Don’t be ‘short’sighted

Pappu Singh is stressed these days… and so is French President Nicholas Sarkozy. The reason is the same, being constantly teased about their short height.

Pappu Singh is stressed these days… and so is French President Nicholas Sarkozy. The reason is the same. While Sarkozy is having to deal with brands coming out with advertisements poking fun at his ‘short’ stature, Pappu Singh is constantly teased about his short height by his own assistant, ironically named, Chhottu, who recently grew an inch above Pappu Singh’s 5’6" frame. ‘Not being tall is a big tension, madam ji,’ Pappu Singh said one day, explaining how he has been embarrassed about his height for years now.

Which reminds me that in my growing years, I too was under a constant stress that I shouldn’t remain the shortest girl in the class. Endless jars of growth enhancing food supplements and countless painful moments of hanging from iron bars later, I realized that those things actually have little effect on how tall your genes have destined you to be.

And now, older and hopefully wiser, I know for a fact that it does not even matter in the overall scheme of things. Still, after weight, a short height continues to be a huge source of stress for men and women across the world, irrespective of culture or country. Just that they don’t realize that no one… not even the ones who they think are tall enough, are happy with what they have. Those who are 5’11” mostly crib about having missed out on being 6 feet by a mere inch. I’m sure the one who’s six feet tall must be looking at an Amitabh Bachchan with a sigh.

What I’m saying is that it’s all a matter of perception. Also, why be stressed about something which, unlike obesity resulting from an unhealthy lifestyle, completely not your doing? The length of your body frame is actually something like the colour of your skin — you are born with it and no one dare judge you or give you a complex about it. The way you look, anyhow, is just a small piece in the overall puzzle that makes you the person you are. There is no study till date which can conclusively establish that people like or dislike you for your height more than your confidence, your intelligence and the grace with which you carry yourself.

I remember a guy in my college who was 5’4” tall and had found a rather tongue in cheek way of dealing with bullies teasing him about his height. He would close his fist and open only the thumb and index finger, much like we make a gun with our hand. He would first point the index finger upwards and say ‘tall guys have short…’ you know what’. And then he would twist his hand to have the thumb facing upwards and would then say , ‘and short guys have it big’, in a joking reference to how short guys can be more endowed than tall ones. As crude as his humour was, the guy was more popular with girls than many tall-dark-handsome types.

And trust me, girls… even guys, fall for a whole lot of better things than the inches on your frame. And those things, namely intelligence, attitude and sense of humour have absolutely nothing to do with height, or the lack of it. I’ve had the pleasure to work with some supremely intelligent short people… and many tall idiots. And vice versa. Height is just not a criteria for anything, unless, maybe you are hiring a bodyguard. Actually, not even that.

Infact take a look at some of the popular people in history, art or showbiz — Picasso, Woody Allen, Elton John, Dustin Hoffman, Anthony Hopkins… or closer home Aamir, Shahrukh or Salman Khan — none has been particularly tall.

The bottomline is, do not allow anyone or even yourself, to give you grief about being short in height. An extra inch or two would not alter your life in any dramatic way. Remember, you are not short… maybe the others are too tall. And you talk to them with your head held high while they have to bend their heads while dealing with you. So where’s the tension?

Sonal Kalra told Chhottu that Pappu Singh has the same height as Aamir Khan. Chhottu doesn’t tease him about height anymore. He just calls Pappu Singh ‘idiot’ now. Send your calmness tricks at sonal.kalra@hindustantimes.com.