A young woman born to Indian parents with red hair, white skin and freckles has spent her life being shunned and bullied because people think she's diseased.
Pooja Ganatra, 24, who was born in Mumbai, has flaming ginger hair, deep emerald eyes and white skin - like that of a stereotypical Gaelic woman.
But the proud Indian was actually born to 'typically Indian' parents who thought her freckles were a birth defect - and have no idea where her unusual looks come from.
Miss Ganatra's appearance, believed to stem from her ancestors, has made her feel like a foreigner in her own country - with Indians staring and asking for pictures.
It could be her appearance was triggered by an 'evolutionary throwback', called atavism, to genes that had been passed down from her ancestors after laying dormant for years.
Because of her complexion, strangers are often shocked to discover she speaks Hindi and try to charge her tourist prices because they think she is a backpacker.
Her unusual appearance also saw her rushed to hospital as a child over fears she had a skin disease.
Her insecurities were intensified as a teenager by the overwhelming pressure to conform to 'impossible' Indian standards of beauty.
A nice little reminder that Americans arent even close to having a monopoly on racism. But ours gets televised regularly and lets face it, Nazis are always bad news.
and have no idea where her unusual looks come from.
A nice little reminder that Americans arent even close to having a monopoly on racism. But ours gets televised regularly and lets face it, Nazis are always bad news.
My guess is her mother had a fun time.
Kind of sad really. I'm a ginger, been lucky that I never really was a victim of bullying because of it myself. Had a bad bully in elementary school but think it was just more "generalized" bullying and not because of my hair but supposed that may have contributed.
To me it's cool to be a somewhat rare breed. Only like 2% of population have the gene. My parents nor my grandparents are ginger. But I had a great grandma (who recently passed) who was ginger. The gene can travel far! I hope I have all her other genes too, she lived to like 94 and hardly ever seen a doctor.
A nice little reminder that Americans arent even close to having a monopoly on racism. But ours gets televised regularly and lets face it, Nazis are always bad news.
I'm not sure that's racism, at least in the same way that you describe. These people's reality is that she is diseased. It's not a belief that's discordant with the rest of their society or a conscious choice. The behavior, despite the belief, is still despicable, though.
I laugh when people say gingers are rare, we seem to have a higher than average percentage of them in Texas and I have been surrounded by them my whole life. My maternal grandfather, mother, sister, wife and twin daughters are all gingers. I look like a white mexican with reddish brown hair. Growing up guys were always saying how awesome red heads were and trying to go after them. Since I grew up with them I didn't care about that and was actually a bit put off by them but wound up with one anyway.
Family pictures with my full blood mexican paternal grandfather are funny as it goes from naturally dark skin to my kids that burst into flames in the sun. But a side affect of that is that my daughters can easily get a tan. Gingers that can get a tan are weird.
Oh man I can't imagine being a ginger in Texas. I would just die. lol. Or India for that matter, it gets pretty hot there too I think. And heat normally also means stronger sun. And yeah most gingers can't tan. I sure as hell can't. I might darken slightly but that's after getting a sunburn. When the first layer of skin peals off, then it's a slight tan under it. I really watch out more now days about not going in the sun too much though. Like I actually managed not to get any bad sun burns this summer. The freckles do come out in full force though lol.
I have a fair few friends/colleagues from places like India, Pakistan, Nepal, Afghanistan, etc. and while they're just as disgusted with American racism as I, they frequently comment about how much worse it is elsewhere (including first world Europe). Anecdotal, so take it as you may.A nice little reminder that Americans arent even close to having a monopoly on racism. But ours gets televised regularly and lets face it, Nazis are always bad news.
I'm a ginger