I am the editorial writer for our South Asian newspaper on campus. I was asked to write on a very interesting topic for our next issue: Aishwarya Rai’s beauty. Exactly that.


Here’s a copy of the editorial...

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Meet Aishwarya Rai, the 32-year old Miss World turned Indian actress with a knack for leaving millions that see her on-screen and many that get a real life peek of her in absolute awe. If the Miss World crown signifies the zenith in any charming woman’s life, I think Aishwarya would argue for an exception. She may have been crowned the title of the “Beauty Queen” over a decade back (1994 it was, for the nerds that care) but to the west, it has been the last one year that has given Aishwarya much screen time on television sets across America.

I caught the first glimpse of her in American media in a shampoo ad. Follow that up with a string of interviews across the American media—highlighted by her appearances on Opera and on Letterman. The media marathon Aishwarya undertook was all following her box-office winner Bride And Prejudice. Add to that cover appearances on TIME Magazine and The Rolling Stone and the debate, which common sense would say should have been considered settled a decade back when we was chosen as the Miss World, rose again: is she really the prettiest face we have?

Julia Roberts certainly thought so. For years Ash-infatuated guys have stalked her (as much in their nightly hours as in reality) but for a Western actress to come out in the open and throw her vote for Aishwarya as the most beautiful woman was a first for Aishwarya in many ways. Obviously it proved Aishwarya’s reach beyond her usual South Asian audience. But more importantly, as some may observe, it shows the power of her beauty evoking jealousy or (for a lack of more politically correct word) “envy” in women awed by Aishwarya’s beauty.

Few honest thoughts before you go gung ho over yourself or Aishwarya’s beauty or your cat Tommy…

Whether you find yourself trying to illicit comparisons between Aishwarya’s curves or on the other end of the pendulum where you’re tracking her every footstep in hopes of taking her home: STOP.

For one, the debate over the definition of beauty has lingered ever since the human race had a choice to choose one partner over another. And rest assured, with the blossoming human population our choices are naturally increasing. Add to that the world population figure of over 6.4 billion and your daily dose of L’     Oreal you dare not venture out without, any real debate to find the ultimate real beauty will remain more a Greek myth than ever a reality.
     
For example, millions indeed worship the beauty (or so I’m told) in Aishwarya Rai. But ask about the same looks to my friend Abhay, who got the rare glance at her at the Filmfare Awards, and you’re met with a shrug and disdain.

Moral of the story: it does not matter. Yet, the topics of beauty keep you, the consumer, busy by giving you something to spend the little dollars you have on. To us writers, they give us a topic we can blabber about and still get you to read with wide stretched eyes (I’m assuming you didn’t just glance at this paragraph out of the blue on a page flipping ride). As for the “truly” beautiful, I’m afraid all it leaves for them is paralyzing enslavement of their two eyes: one to the mirror while the other on the poll numbers from beauty surveys that could not possibly make any less sense than they do in their existing forms.

Enough said.
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