I was 13, she was 11. I had light skin, hers was dark.
Because my skin tone made people deem me more attractive than her, she was obsessed with using Fair & Lovely, a popular skincare brand from India that lightens your skin.
My cousin grew up in Nepal. I grew up in Japan.
Almost every day when my sister and I passed a Japanese school, the children would yell, “Gaijin! gaijin! (Foreigner), should I rub some mud on your ugly, brown face?”
But in Nepal, I was light-skinned and thus a source of adoration.