It was my drive home when I remembered something my uncle@mama@my mom's brother told me when I was a young girl....
We call our mom's brothers as mama in our culture. And I had three of them but only knew two of them as my eldest mama was not so close to his family. Well my second mama is a character too but at least a nice character as compared to the third mama.
Anyway, when I was very small, I was this dark skinned plumb little girl. My mama told me I wouldn't be successful and I won't be going anyway, literally I was a lost cause. Whereas he added my second sister will be well educated and go places, all coz she was fair skinned and of course she looked more presentable then me!
Well, fast forward 30++ years, here I am today, been around, doing something about myself, moderately educated but overall I am doing great. My second sister, she is doing great too. There's no difference in our achievements. We travel the world and both of us are professionals and doing well in whatever we are in.
Conclusion, your skin colour and body size does not define who you are. It is your inner self that defines you, it is your belief system that defines you, it is your humanity that defines you.
People just have this perception that being dark is bad and evil and you see no success and etc. Lots of girls still believe in that too. My colleague is getting married soon and she is shopping for her saree. She asked me if this particular colour suits her as she has a darker shade of skin colour. I looked at her and assured her she will look fabulous in any colour she chooses as she is just beautiful and she can carry herself well. Her face just lighted up and it was a joy to see her happy.
I do wonder sometimes on what is wrong with people, why this perception? Why can't they see beyond the skin colour, deep inside we are all the same, we hurt the same, we laugh the same, we love the same...our skin colour does not make any difference!
Whatever colour you are: green, blue, brown, red, yellow, orange..... we, like the rainbow, make life beautiful....
To my mama who said those words to me, he moved on about five years back, he saw me grow up and conquering the world, not sure if he remembered what he told me as a child but I know I am living my colourful life to the fullest. His words did make an impact in my life for a moment, I was very young and I was finding myself but fortunately, his words didn't influence the choices I made in life.
I created my path, I love my journey and along the way, I still do meet people who make assumption and have their perception but I am strong today to stand tall and say "hey, this is me, all of me".
