Teenage and Pimples

          All of us heard of second childhood. I thought I’ll tell you a story of a person in her second teenage. We’ll stick to the same old heroine, Padma.

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          Padma turned off the TV after her channel- surfing habit showed her the commercial of “No Pimples- Softy Skin” cream for the umpteenth time. The advertisement featured a fair complexioned girl with red eruptions all over her face, looking eagerly at boys of her college, wondering if any one of them, who were busy with other girls, would throw a second glance at her. Suddenly another girl pops up from nowhere and gives her a bottle of the “No Pimples- Softy Skin” cream and lo and behold, the indifferent girls of the previous scene are now trying desperately to hold the attention of their boys, even as the latter are unable to take their eyes off this “No Pimples- Softy Skin” girl.

          She went into her daughter Tejaswini’s room and observed the teenager. She had a couple of pimples, but was lost in her study so deeply that she had not noticed her mother standing by her side and staring at her.

          Padma was lost in thought for a while. She recollected her teenage. She did have pimples once in a while (in contrast with those who had them all the time), but never allowed them to drive her life. In her childhood, her adoring parents had cautioned her about making friends- ‘make good friends, and ‘good’ means good- natured, and not necessarily good- looking, unless it is backed by good nature’, was what they said. She was able to differentiate beauty and goodness, and so was unconcerned with those little projections on her face. If anybody would try to rub it on to her, she would smile it away. She would think, ‘Yes, my face has pimples, but it is not an issue in my opinion. If they feel bad about looking at them, it’s their problem. But why don’t people appreciate my original thinking?’

          Padma got married late, and thought it was a small price to pay to get a person who’d appreciate her originality. Her husband, Kaustubh, was a perfect foil- there was never any occasion for Padma to get beauty tips from him. The couple brought up their child with all the values they internalised, and also encouraged her to face personal adversity with a smile, and others’ with helpful courage. The girl grew up to fight arbitrariness and injustice, in whatever manner she found them.

          ‘Amma, why are you standing here? Please sit down, won’t you?’ asked Tejaswini. Padma, shaken from her reverie, asked her child, ‘Teju, what are you doing to rid your face of pimples?’

          Teju was taken aback, and said, ‘Amma, why do you ask this? Is it that big an issue? If my pimples are to be attended to, they should reach the level of a skin infection. Do you want it to happen? Did you not teach me when I was a kid that beauty was but skin deep?’

          Padma was happy. Her daughter had not fallen to the me-too uniformity. What’s more, she dared to be different!

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          It was summer- mango time. Padma took generous helpings of the fruit, as usual. One day over lunch, Teju noticed a few eruptions on Padma’s face, and pointed out, ‘Nanna, Amma is competing with me! She has pimples!’ Kaustubh did not even bother to look at Padma’s face but remarked nonchalantly, ‘That’s because of your Amma’s favourite fruit. When the mango season gets over, she’ll get over the problem’. ‘Anyway, you should be concerned—after all, you are the one looking at my face!’ quipped Padma. Teju didn’t quite understand what her mother meant. ‘I have handled one real teenage. This one shouldn’t be very hard. I will be the proud one to have reached the second teenage without having gone through second childhood!’ added Padma, and the three laughed.

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