I am dusky, and I love it about myself.

Right from my childhood, I have seen everyone giving importance to the complexion of a woman. We’re advised from a very tender age not to go out in sun, else we’d bear a tan. “Don’t drink tea, you’ll become dark”, “Apply turmeric , make a homemade mask and apply it on your face”, “Visit this beauty salon, they promise to lighten the skin tone in 2 hours”, all these meaningless advice keep ringing in my ears now when I think of it.

The moment I was born, my relatives expressed disappointment at my complexion with “She is dark, has got the complexion of her father”, “Start beauty treatments early, else it’d be very difficult to find a groom for her” and so on..

I can imagine how my mother would have felt . The joy of giving birth to a daughter whom she carried for 9 months in her ,overpowered all their remarks and advice. After all they are parents, no one loves us more than them. For them, complexion and beauty of their child is trivial.

No matter how much my relatives advised my parents or me, I never put in any effort towards becoming fair. I played around in the sun, went to the beach with friends, got tanned, drank tea and didn’t visit a salon for beauty treatment either. So I retained my skin tone which is dusky.

I grew up to be a confident, smart and strong woman, got my degree, progressed in fields of my interest and then came the time to settle down. Relatives were like “It’s still not too late, at least use some creams, it’ll lighten your skin tone”.

Then came the time when I met my husband Tanmay for the first time. All I was recognized for in his eyes was my personality, my confidence, my wit and MY COMPLEXION. I had met the man who LOVED my complexion, who loved the fact that I had a dusky skin tone , who loved me for who I am, and what I am. Being a fair skinned person himself, he chose a dusky skinned woman for his wife. That’s the sign of an educated, well brought up , high valued person who weighs a person’s character and intelligence above all.

Now it’s my turn to ridicule those people who instill a thinking in little girls from childhood that only fair skinned women are beautiful, and who give more importance to the complexion than educating their children and bringing them up right with values. Stop beautifying your girl to find her a groom. It’s a marriage, not a beauty pageant and the groom isn’t the judge of the show.

Confidence is beautiful, Being Witty is beautiful, Being smart is beautiful, Being highly educated is beautiful, Having good values is beautiful.

Dark is beautiful, Fair is beautiful too.

I love it that am dark, I love it that I have my father’s complexion.

Do not change yourself. One day, you’ll be appreciated for what you are!