The bus came near Belapur. The girl sitting beside me straightened up and asked me to intimate her once we reach Vashi. For the first time in my journey since Pune, I had a full look at her. She was what they call them- a babe. Her skin shone rosy pink and her sleek hair had maroon extensions. She tossed her mane of shiny hair back and I thought I saw a guy sitting on the adjacent seat gawking at her. I fought back a smile. From her black stylish handbag that flaunted ‘baggit’ written on it, she extricated a small black box and opened it carefully. For a wild moment I wondered if it was a watercolour kit, seeing various colours and brushes in it. The next second when she took a small brush in her long slender manicured fingers bearing an intricate nail art and stared in a small mirror attached to the inner side of the lid of the box, I realized it was a make-up box I wanted so much when I was a kid.
Mom never used any make-up nor did she let me use any, not that I was very interested in it. On the rare occasions when I was forced to take part in some dance event at school gathering, I would see the make-up kits all my classmates brought. They would dab make-up on their faces and wow! They would look good with the shiny red lipsticks and stuff. I would then apply some red colour in the kit on my cheekbones and upon realizing I looked horrible, I would wash it off. The colourful make-up box, however never ceased to amaze me. I wanted it just for the sake of having it.
I grew up without using any make-up. Oh yes, I did learn how to apply eye-liner It was a challenging task; keeping one eye open and apply the liquid liner along the outer eyelid moving the hand carefully. It took me several weeks to get it right. On the college farewell, I realized none of our group members knew how to apply make-up There was only one who knew it: Simran. Clad in her one piece, she was our make-up artist for that day. She had brought her kit. After eyeing it curiously, we realized we couldn't use it. I gawked at Simran using it like a trained make-up artist. Biting her lip she made a choice of the colour to be applied on the eyes. She took it in a brush and spread it on her eyes, creating darker and lighter shades. She put some Mascara and batted eyelashes at me. Within ten minutes she was ready with all her make-up.
‘All this make-up on eyes! For all we know, we could get emotional at the Farewell and shed a couple of tears!’ I smirked.
‘It is all water-proof.’ She said loftily.
We looked half admiringly, half enviously at her. She pulled me and made me sit in front of her. I warned her not to paint me much. I just let her put some powder on my cheeks. (She would go ‘ewwww’ at this word. It is not ‘POWDER’; it’s called a FOUNDATION.) Oh really I am still not sure if it is really called that.
Gauri jumped and sat enthusiastically, after drawing eye-liner on her eyelids, she moved away to check herself in mirror.
‘Sheesh Simran! This is too thick! I want it perfect like you put it on yourself.’ She said stamping her foot on the floor in quite a childlike way.
Ruta and I giggled at each other.
After ten minutes when Gauri was finally satisfied, having washed off her eye-liner twice, Simran heaved a sigh of relief.
Staying steady even for a minute was tough for Ruta so Simran spared her.
After an hour, fighting with each other to have a look in the mirror, clicking gazillion photos of each other (Gauri being more enthusiastic that she ever had been), we set out.
I really quitted make-up after a tragic incident in my life. This was when Seema and I went out with a group of guy-friends to watch a movie. It was a hot day and we were too early for the movie. Five minutes after sitting at a table at the mall, Seema wanted to check her face (she had to, even though she had been staring at her reflection in every reflective surface we came across.) In the restroom, she took out a small tube of a face-cream.
‘This is SPF-50 cream.’ She said proudly when I looked questioningly at it, ‘And you see the skin really glows after you put this.’
She applied some on her face, and yes indeed! She looked fairer and soft-skinned.
‘Do you want some?’ she asked me.
‘Okay!’ I stared at an oily reflection of mine miserably.
She showed me how I was supposed to spread it in peculiar circular movements.
‘There is something strange.’ I said doubtfully. ‘My skin looks even more oily and that cream is still wet on my face.’
‘Oh don’t worry! It’ll be just fine in a minute, let it set.’ She reassured, now applying something shiny to her lips and pouting at her reflection.
We came back to where everyone was sitting.
I could not understand why everyone was staring at me.
‘What!’ I asked defensively.
No one said anything but continued staring with an amazed look, now at both of us.
‘Did you do something to your faces???’ one of them asked, plucking some courage.
‘Yeah, Seema’s SPF-50 cream!’
Almost everyone sniggered.
‘You look comical! I mean Seema’s face is okay! But you look white just like a ghost.’
I looked at Seema through gritted teeth and narrowed eyes.
‘Oh!’ she looked horrified and was trying not to laugh at the same time. ‘Shit!’ she muttered.
The table roared with laughter.
‘Poor Ketaki! Seema, why did you do that to her?!’ A voice disguised in sympathy sounded like it was having a time of its life.
‘Ohh it is not that bad!’ Seema said defensively, ‘I just couldn't figure out it doesn't match her skin tone.’
Sure enough. The restroom was glowing with dim lamps and it was difficult to figure out how I would look outside in bright light.
The fit of laughter stopped when they thought I would soon break into tears.
‘What was the need for all this! Both of you looked a lot better before applying that SPF-50 cream!’ someone said shaking their head in amazement and exasperation and everyone else agreed.
Shooting murderous glances at terrified Seema who accompanied me back to the restroom, I washed my face and swore never to wear make-up in life.
Well once you find someone who loves you even when your skin is all sweaty and oily and hair is a complete mess, following such resolution becomes easy. Maybe it is then when the face glows without make-up.
