Talking about mystic smiles and their owners, who can forget that elusive, if not downright enigmatic smile of Leonardo da Vinci’s celebrated lady, Mona Lisa. Discerning folk may argue that it was da Vinci’s hand that created this masterpiece. To those people, I will just ask one question - "If Mona Lisa did not have a smile like that, from what on earth could da Vinci have painted to generate a work that has overcome the ravages of time?"

For all we know, if Mona Lisa was not there, his other options of blue blooded models would have been easily some femme fatales who would have gone down very well as the close kith and kin of Madame Defarge, Lady Macbeth and other members of their creed. It was because her smile was the perfect example when one talks about mystic smiles that Nat King Cole crooned in the fifties to his lover girl,

"Mona Lisa, Mona Lisa, men have named you
 You’re so like the lady with the mystic smile
 Is it only, ‘cause you’re lonely, men have blamed you
 For that Mona Lisa strangeness in your smile"

Just a casual trip through any busy social hangout, and we find a remarkable range of smiles right from the absolutely hideous to the exhilaratingly sensational. A few local "Romeos" have a disarming sort of smile which causes unsuspecting lasses to go weak on their knees and swoon so that when they wake up from their flights of fancy, the damage would have already been done. On the other side of the human spectrum, we have girls who like fireflies illuminate the surroundings they occupy taking innocent lads soaring into high clouds with half a smile or even a quarter-smile for that matter.

Then we have the famous deceptive smile which has more or less become the norm in several areas like police, politics and judiciary where your survival, on more occasions than one, hangs on the extent of deception in your smile. The trouble with this kind of smile and their wearers is that unless you have a previous knowledge that the person is a reputed crook of the highest order, you may not be able to fathom what his smile actually stands for. A lot of people can be found in this big bad world putting a sweet smile on their lips just as they would be plotting your annihilation in their evil minds.

A smile serves many functions in that it can not only be used to manipulate other people’s minds, but also can be used to don on your face as some sort of a protective mask towards bores, verbal bullies and other unwanted souls. Actually, the fairer sex of the population are experts at this masking business, a mask they regularly use long before they hear of the so-called beauty enhancing cucumber mask, tomato mask, ammonia mask and other similar vegetable and chemical masks.

The masking game is played by standing in a rigid, trance like pose with a dazed expression on your eyes and this distinguished smile planted firmly and unwaveringly on your lips. Now, you may argue that a single yawn could convey, in a much more honest manner, your attitude towards the lecture the other person is giving. If so, better alter your perceptions if you want to zoom up the Public Relations ladder.

In the anatomical context, there are just two kinds of smiles - the toothed ones and the tight lipped ones. Some toothed smilers display a good extent of their gums imparting a gruesome tinge to their previously delightful smile. We must not forget here the percentage smiles you and I make; a zero percent movement on the lips indicating "Okay, I know you and recognize you and that is that" to the cent percent smile indicating all encompassing nirvana.

Certain people claim that a smile is an attenuated version of a laugh, but I beg to differ. The two originate for entirely contrasting reasons. People laugh (they also grin, guffaw, chortle and giggle) at a joke, some visual nonsense or as frequently observed these days, at somebody else’s misfortune. Here, the element of satire rules the roost. On the other hand, people smile out of love and affection, though of varying extent (let’s go back to our percentage analysis to measure this).

There is nothing much to be said of a genuine, beautiful smile except that it is aesthetically divine, soothing like a gentle wave and tingling like an evening  sea breeze. A true smile cannot be put into words. You face the dilemma of the lover who sang to his precious one, "I want to say I love you, but the words get in the way".

Homo Sapiens being the only species blessed with this amazing faculty, and that too several variations of it (like certain haute class ladies who have dozens of pairs of footwear - one for each occasion), how do we go around recognizing the true ones and eliminating the fakes? One body language books informs me that the only genuine smile is the one in which the person shows the upper set of the teeth. If he bares both sets, he is a disinterested sort and if only the lower set is visible, then beware - the smiling face in front of you is that of an unscrupulous man.

Another technique we can use is watching the eye. If the eyes happen to be wide open while the lips have contorted themselves into something akin to a smile, then, make no mistake, you have encountered a fake (Now, you know why some folks insist on sunglasses even on new moon nights!). The more the honesty is a smile, the more the eyes narrow down and come close to forming a straight line.

Also, trustworthy smiles always have lips curling upwards. Some people manage to smile holding their lips in a an inverted "U" shape, God bless them for their unique abilities, but they are indisputably fakes.

All this talk about smiles brings us back to our lady with the mystic smile whose meaning not many have been able to decipher. What does Mona Lisa’s smile stand for? May be it was because she was pleased that da Vinci agreed to paint her portrait, may be it was her way of sneering contemptuously at poor Leonardo, may be she was trying to look coy and ladylike, may be she found da Vinci’s face funny, but could not allow herself a full blown laughter, may be... Well, so long as Lady Lisa does not arise from her grave and inform us what exactly she intended with that foxing smile, the mystery of the mystic smile may never be solved. Till then, it will be there for all of us to watch and emulate.