Proud of being Brown #WOW #ShortStory

Posted in Abuse, Aks Corner, family, Short Stories, Women@Work, WOW

Naira looked at her image in the mirror and cursed her luck again. I must have done something to displease the Gods, thats the reason I have been cursed with this dark skin which  everyone detests. Known as the black sheep of the family, not due her deeds but due to the colour of her skin, she had borne the brunt since childhood. Tormented for bringing bad luck to the family, compared to her light skinned siblings, told to use haldi and fairness creams and when nothing worked, she was asked to try some cosmetic surgery to lighten the melanin pigment in her skin. Once she was older, the taunts became even more harsh, who will marry you they asked? In a country obsessed with fair skin, who would even want to think of a second marriage to someone like you. You are doomed they often said.

The years of negativity had affected Naira and she often thought its her fault, her shortcoming and she has to be willing to compromise as she lacks something vital.

One day she had a chance to travel abroad to Krakow, a city in Poland as a part of her theatre group. She was surprised to see the transformation here, the attitude of people was so different, they loved her tanned skin. Strangers complimented her and some clicked pics with her. Out of the blue, a theatre group director offered her a pivotal part in his play- he saw her performing one day in the arts festival and was impressed by her talent and her dusky skin would be apt for the role of the protagonist. Her joy knew no bounds. The skin she had been cursing had given her a new life. Alas, she realised it so late and subjected herself to years of agony, she needed validation from strangers to make her realise that she is beautiful in her own skin.

There was no looking back now. She wanted to go a step further and do something for scores of girls and boys in India who are made to feel inferior about their skin. #ProudOfBeingBrown – thats how the powerful initiative in support of brown skin was born.

 

This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.’

Published by Akshata Ram

Chartered Accountant, Story Teller, Dreamer, Voracious Reader, Blogger, Mommy to a little munchkin, Shopaholic, Day Dreamer.Passionate about my career in the corporate world and aspire to break the glass ceiling, at the same time nurture my passion for writing. My niche area is short stories, I also write on parenting, sexism, life's experiences, micro blogs and flash fiction. I have won the best Parenting blog post at mycity4kids.com the largest parenting website in India, 4 times and several of my posts have been published in the #MostPopular category on this site garnering millions of views. I also write on Bonobology, Rivo Kids, Women's Web and Youth Ki Awaaz. My blog has been chosen as the Top Indian Blogs for the years 2018-2019,2020 by TopIndianBlogs website and found a place in the prestigious Top 22 Indian Literary Blogs in 2020 @TopIndianBlogs.

35 thoughts on “Proud of being Brown #WOW #ShortStory”

  4. Loved this story so much. I am not sure who has set the standards for being beautiful but I know that they are lame. When I got married to Abhinav, people were quick to judge. But it never ever mattered to us. While Abhinav tells me that he fell in love with my heart, I have always told him honestly that I first fell in love with his looks.. He is hot!

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  5. I can only imagine what it’s like to be treated differently (let alone BADLY) due to having darker or lighter skin. The first time I saw ads for skin lightening creams, I was appalled. All designed to make already beautiful women feel unworthy and inferior because their skin wasn’t pale? (Here, women pay good money to go to tanning salons. When will we be satisfied with the way we are?) It makes me sad. Anything to divide us, make us question our worth, and make money doing it, eh?

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  8. Heartfelt story. Society has groomed itself into such beliefs. The movie ghazini in hindi is a remake of hollywood movie memento. The guy in tat movie was a simple looking man but the hindi version needed a handsome, beefed up, 6 abs personality to make the hero connect to our world. Beauty lies in the eyes of beholder.

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  10. It’s sad that people are obsessed with “fair-skin”. It’s the 21st century and yet, certain attitudes aren’t changing as quickly as we’d like. I hope that #ProudOfBeingBrown helped many others to feel comfortable in their own skin. Beautiful story! Wonderful take on the prompt. 🙂

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