UGLY

I judge ugly rich people. Very much. I feel like if you are rich, the least you should do is be good looking. Or at least make yourself look good. A little bit more than presentable. In this day and age, HOW can you be so stupid to still be ugly?! Like fine don’t give to charity and what not but wealth and looks are things everyone tries to get. And if you have wealth, looks is easy to get. So get it.

Even in Mizoram, no one wants to be ugly anymore. People are into rhinoplasty, lasik, permanent beauty tattoos, micro-bladings, micro-shadings, fillers, botox, transplants, maybe not tanning but more like fairness treatments, and so much makeup. It’s dazzling. And enchanting. The end result is aesthetically pleasing. As it should be. Cavemen were ugly. By 2024, there should be a lot more beauty around. 

Or at least have a USP. Even if you do not aim to be or want to be conventionally attractive, get a team to style you. Look eclectic maybe. I mean I am OK with Mark Zuckerberg because his whole thing is NERD. Or maybe Android Nerd, IDK. Maybe. Point is, he owns the look. So I let him off the hook. He looks like a creepy android but we’ll give him a pass. 

Mukesh Ambani, for another, is from an older generation. Maybe it's too late for him to be looking good. Ah but you have to hand it to Mukesh that he looks scary. Like he would fuck you up if you cross him vibes. That’s a definite USP. Also the man has so much money what does it matter? I mean this man has a Snow Room in Antilia, just in case Mumbai’s temperature soars and he has no time to retreat to the Swiss Alps or wherever. Or conversely, for when he has no time to go out in the sun to get Vitamin-D, the building simply provides it for him via the walls. Special materials, or something. Private rooftop helipad? Three in Antilia, thank yew. I mean, he can afford to be ugly.

Beauty is also very much in the eyes of the beholder. I love how Dolly Parton always laughs off any criticisms to her dedication to looking like the town trollop. Quite aside from the quick-witted, hilarious replies she flirtily delivers whenever people question her on her whorish look, like how she drawls: it takes a lot of time and money to look this cheap, honey, I think this is also a calculated move. In a celebrity-worshipping culture as inherent as in the US, this OTT look would always ensure she can go incognito whenever she likes. She just has to not be Dolly. The ultimate Superman/Clark Kent IRL. She created herself an Image. In which she has built an escape for when she needs it. Smart. Like she says: I'm not offended by all the dumb blonde jokes because I know I'm not dumb... and I also know that I'm not blonde.

So no. I’m not talking about a specific ideal of beauty. Just don’t be ugly. We expect it of people. Standards, basically. No matter how hard some people may push for it, total egalitarianism is never something that is remotely desirable. We are different. It is what pushes civilizations forwards. Difference. Symbiosis. Each doing their parts. The limbs, the hearts, the brains, the kidneys, you get the idea. Like how we expect pastors and elders to have better functioning homes and better behaved children; it’s just in the job description. If you’re going to be telling other people to be better, demonstrate. We know you’re only human. But if you’re going to give, be prepared to get as well.

And so rich people need to be better at it. Stop being ugly. Do more. Be more. Live more. We will all judge each other constantly on how we look. Stop expecting people to be equally nice and deferent to everyone. It just does not work. Better yet, stop judging people when they do not defer to you when you show up at their places looking like a mildly bankrupt farmer just home from IDK pig rearing. Show people a little respect and look your part. That way, everything is easier on all of us. You’re rich, you can afford shoes that do not pinch. Because of course no one will treat the Queen of England the same way they treat a random chai-wallah. It is just what it is. 

Also in these the days of the Gram, a lot of us live vicariously through you. Be better. Step up.