Masked meanings

Masks are the new black Masabas making them Chanel and Fendi are making them a designer in Punjab is making them to match your lehengas that overpriced boho website is making them with sequins on the small nonessential shop with spider and skull motifs Perhaps the mask as fashion item an accessory to our times indicates we are accepting the new normal If we must live with COVID19 better live as a masked ball than a war of terrorThe origins of the word mask are appropriately uncertain One source possibly being the Arabic maskhara or the Fool who seems to be fooling around while revealing truths about power Masks in the time of COVID19 are certainly that They symbolise that COVID19 is a great levellermdashexcept when its notOnce the people who needed masks were conservancy workers rat killers medical workers They rarely had them and like the labouring poor today we saw them with the triangle of handkerchief the ninja wrap of chunni Even now even those who most need them On the Instagram account Behanbox you can hear Asha workers reassigned to pandemic duties say only the few brought before media have masksToday we may be anxious that people dont wear masks but we have always been anxious that people do wear masks whether they are really how they project themselves Kottayams Beena photo studio is making faceprint masksmdashwhere a photo of the lower half of your face is printed on the mask like on mugs This may save you from loss of face so to say but is disorienting because when you speak your lips dont moveSeeing these I thought wouldnt it be something if these masks were magical revealing your true nature when you put them on For instance I know a woman with a very sweet earnest demeanour who classic mean girl style promotes herself by appropriating other peoples work stabs those who have helped her in the back and makes innocent faces when called out In contrast a brusque and standoffish woman I know has a gentle vulnerable heart One masks herself to attack others better the other to protect herselfPeople mask themselves for many reasons most revolving around the uneven nature of power You may take on an anonymous identity online in order to speak truth to power But as that brings you power your mask can become the very disease you sought to quell your anonymity a oneway denouncement tool not unlike governments who mask themselves with laws that curtail everyone but themselves A mask worn for too long becomes infected or toxic and must be changed Even between lovers when the ankh micholi of revealing and hiding carries on too long a mischievous exciting game rots into a competition for invulnerabilityMasks which seek to wound are often opaque hence we are quickly fooled by them taking them at face value The idea of unmasking is tied to the quest for justice but righteousness can also be its own mask so its tricky But most masks are translucent peoples inner selves peeking out sometimes hesitant sometimes playfully in an exchange of trust We lower our masks voluntarily when we trustmdashrightly or wronglymdashthat the onlookers gaze is not harsh but honoruable As with body so with feelings we risk exposure on a hopeful chanceParomita Vohra is an awardwinning Mumbaibased filmmaker writer and curator working with fiction and nonfiction Reach her at paromitavohramiddaycomCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and a complete guide from food to things to do and events across Mumbai Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates MidDay is now on Telegram Click here to join our channel middayinfomedialtd and stay updated with the latest news