True beauty is in one’s confidence, good nature
Mita, the daughter of my domestic help, was coming along with her mother for a few days. Watching her gazing at the creams on the dressing table intrigued me. When asked, she requested for a pinch of the fairness cream to apply on her face. This became a routine so I asked her mother about her absence from school and her craze for the fairness cream. I learnt that she has left school because other children tease and call her “kali” (dark-complexioned) and “bhoot” (ghost) and considered her ugly. I was shocked but didn’t say anything as her mother was crying inconsolably.
It was her birthday and I gifted Mita the suit and shoes. Contrary to my belief that she would be happy and I would be able to persuade her to join school again, she requested to replace the gifts with the fairness cream that was being advertised on TV at that moment. Her only goal was to be fair and she was adamant about it. I figured out that her self-confidence and selflove were broken and it was impossible for me to make her understand how beautiful she looked!
She didn’t show up for three days but I had also decided not to give up on her so I visited her place. On her mother’s insistence, she got ready to accompany me to the market. I bought her the fairness cream but on the condition that we will go to meet someone. We visited my friend, a psychologist-cumcounsellor, but Mita was not aware of my friend’s profession. Gradually, she became comfortable and a bond of love and trust developed. She was counselled properly.
One fine morning there was a knock on my door. There was she was, in her uniform, asking me to drop her to school! Throughout the way she was humming “dusky and lovely” and I saw a flicker of hope in her eyes that spoke of infinite dreams. Tears of joy rolled down my cheeks that she had finally understood the true meaning of beauty.
The concept of fairness is embedded deep in our mindset. The discrimination based on colour creates insecurities, particularly among teenagers, and their self-confidence and self-esteem take a back seat.
Even today, parents prevent children from playing long in the sun lest they tan. Mothers apply all sorts of products and clay on the faces of children to make them fair. We may be struggling for gender equality but in all fairness, companies have launched fairness creams for men too!
Just as ‘dawn’ and ‘dusk’ are unique, so are being fair and dark complexioned. If dawn or dusk come to loggerheads, considering themselves superior, then nature’s charm is lost.
Like Mita, every dusky girl or boy needs the wholehearted acceptance from society and our perspective about the correlation of beauty with fairness and external appearance needs to change. Real beauty resides in one’s confidence and good nature.
OUR PERSPECTIVE ABOUT THE CORRELATION OF BEAUTY WITH FAIRNESS AND EXTERNAL APPEARANCE
NEEDS TO CHANGE