Indian woman reveals how she is bullied for having red hair and green eyes

'Slowly, I realised that looking different could actually be a gift'

Facebook

A 24-year-old woman from Mumbai has spoken out about the cruel comments she receives because of her appearance.

Born to Indian parents, Pooja Ganatra has ginger hair, freckles, pale skin and green eyes.

However, she explained that she has no clue where her Gaelic features come from, as her looks don’t resemble those of any of her relatives.

“I looked different since the day I was born,” Ganatra wrote in a Facebook post by Humans of Bombay.

She went on to explain how people assumed she had a birth defect as a child and that she always felt like the “odd one out”.

Ganatra added that she was viciously taunted by her classmates at school and that she would often go home in tears.

“From being left out in games or being called a ‘leukoderma patient’, the teasing was non stop,” she said.

Her insecurities deepened as she got older and she revealed that she never thought of herself as attractive.

She recalled one anecdote when she was at university when a female professor asked if she had ever looked at herself in the mirror.

“She then went onto explain that my sleeveless top, combined with my white skin was too ‘eye catchy’ and that I should dress more ‘appropriately,’” she said.

“This incident was painful because at that age most of us are already insecure and spend so much time in front of the mirror to make sure we looked good.

She added that there were no rules against sleeveless clothes at the university and that the majority of her fellow students dressed in a very similar manner to her.

However, Ganatra explained that in the long run, the bullying and the cruel comments have encouraged her to rise above her insecurities and go travelling.

“In new places, I started getting a lot of positive attention,” she said.

“Strangers would compliment me and use words like, ‘beautiful’ to describe me.

“Slowly, I realised that looking different could actually be a gift— no one would ever forget me!”