Why do we always look for Cinderella and Snow White? Why not just the girl within?
A girl child is born and first discussion observed among visitors is the look. I still remember my pain and agony when my daughter was born and her dusky complexion was a point of discussion for almost everyone. It hurts to see that even when the world is conquered by women like Nina Davuluri, Michelle Obama, Nandita Das, Masaba Gupta & Oprah Winfrey, we are yet suffering from the ‘fairness syndrome’. All matrimonial sites are flooded with fair & fairness. Recently one of my relative messaged me on Facebook asking me what am I doing as I have gone fairer. I still remember my childhood days when almost everyday I was being mocked with statements on my looks and what should be done to improve it. This fairness syndrome still exists. Yet before marriage I observe my friends in beauty salons busy selling packages for fairer skin to brides. Even confident, employed, modern girls of today are suffering from the ‘fairness syndrome’.
Right from childhood a girl is lost in fairytales wherein all the characters are fair and fairer leaving back the child with the thought – what is fair about fairness? Why can’t right from childhood we make our girl beautiful from within, why can’t the self confidence of a girl be the measure of her beauty? Why can’t beautiful be synonymous to self confidence in our dictionary too? I can proudly say that my 10 year old daughter is fairly beautiful as she is fairly confident and I’m sure in a year or two she will be ravishingly beautiful sparkling with an immense amount of self confidence. Let us make our girls very very very beautiful. Let’s not talk about their outer look, rather let us teach them the meaning of beautiful as self confidence. Let us pledge to have our dictionaries in our home with self confidence written as meaning of beautiful or fair. Let’s be slightly unfair towards the literal meaning of fair. Eradication of the fairness syndrome can be a big step towards women upliftment. A self confident girl will surely be a confident women.
Question yourself – Fair unfair?
Come to terms with – Fair unfair ?
Shyama's scribbling pad 
Shyama, a very beautiful narration of fairness syndrome plight ! In my daughter school, there are different girls of color peach, brown, black and then Asians as my daughters says. I taught her from very beginning that despite of color of the skin, ones nature and kindness is what makes a person beautiful. Well with Indians that’s a different case as there are different shades of brown !!! You are right, as a parent we should teach them to be confident of who they are.
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Very well said Mala it’s just the shades and nothing else….
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Very true Shyama di…….I have always been victim of this fairness syndrome…..but I will not let this happen with my daughter. ….very correctly stated by you. …we should teach them to be confident. ..1000 likes to your post
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Sheetal I can understand. .and very well understand. .. but yes world needs to change and it is changing … see our self confident has made us so beautiful today .. Cheers to us !
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Very well said Shyama
I always tell my daughter n my son that fair is being kind n honest.But as you stated ‘self confidence’ is definitely another meaning of being fair.
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