Adline Castelino, Miss Diva Universe 2020, Revealed Her Dad Was Disappointed By Her Dark Skin. It’s Such A Shame

Adline Castelino, Miss Diva Universe 2020, Revealed Her Dad Was Disappointed By Her Dark Skin. It’s Such A Shame

If you’re an Indian who lived abroad or even travelled abroad, you will know that there’s racism in several countries. In fact, you don’t need to have experienced it first hand; we’ve heard enough of it. And every time it happens, our blood boils. We call people out who do racism but do we really reflect on our own culture? We aren’t even proud of our own brown skin and expect the world to embrace it. In fact, we have such twisted, stereotypical standards of beauty. The existence of fairness creams prove that we love lighter skin and believe that’s the only beauty there is.

In fact, I remember when I came from a music fest all tanned, my naani was shocked to look at my face. She made me go to a salon immediately to get a de-tan facial done and every day for the next few days, she tried various remedies to get my original skin tone back. But the thing is, I was enjoying the tan! Even my cousin, who is duskier than the rest of us was made to feel less pretty all through her growing up years. I think she’s beautiful and she is! The number of matrimony ads in India that begin with “Seeking a fair bride…” is huge and a perfect exhibition of the shameful discrimination on the basis of colour that our society is guilty of.

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Adline Castelino, the 19-year-old Miss Diva 2020 who will be representing us in Miss Universe pageant today revealed she went through the same ordeal as a child. She is a beautiful, strong-headed woman with a glowing bronzed skin. Yet, that is never considered “beauty” in the eyes of Indian parents. She revealed that she was not only bullied by people but even her own dad seemed disappointed in her appearance when she was growing up in Kuwait.

Castelino revealed, “So, I was bullied a lot because I was very skinny. And I had dark skin. So I was bullied a lot for that. I have Pakistani cousin sister, I have my own sisters who are so beautiful. So I remember my dad comparing my skin tone with the others and saying, ‘Why are you so dark and why are you like this?’ At that moment, it kind of hurt me that you know.. When you’re of that age, you don’t really understand. You think, ‘Why am I created like this?’”

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It can be a scarring experience for any young girl to be made to feel ugly for the colour of her skin. It feels terrible when you’re compared to your siblings or cousins for anything, let alone your appearance. This is the kind of experience that kills the self-esteem of any individual but Castelino didn’t let that happen. “But as I grew up and I started living independently, I moved out of my house at the age of 15 and I came to India for the first time. That’s when I started accepting myself. I saw the diversity around. Beauty exists in all shapes and sizes, all colours. And that inspired me to truly accept myself and move on,” she said.

ALSO READ: 10 Things We’ve To Stop Telling Dark-Skinned Women

Today, Adline Castelino is a gorgeous model who will be representing India in the prestigious Miss Universe 2020. It is a big deal and I am sure those who bullied her would be eating their words right now.

ALSO READ: Ranu Mondal Was Trolled For Her White-Washed Makeup. Twitter Came To Her Support But Does This Reveal A Deeper Bias Against Dark Skin?

Akanksha Narang

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