You wake up one morning to a world without mirrors. How does your life — from your everyday routines to your perception of yourself — change?

The mirror has never been much of a friend to me – it may be my self-critical self or my hypersensitive self, which has made me feel that way from childhood. Having said that, I do spend a minute to peep into the mirror every time I see one! Whether in the mad morning rush or in the evening before I step out of the house for a social event, that peep is a must, sometimes barely for a minute, sometimes for much more!  Whether its a bad hair day or a bad sari day, whether it is a bright smile day or a bright-eyed day, it reflects everything faithfully. 

But that’s the mirror that reflects my appearance.  Isn’t there more to me than that alone? I have a soul, an attitude, an inner self – where do I see that reflection ?

 Well,  I do believe that the world is my mirror. If I smile, it smiles back at me and If I frown, it frowns back in equal measure. Despite the knowledge and the wisdom of knowing this for a truth, there are many many days I frown at the world. I have this conviction that my mistakes are immediately reflected. One can call it providence, one can call it God, whatever that may be, it is a power that makes the world give you back exactly what you give the world. If I hurt someone who loves me, invariably someone I love, hurts me. The time period may vary but believe me, it comes back. To me, always. 

The good does, too. 

I would like to relate a small episode – a patient who had three pregnancy losses had a baby girl yesterday after a long period of treatment with me. As she was recuperating, she said to me, “She is Apoorva”. “Oh”, I said “my daughter is named Apoorva too.” “Yes, I know , Doctor” she said quietly, “that is why I am calling her that – I saw it on Facebook. My daughter’s  name will always remind me of you”. I was speechless. And happy. we smiled at each other. 

So, the good and the bad will always come around. The world is my mirror. Not having physical mirrors will not make much of a difference. Maybe it may actually make me happy!