Ek teer aur do nishaane...

Ek teer aur do nishaane...

I noticed she was a little subdued..thodi chup chup si.. She was sobbing under her pillow.. Eating less.. The mother in me was instantly alerted.. My little girl was hurting.., Could feel the hurt written all over her face.. Talked to hubby.. We both decided to talk it out with her..we started with gentle probing., we didn't have to fish too hard..our girl poured her heart out " that mean boy in my class called me " Kali ghata"..the tears of hurt rolled out again.." they all call me dark and laugh at me Ma"... I was like numbed for few secs.. Since when did my lil girl got so conscious of how she looks .. I wondered .. Did not know how and where to begin.. We gently started talking .. Then we came to my childhood.. I told her I was also very sensitive about my looks and how people perceived me when I was in school .. I was certainly the most non noticeable girl in the class.. Often I felt ignored by teachers.. Relatives ...friends and yes boys too.. 😔...Back then it used to hurt me too.. Maybe I cried too like u at times.. But u know recently in a reunion group of my school batch mates I met lot of my classmates again. .. We got to interact a lot..And u know what many of my batchmates told me I am probably one of the most noticeable persons from my class now.. I found that amusing.. .. Nothing changed. ..I look the same.. I am the same..And then I said to myself .." The only thing that changed is the way I look at myself.. I am probably much more confident under my skin now.. I am more sure of myself..and that changed the way people perceive me..."... Looks..  and other physical attributes mean nothing ... Yes they are part of our personality it's a package ..that we present to the outer world.. But more important is our inner .. Confidence.. How we perceive ourselves..Then added "moreover  color of skin".. Is such a superficial thing .. U know dark is so attractive too.,it's the stereotypes developed around us., fair n lovely and all,,,Accha how about ur favourite actress Deepika Padukone?? Isn't she pretty  ?"... I noticed a flicker of excitement in her eyes as I mentioned Deepika ...but before I could continue further.. Hubby chipped in " u know I always felt ur mom was the most beautiful woman in my life.. But then U came .. And the day I saw u.. I realised No ! u r the prettiest girl in my life"... And then I saw a magical transformation ...the moist sad eyes lit up with utter joy and excitement .. She gave him    the tightest hug back " Oh thanks Ba".. While I looked on amusingly at the magical turn around of things and the effect his one liner could get on her..It simply floored both of us..in an instant... " Ek teer se do nishane"... I smiled and murmured to myself " whatever maybe the case  but compliments work like magic on women of all sizes and shapes".. I muttered to myself and decided to continue my thoughts on " shallow concepts of beauty" in our next session  with her and to let her bask under her dads showered compliments for now..compliment surely worked much better than my session.. 😔..