Daily Times

Some years ago when I visited the United States, two factors left a dominant impression on my mind. One was their obesity, and the other was the broad smiles with which they welcomed every passer-by particularly in their morning walks.

Americans are one of the most obese nations in the world. The obesity rate in average adult American was estimated at 32.2% for men and 35.5% for women. While obesity rate for Asian adults of 18 years or above was about 10.7%.In America obesity is most likely due to taking too much food ( particularly fast food )and too little exercise. Compared to them the Asians take less of food (not out of their choice, but by the will of the Almighty)and have to do more physical labour to earn their living which is why they are thin and smart and even in certain cases look emaciated.

In my early morning walks, I found that Americans greet every passer-by with broad smiles as if they knew the strangers for a long time. It was very heartening. Sometimes they would even pause for a moment and ask, “How do you do?” Often these early morning greetings and exchange of smiles made my day. It is rightly said that smiles are contagious. When you smile, people around you will smile, too. You’ll spread joy with a good smile. Smiling boosts your immune system because your whole body relaxes when you smile. It’s physically easier to smile than it is to frown because smiling uses fewer muscles. Hence smiling should be taken as the universal sign of happiness. No matter where you go, even if you don’t speak the language, people know what a smile means.

In history, smile has been viewed from many angles. The one which became most famous wasLeonardo da Vinci’s painting of a Florentine lady which became known as Mona Lisa which intrigued the generations for her mysterious smile. Her enigmatic smile has long been the subject of speculation: people also ask: Is her ambiguous expression a smile? The Mona Lisa’s face expression seems both alluring and aloof, which has given the portrait its universal fame.

Michelangelo called it an ironic smile. Other people at various times have described it as sly, sublime, enticing, mysterious, repellent, witty, scornful, all-wise, ice-cold, magnetic and sensual etc. Everyone perceived it according to one’s own whims. Tired of multiple explanations of the smile, a dental expert put out his own theory by saying that, ‘She’s not smiling at all; she’s having trouble with her gums!’

In our Urdu literature, smile plays a very vital role. It is a gesture which has no language of its own, but conveys so much which no language is capable of conveying

The best social advice is to greet everyone with a smile reflecting your sincerity and good-will. It costs you nothing, but creates a lot of cordial feelings in others. It enriches those who receive it without impoverishing those who give it. It happens for a flash but leaves a memory which sometimes lasts forever.

You can see the effect of a smile from a baby’s smile. No matter how tired you are, how restless you feel, when you see a baby smiling you will smile back and will feel much rejuvenated. But your smile should be true and sincere. An insincere grin doesn’t fool anyone for a longer time.

The air-hostesses of P.I.A. receive special training how to smile and please passengers. They receive you with a smile as you board the plane, but soon after they come back to their normal selves with dour and sullen looks. Smiling is not a way of life with everyone and therefore needs a lot of grooming and practice.

In our Urdu literature, smile plays a very vital role. It is a gesture which has no language of its own, but conveys so much which no language is capable of conveying. In our romantic poetry as well as in fictional literature, smile is the sweetest and most potent form of expression for which poets (or lovers) sometime wait all their lives to see its faint glimmer; since it is thought to convey the beloved’s approbation and her acceptance of his love overtures which is normally the ultimate goal of the entire story.

There being too many references of smiling in Urdu literature, I quote only one from Faiz:

” Bhoolay say muskara to diay they wohaaj Faiz

Na pooch walwalay dil-e-nakar dakar kay”

Since my readers are all too familiar with Urdu, therefore I do not wish to divest this verse of its exquisite magic and charm by translating it. Verses which are too good are hardly translatable.

There is a smile which is exchanged at the diplomatic level which must not be taken at its face value. It is neither fake nor genuine but only conveys the good-will of the parties to reach at some kind of rapprochement in their meetings. Those who work in diplomatic missions as emissaries or representatives are quite familiar with these smiles which they know have to be taken with cautious optimism.

In English literature, smile as a facial gesture can either reveal what a character is thinking, or conceal his or her feelings. In Shakespeare, it is the most theatrically complex emotion. In his romantic comedies it indicates softness of spirit and feelings of love and sympathy which may be apparent or concealed. It nearly carries the same emotions as we find in our own literature. But in his tragedies, smile often conceals some treachery or foul play. In Macbeth, “There are daggers in men’s smiles” indicates the foul play in the mind of Macbeth. In Hamlet, when he for the first time encounters the ghost of his father, who tells him that he was poisoned by his own brother Claudius (the “smiling, damned villain”), who grabs the crown and also marries the queen, Hamlet’s mother,-promptingHamlet tocry out in a fit of fury:

“O most pernicious woman!

O villain, villain, smiling, damnèd villain!

My tables-meet it is I set it down

That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain-”

This last line of Hamlet’s anguish became a universal warning against the wickedness of those people who conceal their foul deeds behind the façade of pleasing manners. One must guard oneself against smiles with pernicious purpose, which one can identify from the character and antecedents of the person involved. But for the rest of humanity, the general rule is that nothing is more disarming than a loving and sincere smile.

The writer is a former member of the Provincial Civil Service, and an author of Moments in Silence