Once upon a time, for me, a mask meant a green paper-made monster face I got free with a children's book in an exhibition. It had horns and holes in place of the eyes.
Later, as I grew older, the mention of a mask brought to the mind the image of a traditional tribal dance accessory, such as the life-like Chhau masks of Purulia in WB, depicting gods and demons and animals.
Now, a mask only means a life-saving face shield that may become a permanent part of our lives. Everyone is wearing one, of a different variety. The grocery-buyers are feeling breathless in 10 minutes and wondering how health professionals are sweating it wearing them for 10 hours at a stretch. Online video sharing sites and magazines are full of do-it-yourself mask-making instructions. Some business enterprises are even developing designer or customized masks.
If everyone is wearing a mask, will they all look the same? How will you talk to a person if you don't know if he or she is smiling or gritting his/her teeth? Will the lipstick-wearers or moustache-sporters change their style for ever? Will the fabric and price of the masks will be a new marker to know your socio-economic status? It will be an odd world, surely.
In pic: a mask and a pair of gloves, on a housing society washing line in Delhi.
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