Masks and fancy-dress!

The pandemic has altered the primary meaning of masks. In the past, masks were meant for tiny tots in a fancy dress competition. Overzealous parents made elaborate masks, drawn from characters in mythology. Unless you were the parent of one of the participating kids, masks provided comic relief through their malfunctioning.

Masks had a fundamental problem. You never got the alignment of the eyes right. You cut apertures to match with the child’s features. However, masks had a naughty habit of getting misaligned once the child got on stage. And now, the child could not see a thing. In the ensuing pitch darkness, it forgot its lines, froze on stage, and had to be escorted back. Parents blamed “stage fright” for the poor performance, conveniently overlooking the root cause.

Masks had other issues. Once the child wore the mask, it was too tight. It lifted the mask and wore it like a cap to get a breather! To remedy this problem, you drilled holes for the nostrils. One step further, the child’s voice could not be heard. And now, one more hole was punched for the mouth. Suddenly, the mask was totally frayed- they were more holes and less mask.

Masks were made from cardboard. Cardboard was smelly. Dress rehearsal was done a few minutes before the competition. Once on stage, the mythological character was sneezing uncontrollably!

Tying the mask to the child’s face was done minutes before the competition. In a hurry, two holes were punched to the sides of the mask, a thread went through it and tied to the head.  Another case of bad design. At the nick of time, the mask loosened and dangled like a beard.

To remedy this fault, masks were fitted with rubber bands. Rubber banded masks posed a greater danger. The moment the child started saying his lines, the voice served as an impetus. At the opportune moment, the rubber band snapped, and the mask was ejected like a catapult upon the audience! The result was total mayhem. The audience was in splits. The impact of the mythological character was now, of a different kind!

Fancy dress masks were essentially 2-D cutouts. With these masks, you had to be right in front. From the sides, only the cheek of the child was visible. The competition judge, positioned at an angle, had a tough time. He had no clue who this character was- whether it was a human, an animal, a deva or an asura! Parents protested, “We made such a beautiful mask for Vihaan. He did not get even a consolation prize!” 

As kids grew up, they were less cooperative, “I am not wearing this silly mask! You can wear it and sit at home!”

When life becomes too serious, head out to a tiny-tot fancy-dress competition. It will be a laughing riot. You will come out, a lot refreshed, and the world, that much easier to deal with!