“You just need to lose a few pounds”, “that wouldn’t look nice on your body type”, and “yaar ab tou weight kam karlo, takay shaadi hojaye tumhari” is what I used to hear from friends because apparently, I was overweight. At first, it didn’t bother me much, but I realized that I was being bullied. Bullied for something I had no control over. Bullied, for how God has created me and bullied me for being myself.
Trust me, it wasn’t easy at ALL. There was a time when it started offending me. My weight might have been a joke to them, but certainly not to me. How could my best friends, the friends whom I hang out with almost daily, say all this to me? Do they not realize what I’m going through and that there is a limit to everything?
Yes, I accepted the fact that I looked different from the rest of my group and not as pretty as my friends considering I was 21 and weighed 70 kgs, but I was going through an emotional ride as well. My body, my mind went in a state of depression and that’s when my life changed. I was in a state of denial. I kept ignoring what they said and paid no heed. What gives them the right to laugh at me? Advising me was fine, but laughing at me or taunting me was not justified.
There was also a time when I had a crush on this guy at my University and they all laughed it off saying, “Seriously? Are you kidding me?”
So, for all those who make fun of people who are overweight (due to various reasons), especially girls. It is not funny. Listen up, lift each other up. Empower one another. Once you’ve said something, those words can’t be taken back. You’ve hurt the person. It hurts, even more, when it’s your best friend. We were sisters. We shared everything. What happened?
So, support them and help them. There are other ways to tell a fat person to look after themselves. Laughing at them, making fun of their imperfections and difference will not do them any good. It would just hurt them. And it is important for us to know that no one’s perfect.