#2 ~ Toastmasters~ Project 2 : Life without a mirror

How many times a day do you take a peek in a mirror?

Now just imagine how would life be like if suddenly there were no more mirrors?

Can you imagine getting ready in the morning without the time spent in front of the mirror shaving, getting your hair just right, and for that last look at the total outfit before you step out for the day?

What about going to the store to buy new clothes? How do I look in this one? You would probably have to ask your mom/close confidant or people around you in mall? But then you may never get to see your own reflection anywhere?

How would you get to know how old have you turned? And remember!! The first strand of grey hair you encountered was also in front of the mirror! :P

Okay let me ask someone here in the audience?

How would you react when one fine morning, you get up and your mom says we have removed all the mirrors from home? Oh yeah! (sounds interesting-audience reply)

Well if I were asked, I would have gone crazy. How can you even imagine a life without it?? There are so many people in this world like me who have obsession with mirrors, dude!?! Isn’t it? OMG! Not even mirrors, they have obsession with tiniest glass they encounter. The moment they enter the mall, they have to take a peek in some or the other piece of glass, making witty faces and winkies or sometimes smiles. Some even turn towards the mirror and start fixing their hair. Leave aside those big tinted glasses of malls, I often come across people looking at themselves in the window panes of cars passing by the road.

Mirrors are available around us in various forms, shapes and sizes. From the tinted glass of the buildings to those shattered pieces of glass lying on the road, believe me people don’t abstain from looking into them. Be it shades that people nearby wear, Ladies’ bags with tiny handy mirrors; pool of water or those shiny utensils such as convex spoons and plates, they are everywhere! And, and yes!! Most importantly. how could we forget THE prized possessions, the screens of cell phones which are now used as mirrors for women clan and they are handy too, right?

I would like to share an incident that occured while I was riding a two wheeler. I stopped at the traffic signal and saw a long swanky midnight blue-coloured car parked next to me. Obsessed with mirrors, I started watching myself in the window pane of the car. It shone silver in the sun, though I looked a bit stout but then I started making faces in front of that glass as always. I was sticking out my tongue, raising my eyebrows up, and yes you won’t believe that I pouted for a moment too without even realizing there could be someone inside the car watching me doing such eccentric activities. And then! (Pause) The window rolled down and a fat and dark arrogant man looked at me and said “I think some people don’t have mirrors at home” and gave me a look as if I had kidnapped his daughter from somewhere which made me too embarrassed. But there are people like me, who find happiness by looking in the mirror innumerable times a day and love watching themselves doing nonsensical activities for hours.

Let us come back to the main point, how would life change if there are actually, No mirrors left in this world???

Then we would have a society without films, pictures. Everyone would definitely start looking different suddenly because mirror is the only reason for them to look so awesome each morning when they get ready. They would stop bothering about their looks. Whether their hair be unkempt or groomed, shirt tightly fitted or loose, who would care? On the day of the interview, you might get kicked out for not being well-dressed. And imagine on the day of your wedding. Oh! This is really interesting one!! Probably you may not be able to spend hours standing in front of the mirror and stare, you will get ready in a few minutes but may even turn out to be the clown of the ceremony. All the salons may get shut down, as we won’t be able to blame the hair-dressers for not cutting the hair properly since there would not be any mirrors to defend us!

Last but not the least, the most important point. We could see each other, but we won’t have any perceptions about ourselves. We would all be different in our own ways, none would follow each other. There would not be the thing of following each other’s dressing sense. Even if someone would want to copy, he/she could not as they won’t have mirrors with them. There would be more equality as none would be biased about color or complexion. People would be more confident than ever as they would not compare themselves with others and life would be even better and satisfying. 

-Shruti