Kakoli's favourite story from the big book of fairy tales that her mother had bought her was Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. She loved the pretty gowns that Snow White wore and often stood before the mirror, wondering if it would ever talk to her. Kakoli's sister, Shefali, was fourteen- two years older than she was- and she stood before the mirror for a long time, too, only, she was always worrying about her eyebrows. "Too wide apart! So embarrassing!" she would mutter.
Shefali found most things mbarrassing. Celebrating birthdays, wearing colour dress to school, Dada's old ambassador car- they were all labelled embarrassing. For all the fuss that she made, Shefali was still grandma's favourite. "So fair, like a lily!" she would say, pinching her cheeks."A prince is going to carry you away someday, mark my words!" Of course, Shefali found that embarrassing, too.
Kakoli, grandma would say with a vague sense of regret, took after her father. She was 'monkey-brown' and got darker by the minute as she ran wild under the sun without a care in the world. Kakoli wanted very much to behave like a rincess, but sometimes, it just wasn't fun to sit primly on a chair when there were crows to be chased and races to be run. A person like her, she thought philosophically, was never meant to be a damsel in distress. But she did wish (a little bit) that she looked like a lily, too. And she'd love to have the seven dwarves to play with, especially Sneezy who had such a lovely white kerchief.
One day, Kakoli was watching TV with her mother when an ad for a fairness cream came on. They showed the girl's face change colour dramatically (like a pastel chameleon, Kakoli thought) and in the end, a Prince Charming (with a bad wig, Kakoli giggled) swept her off her feet on his black horse. "Can a cream really do that?" she asked her mother.
Ma said, "Mmmm... Mmmm." This usually meant that she was thinking about something and hadn't heard what she said. "Ma!" she called out again. Her mother turned towards her, as if surprised to see her in the room."I asked if a fairness cream can really change a person’s colour like that?" asked Kakoli.
"It's supposed to. But it's harmful for your skin... all that bleach and chemicals..." her mother began. But Kakoli had stopped listening the moment Ma began on the harmful nature of fairness creams. Ma was the worst consumer on the planet- she disapproved of most products, including Barbie dolls and video games. If a fairness cream could make her look like a lily, then that's what she'd get!
