Udita, from Jharkhand, now studying in the US and working in Mali, sent this story.

“When I was a little girl, I once saw a beautiful woman on TV and commented to my mother ,who sat next to me , ” Ma, look at her, she is so beautiful.”

My mom looked at the woman on the screen and said -” Yes, she is beautiful. What about her do you find beautiful though?”

“Her skin is so fair” – I replied.

Ma thought for a moment and replied -” Let me tell you a secret for a true test of beauty. If you ever find someone beautiful, try imagining them with a different skin color. If they are fair, imagine if they had dark skin and if they are dark, imagine if they had fair skin. If you still find them beautiful, then they are truly beautiful. Beauty is not only in one’s skin color. ”

I don’t know why, but that conversation has stuck with me all my life. Years later, when I first went to Africa I saw astounding beauty in all its forms. In the way people had grace and strength in their bodies, in the way they moved, in their smiles, in their dance, in their walk. I did not have to do the colour test my mom taught me.

More than that, for the first time, I found beauty in myself and in how people saw me. I had never considered myself beautiful. People always told me I had too dark a skin, too big a butt, too loud a laugh. But in Africa, oh, my skin was never too dark, my butt never too big and laugh never too loud. Africa was kind and generous and accepting of all of me and more. I wish India were as kind and generous to Africans too .”

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