Namrata was a very innocent girl when she was just 13 years old. She was innocent like a regular, average girl who was happy with her family, choosing cartoons over dramas. In studies, she was also average—not excellent, but not the worst either. However, in math, she always got zero. At that young age, she only focused on happiness.
And then, one day, a disaster happened. Her best friend Harshada got her first proposal. For Namrata, boys were like 100 steps far away—falling in love was not her cup of tea. She was very childish for her age. So, when she saw Harshada getting a proposal, she was confused. Harshada started flexing in front of everyone: "Look, I got a proposal from Aniket! He gave me a greeting card too."
This was so confusing for Namrata. One by one, all of her friends started getting proposals from different boys. Seeing that, Namrata began to feel left out. All her friends were getting so many gifts, love letters, and attention—and Namrata? She wasn't even getting a single "hello" from boys.
Namrata and her three friends had a girly group from day one, but apparently, they all had gotten their own boys now, and they were getting busy with them. And Namrata??? She felt alone, like no one loved her. She eagerly started talking with boys, hoping one day they would like her, but every boy she met only teased her—teased her for her height, her face, her hair.
So, what did she actually look like? As said before, Namrata was a very innocent girl. From the beginning, she only knew her mom, father, brother, and three besties. That was it. In high school, she didn't talk to any boys at all—because for her, her besties were everything.
But everything changed when she turned 13—the "fine wine" age.
One day, Harshada invited her to roam with them—"them" meaning her three besties and their boyfriends. Namrata said yes, why not?
As per the plan, they met at 5 PM in the garden, just to relax. Everyone was sitting and talking all lovey-dovey things, and Namrata felt like a third wheel—like she was interrupting them. But then, Harshada's boyfriend said hello to Namrata. She smiled and said hello back. After a little small talk, Harshada got a call from her mom, so they stood up and started walking to her house.
And when Namrata stood up—boom boom—the hell disaster happened. Something she had never noticed or felt before: on the back of her pants, there was a bloodstain. She had no idea she got her period.
Thank God Harshada's boyfriend saw it and told Harshada, "Go check her." Harshada came and whispered in Namrata's ear, "Hey, you got your periods today? Didn't you use a pad?"
Namrata was shocked. "No, I didn't feel anything… I don't know when I got it," she said. She was really feeling awful about the situation—that a guy saw the bloodstain on her pants. She was dying inside with shame.
But the road back home was 30 minutes long—how could she walk like this? Thankfully, her friends covered her back by walking closely behind her, so no one else would notice the stain.
Finally, she reached home. It felt like a disaster. Namrata kept thinking, "What the hell and why the hell is this always happening to me?" She was in a terrible mood, and on top of that, her stomach was also hurting like hell. After crying and blaming herself, she finally fell asleep like nothing had happened.
When she woke up, she checked her phone and went into even more depression after seeing her friends' group messages. They were teasing her like:
"What are you, a kid? Still don't even know you got your periods? Lol."
"You just made a heart on your pants hahaha."
These were the kinds of messages they were sending in the group. Namrata cried like hell that day. She wondered why her best friends were teasing her like this. "Come on, we're besties," she thought. They were never like this before. But after getting boyfriends, they changed a lot.
Still, Namrata didn't hate them—because she had no one else. And she hated being alone. She always felt scared of bullying…
So now comes the word: bullying. Why was Namrata scared? Well, because of her appearance. She was short—just 4'4"—with curly hair and a face covered in pimples. Like what happens when girls hit puberty, she had too many pimples. That's why she was scared to talk to strangers—and even to her friends' boyfriends.
Back in time, her classmates used to tease her:
"Ohh look at her ugly face, full of pimples!"
They would call her "tiny girl" and "invisible."
Even her own class teacher looked at her face and made a funny smile.
She had no confidence to talk to new people. Her three best friends were always by her side. Whenever someone bullied her, they would stand up for her. But after getting boyfriends, even her besties changed. They started behaving like they also hated her.
At that time, Namrata cried a lot. She cried, "Why God? Why did you create me like this??"
But there was always one person by her side: her mom. Her mom noticed everything. She saw that Namrata's besties weren't visiting her at home anymore. She noticed Namrata spending a lot of time looking in the mirror—thousands of times. She saw how many creams Namrata had been applying on her face.
Her mom warned her, "Don't apply these things. Just eat healthy food, don't eat junk, drink a lot of water."
But like any teenager, Namrata wanted quick results. She had been applying so many creams and serums on her face. Seeing this, her mom felt really bad and said, "Come on, we'll go to the dermatologist."
Her mom was a struggling mother because her father wasn't earning enough to fulfill extra expenses. But seeing her own daughter struggling, she found a way. She took Namrata to the dermatologist with the savings from her part-time job.
Namrata, now a teenager, realized the value of money, so she happily went with her mom. After checking her face, the dermatologist gave her some creams and medicine. She started applying all of it—because what she wanted was just to be visible in this world where everyone was ignoring and teasing her.
And boom—the cream actually worked! Her face started glowing and shining. She felt like a princess.
But…
Holy shit, it wasn't permanent. The effect only lasted one month. And that month, she was on summer vacation. So when it was time to return to high school, her face looked the same as before—filled with pimples, now even bigger and uglier.
School started, and she had no option—she couldn't skip classes.
Seeing her face again, Namrata felt like, "Why does this always happen to me? Why did you make me ugly?" Even her own brother teased her:
"Look at the stone road on your face!"
This damaged her more on the inside.
Her mother started applying home remedies to her face, but nothing worked. Her mom even took her to a beauty parlour for a cleanup. After seeing the cleanup procedure, good-hearted, curious Namrata thought, "Wow! I can do this at home too."
Without any knowledge, she started popping her pimples. She would lie on the floor on one side of her face, thinking it would help reduce them. She did all of this secretly, without telling her mom. Day by day, she kept popping her pimples. Day by day, her face got worse—uglier, more dark spots, more pimples.
In seeking beauty, she made her face worse.
Whoever saw her had only one reaction:
"Why the hell does she look like this?"
"Look at her mom—so beautiful! Why does she look so ugly?"
Even her brother looked handsome.
Hearing these harsh words, Namrata always cried. She hurt herself more from the inside.
For the last two years, all of this continued. But there was no solution. Her mom tried everything, but nothing helped. Namrata finally started to believe this is what she deserved. She must be cursed—not God's favorite. She thought, "Even God hates me."
After she turned 15, she passed her board exams. Her friends got higher ranks, but she only got average marks. That hurt her too—but for her, just passing the exam was more important.
Now, it was time to find the best college. So she and her besties decided:
We'll go to Tolani College known for its awesome crowd and everything else. Namrata said, "Okay, I'm in."
They filled out the form and waited for the college admission checklist to come…