Dehradun, March 9 -- International Women's Day
In the crowded chawl of Shanti Nagar, in a modest one room home there lived a little girl named Ananya. Her family struggled to make ends meet-her father worked as a day labourer, her mother ran a small roadside tea stall, and they shared a cramped space with her two younger siblings.
From the moment Ananya could walk, she was told that she was different. She wasn't like the girls from the wealthier families in her school-she had no branded clothes, no expensive shoes, and her dark skin was often the target of cruel jokes. Her classmates snickered behind her back, mocking her frizzy hair and the dull hand-me-down clothes she wore. She was called names, teased for her ordinary looks, and whisp...