As an Indian girl, one's life is drastically different from their friends and classmates. They constantly have family events to attend, they jam out to Bollywood music in almost every car ride and they can never eat enough Indian food. From gorgeous outfits to a rich cultural background, being an Indian girl is truly one of the most beautiful things. However, they all face many common struggles in their daily lives, and these are just a small portion of them.
1. While your friends are tanning in swimsuits, you cover yourself from head to toe
Growing up, you were always told that fairer skin is more beautiful, and now you’re too afraid to tan in the summer. After one hour in the sun, you will suddenly become dark as night.
2. You cannot go more than two days without shaving
If you expose your legs on that third day, you could quite possibly be mistaken for a gorilla, or GIRLilla. Despite the agonizing pain, waxing is one of your longer lasting options, but routinely waxing becomes very expensive in the long run.
3. You could never color the right skin color
4. You take a full hour to curl your hair
Even though your thick hair is gorgeous, the five separate layers you split your hair into while styling it are truly a pain.
5. Your makeup range is severely limited
The lack of variety amongst the darker foundation shades makes concocting the perfect color for your skin a whole new science experiment! Sadly, it is not as fun and creative when the best eye shadow palettes or highlighters are too light for your skin.
6. You cannot tell if you are wearing lipstick or powdered sugar
If you are going for a subtler look, it is practically impossible because most nude colors wash your lips out completely. Your few options include Barbie pink, fire truck red or colors that are dark as night. Sadly, the dark colors make you look ten years older than you really are. Shout out to makeup companies for only using white models so we do not have a clue what it will look like on our skin!
7. You get asked about the red dot
No, not all Indian girls wear bindis all day everyday.
8. Yes, your lashes are natural
Luckily, this one is more of a plus. It definitely makes your day when you are not wearing false lashes or even mascara and someone asks you how your eyelashes are so long.
9. You get your eyebrows threaded just so the hair can grow back in five days
You have no choice but to get your eyebrows cleaned up once every two weeks, if not more often. Having luscious hair and long eyelashes come with the drawbacks of the occasional unibrow. Aside from the pain and the cost, at least your brows are on fleek at the end of the day.
10. You were princess Jasmine for Halloween at least once, if not more times, in your life
Unlike your white friends, you did not have a variety of princesses to choose from, because none of them really resembled �you. You could have passed as Pocahontas, but you know your mom really wanted you to rock that purple Jasmine outfit.
11. You cannot wear tribal prints without feeling too Indian
Before these patterns were trendy, you felt too insecure wearing them. Now that every store carries them, you would think they would be more acceptable to wear, but just because you are Indian, it looks “too Indian” when you wear it.
12. You try to avoid the classic Indian school girl look
You can’t help feeling like an Indian school girl every time you wear braids.
13. Your name is too uncommon in the United States
The “choose your own message” option is your lifeline because the chances that those pre-made embroidered bags have your name on them are as high as the chances that your parents will let you go on a date. You also always receive those generic “# 1” or “best friend” tourist key chains from friends because they can never find your name. However, it was pretty exciting to see Coca-Cola pull through for you.
14. You are a sucker for anything mango
You naturally gravitate towards anything mango, whether it is lassi, kulfi, candy, juice or just plain mangoes. Mango season is the biggest reason you look forward to summer.
15. Maggi Noodles are a hundred times better than Ramen
Their flavors are out of this world, and it makes Ramen seem tasteless.
16. Bollywood is your life
Bollywood movies, songs and dances are truly something unique that you treasure with all your heart. Whether you admit it or not, you could easily spend your day binge-watching the overdramatic movies or listening to their upbeat songs. Movie theaters even started showing Bollywood movies for your convenience.
17. It is hard to describe the type of dance you do
"No, it is not ballet. No, not jazz. Uhm, it is Indian classical dance?" You would tell them specifically what type, but they probably won’t know or comprehend what you are saying anyway.
18. When you do well, you could still do better
If you get a 100 on a test, your parents will simply ask why you did not get a 101.
19. Weddings are more wild than clubs
With blaring music, delicious food and happy people, Indian weddings are some of the most exciting events you could be a part of, especially when it is in the family. Everyone comes together to celebrate, and the wedding preparations last for at least a week.
20. Some of the prettiest outfits are just too itchy
Sometimes, you really question if pain and discomfort are worth rocking those stones and sequins.
21. Diwali time is your favorite time of the year
The endless parties, endless gifts and endless fireworks surely make you feel fortunate that you can celebrate such a religious occasion in a fun way with your close family and friends.
22. You love your brothers so much, especially on Raksha Bandhan
When they whine and complain about how girls are so lucky, you cannot resist the urge to wave the money they were forced to give you in their face. They, however, do receive a pretty neat bracelet!
23. Your family is your life, and you would never trade them for anything in the world
All your aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents and family of family shape the person you became today, and missing those hangouts with your friends is worth the memories you make with people who love you more than anything.
