growing up in a middleclass family in india means youve got to do champi on your hair with loads of oil only to be braided into two pigtails on a sunday now that sight is quite unpleasant especially for little teenage girls who just started getting the hang of puberty or more like started liking boys as you may have figured out by now i was one of those girls whose mothers forced them to wear a dupatta or scarf around their neck even when the sun boiled up half of faridabad born in a typical indian family my parents bought me colourful indian wear instead of frocks and kept my frizzy curly hair oiled and braided instead of pretty haircuts and hair clips i never felt pretty like the other girls in my school and needless to say i used to be so envious some had even secured boyfriends by the time we reached grade six and i was left to be the most hardworking and sincere kid in my class who only loved books and nothing else well who knew that i was also dying to have fun wear frocks and like boys thats when it started grade six this once my then english teacher had asked this backbencher to answer a question which he obviously couldnt answer because he was busy passing notes with another girl in the class ask me how i know it because i had a little crush on him but then i had answered the question only to be later named as the teachers pet after that class that boy came and picked on me and laughed at me when he saw my oiled up braided hair he along with others started chanting nerdy doesnt even know how to be pretty i looked down wishing it to be just over what i thought to be a onetime thing turned out to be a daily thing onwards that boy and his friends daily bullied me by pushing me causing my books to fall or throw water on my hair ridiculing my oily frizzy hair my crush over him quickly faded as i cried over why i couldnt be pretty the bullying went on for years until i reached grade eleven when i had to exchange schools i was more than relieved to move away as my selfesteem had been completely shattered till then i was this timid girl who was always bullied after i left i never saw that boy again ever things changed for the better when i started college and i had to stay in a hostel since it was quite far away from home i had all the freedom to experiment with hair and overall looks and frankly i felt free having to not care about restrictions for once i made friends some so close that i finally confided in them about the bullying and selfesteem issues i had with myself with time i felt beautiful and confident with the help