The Experiment

In a mission to visualize the waves of opinion ebb through human mind, three people were once asked to sit at a round table and write down a few lines about themselves and about the two others they sat with. They were unknown to each other and weren’t allowed to talk to each other before or during the experiment.

The first person wrote:

“I am Tanya, widow and a soon to be mother. Bereft of my husband, I am trying to drown my sorrows by mingling with people and smiling for no reason. I try to keep my woes at bay by wearing my favorite color- blue as often as I can; even today. I have been looking for a job for last three months yet have had no luck till now.

The guy sitting in front of me looks like a confused and superficial over grown adolescent, he is staring at me more though the other lady sitting next to him looks really pretty. Probably he is trying to make her jealous. He looks like a well to do person with no worries. He seems to be relaxed but his eyes, fixed on me, sends jolts down my spine. His stare is growing scarier by the minute.

The lady in front of me doesn’t smile much. She is beautiful and looks really confident about herself.  She seems like a person who has no worries bigger than maintaining her beauty, but that’s her angst, of course. Her life would be a cake walk as anybody who sees her face would give her what she wants. I want to smile to her but I am scared if I wouldn’t get it back in return as she is really pretty and she might be haughty.”

The note of the guy read:

“My name is Santo. I am a very busy businessman and am yet to discover the depth of life. Recently, my step brother swindled all my assets and gave me the slip. Since then I have been a keen observer. I try to read between lines and find the reason beneath every fold on the face. I have a lot of worries about my business and it takes time for me to understand and trust people.  

The lady in front of me, in blue, has an amazing smile; she is definitely happy. She looks like she leads a simple life and seems to be honest and down to earth. Nothing is bothering her at the moment. But there is something unusual under the veil of her eyes; I am still trying hard to figure it out. Probably it’s the color she is wearing; blue, by the very name, makes people look sad. She is hiding something for sure.

The pretty woman next to me has stolen my heart. I will not be able to write this if I had to look at her as I wrote. My heart beats faster by her mere presence. She looks confident and would get her way easily everywhere. Maybe she is intelligent because it takes intelligence to look like she does.  But I got to be careful with her till I get to know her, as attraction can douse reality in deceit.”

The pretty lady had written:

“People call me darling, but actually my name is Darlene. Wherever I go, I find it hard to battle the notion that I am dumb; in reality I am very hard working and sincere. Usually when I go for interviews I am rejected at the very beginning unless there is a written round before candidates are selected. I am scared to talk much as I do not want to say anything controversial and come across as sharp tongued.

The guy sitting next to me seems to be very judgmental. He probably thinks that I am dumb and so he hardly looks at me. He is drowned in the face of the lady in blue, probably because she looks simple and he thinks she is intelligent. Of course, men who are not smart enough need a smart complement to compensate for their lack of intelligence. It looks like he goes by the face value of a person. Or is there something missing in me that he finds in her? I don’t care, he doesn’t like me.

The lady in front of me has the best smile I have ever seen, yet it seems to shrink when her eyes meet mine. Maybe she is jealous of me or she considers me dumb just as the others do. Simple people like her have a smooth road to tread on. She probably has no problems in life and I am sure that I would clear any interview if  I looked like her. Well, I would have liked it if she had smiled to me, but I can’t give her one now.”

Every subject of study put a garb of their own experience on the other and they found each other yellow through their jaundiced veils. They would have never know what the others wrote!

‍

‍

painting By Édouard Manet - https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/a-bar-at-the-folies-berg%C3%A8re-eduard-manet/NQE8B0Mjo2nq2g?hl=en, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=131721934

‍

‍