo) person is from just by listening to the inflections in their voices. Bit different with other cultures though obviously because I'm not familiar enough with their lifestyles etc.
ReplyDeleteI can tell pretty accurately what kind of economic background a (Mizo) person is from just by listening to the inflections in their voices.
ReplyDeleteSNOB! :D
It's easy, once you get to live as long as I have, you'll get it nailed. And then, you can call yourself a snob too
ReplyDelete