My dear malayali aunties, uncles, friends, Romans,countrymen.. .ayyoo sorry, friends,malayalis, countrymen…
Kuru or pimple or “ayyee molde mukathenta” is formally called ACNE. As a proud owner of several old and fresh mukhakkurus, who decided to leave their legacy in the form of scars and kuzhis (holes) and nicknames, I want to share my experience. Firstly, this is not a prayer for validation. Kurus and kuzhis are as much a part of me as my cultivated sarcasm and a general indifference to “log kya kahenge?” or the Malayalam version of the phrase. As I was growing up, me and my acne-blessed friends have heard a bunch of stuff. The well meaning aunty who says “mole, wash your face with soap” (yeah, sherlock aunty!! Why didn’t I think of WASHING MY FACE? what an ignoramus I have been to not have discovered face wash and water), or “why don’t you use powdered root of asphodel and an infusion of wormwood, soak it in water and apply it daily?” (ahem, HP reference) or my personal favorite “girls these days put all these chemicals on their face and look at what happens”.. Umm my dear well-meaning malayali aunties, acne is hormonal, and some of us were bor with skin that just refuses to say no to acne. So leave your ottamoolis, podikkais and concern at home and let the poor teenagers deal with the monsters as much as they can.
Next candidates.. The “beauty Queens”, who are blessed with baby bottom skin and get perplexed at the large quantities of oil that appear out of nowhere on our “acne – girls'” faces and again not so gently or subtly attribute our eruptions to the ultimate villain- “not washing your face “..or even better – “oooh some guy likes you.. Wait soo many guys like you.. That’s why you have all these acne on the LEFT side of your face” My dear ladies, sadly for you, the brain on both the LEFT and the RIGHT sides of our face works enough for us to not attribute kurus to guys admiration..
And lastly, but not the very least, to the mean
“chekkanmar” who make fun of us teenagers in school, and equate our faces to certain roads.. And tell us they would be attracted to us if we had better skin.. Me, and the acne-girls fraternity would unanimously say “poda chekka” with extra smirks drizzled on top, mocking your superficiality.
Also a note to my sahodarimar (sisters) who are gifted with adult acne.. Embrace it.. Love your Kurus. And perhaps one day it will go bye bye. Even if it doesn’t, it really doesn’t matter. Unless you’re a superficial person who buys into societal concepts of beauty.(which we all are, at least occasionally) Beauty does come from within, and it would help to remind yourself of that whenever that wave of superficiality knocks on your door 🙂
(this was written by the memory of a distraught 14 year old girl who spent hours trying to pray away pimples, and not a 26 year old woman who has nothing better to do than write when she’s supposed to be being productive)
