On Growth and Evolution

I want you to be more!

I have been watching a lot of replays these days. It is easy to get lost in the marvel of the old. Like admirers of antiques in a museum. It is difficult to imagine that it ever tickled our fancy. Many I understood, like Home Alone and Baby Day Out. Others I didn't. The good thing is that I found that the good films were good. Good because the idea is. Not hyped because of an LGBT theme, adult or violence content. It was just good, blockbusters in their own right.

But what actually drove me to write was my ‘pretty woman’ rewatch. It shocked me to my bones. I could not believe that it once held me spellbound. The female lead was played by Julia Roberts. If you think she is beautiful now, then you can imagine her in this film, clad in the trendy fashion and the latest hair style, she was irresistible. I wanted to be pretty, like her.

I loved the storyline. I thought she was lucky. Started out as a prostitute and landed herself a rich business man in a fortuitous turn of events. I stood on tiptoes and imagined my prince charming coming to save me. It was worse when I had to wash—as the last child, I always had to wash—I hated every bit of it. I let the soap foam and float away with the bubble. It is a sheikh that whisks me away.

Years later, I will watch it again and wonder what exactly it is that made me spin. The trendy fashion. The hairstyles. The designer clothes. Now they all just look like costumes for a child play. A little boy trying to impress a little girl. I couldn't believe I was once that little girl. And that I was actually wooed.

It is not the film that changed—it's me. Not just me. The world evolved, and the standards evolved along with it. What struck me most is that I am no longer a Cinderella waiting for her Prince Charming. Nor am I trying to fit into the glass slippers. I am aiming to break glass ceilings. This must be growth.

It reminds me of how fickle and temporal most things are. The Music. Fashion. Films. Whatever trendy thing on top of gist lovers’ gossip list. It reminds me of how easily the world outgrows them, and we grow along with it. How easily the parameter the world has set as its standard change. I find this realization humbling, so humbling that I blogged about it here. It need not be the same for you, but I do hope it stirs something within you—some desires perhaps. To be more than just a ripple on the sea surface. Even more, I want it to spark some actions in you: stay true to yourself. Find what matters. And focus!