Red-haired Indian woman faces cruel taunts for her appearance

  • 15/12/2017
Red-haired Indian woman faces cruel taunts for her appearance
Photo credit: Getty

A 24-year-old woman from Mumbai has spoken out about the difficulty she faces being fair skinned and ginger in India.

The Independent reports Pooja Ganatra has faced comments about her hair, skin colour and freckles for most of her life.

She doesn't know why she has such Gaelic features as she looks nothing like any of her relatives.

She told the Facebook page Humans of Bombay she's faced questions and cruel taunts about her appearance since she was young.

When she was in primary school she was called a "leukoderma patient" and consistently left out of games by her peers.

As she reached university her fears deepened and she was eventually chided by a female university professor for wearing a shirt that showed her arms.

There were no rules against wearing sleeveless clothing at her university, and in fact a lot of female students at the university dressed the same way without issue.

Ms Ganatra told the Daily Mail she would love to get a DNA test to see where her unique appearance has come from, believing the answer may be in her ancestors.

"I'd love to get a DNA test one day to discover more about my ancestry because I don't know anything about it.

"I have no idea why I look the way that I do but a test into my genes could explain a lot."

Whatever the cause Ms Ganatra told The Humans of Bombay she's stronger for all the teasing and now finds her appearance to be a positive.

"Slowly, I realised that looking different could actually be a gift no one would ever forget me!" she said.

Newshub.