19-Year-Old, Natasha Kothari is associated with a Mumbai NGO, Spark a Change and teaches the kids in this NGO. In a project titled, “Beauty lies in the Eyes of the beholder”, Kothari wants people to look beyond the word ‘underprivileged’ and see the beautiful, bright and confident individuals that these kids are. As one feels good about themselves after being praised and pampered for their looks, Natasha wanted these kids to feel the same- to be pampered, as they hardly ever get these kind of moments primarily because people are so busy pitying them and stereotyping them.
Documenting the response of her project, Kothari mentions that along with the positive response she gets, there’s always that one person who believes in criticism.
“Just because these 3 girls are underprivileged some people start getting all righteous about how I am wasting my time playing “make up make up” with them or giving them a wrong idea of beauty. My question still stands, if they were not poor and were just some other typical teenager would you still have the same concerns? Since when did taking pictures, looking pretty and having some fun become a bad thing?” says Natasha.
One day I called 3 of my students and explained the concept, picked a day, got them over at my house and had a friend help me. I styled them according to their preferences and tastes and we took pictures in my societies compound. It was followed by a really yummy ice cream treat!”
By: Archa Dave
