'Where every prospect pleases and only man is vile', is probably your first reaction to this photograph from my recent Kothagiri trek. (Yeah! I really know how much you all love me) My reaction, though, was slightly different. (No! Nothing to do about how pleasing the man in the pic is, thank you) I was wondering about how someone like me, who was the epitome of body-modesty in my youth, could contemplate putting up this pic in public without batting an eyelid.
Not that I was alone in this body-modesty thing. In my youth, almost all men (boys, as they then were) around me were disinclined to be less than fully clothed. Not that there was any social pressure on the lines of 'Why are you going around looking like a gigolo?' In fact, if we had really believed that wandering around in partial or complete undress would attract girls, I shudder to think of the sights that the world would have had to accustom itself to, in those days. (For a sample, you can check back the pic at he beginning and the one below and shudder)
The problem, probably, was the vice versa. We probably were not sure about whether we had any attractions for the opposite sex. The one thing that we were sure about was that any element of undress would put the issue beyond all doubt - there would be no attraction, only revulsion! Or, at least, I was sure of this.
You see, there was also this problem of being 'manly'. It used to be hair on the chest (Now, of course, it is wax on the chest. I have always wondered why this cocept of 'manliness' is so closely tied up with hair and other such physical characteristics. As though we have given up on character and are making do with what we are left with!) and, in the days when I was the most inclined to seek attention, there was none. (There was more on my head than there is now but, do you know, it never really seemed THAT important in those days) As luck would have it, when I did manage to sprout some on the chest, they seem to have been transplanted from the head. Beyond a point, though, the sapling taken from my head seem to have vanished to other more fertile lands - never saw sign of them anywhere else on my body.
So, what then has caused this sudden disappearance of body-modesty in my mental make-up? Quite obvious, isn't it? I mean, there are two reasons why - one, you acquire a confidence in your attractions even with clothes off OR you acquire a confidence that you are repulsive even with your clothes on, so what have you got to lose? (Yeah, I know, you all can guess which of the two it is for me!)
Oh! And, by the way, there is a third reason, too. You have stopped caring about whether you are attractive or not.
Which is the real reason why - or, so I prefer to say!
