Transcriber: Bianca Ailín Giménez Reviewer: Maria Pericleous
Hi, I’m Simran, and I like to call myself an advocate.
Simply put, I believe in speaking my truth into reality.
Now, if I were to describe myself concisely, I'd say I'm kind of rebellious,
notorious for questioning the norm,
a little emotional,
with a super soft side for serving my community.
Now, I’m a self-described advocate, aren’t I?
What is it that I advocate for, then?
There’s several things that I advocate for with an intense passion,
like climate change, the Sustainable Development Goals,
human equality,
but what I’m going to speak about now
is something I’m sure will resonate with a lot of you in the audience.
Modern beauty standards.
For those of you that don’t yet know what I’m talking about.
Have you ever found yourself scrolling through social media,
flipping through a magazine, or looking up at a television screen,
thinking: “Wow, I wish I looked like that,
I wish I was just a little bit skinnier,
a little taller, a little more muscular, I wish my face was more symmetrical,
my skin more clear, my nose smaller.”
Stop!
Stop drowning yourself in these insecurities.
For the standards set up
by the modern beauty industry and social media
are simply unattainable.
The first question that arises in my mind is that why do we let them do this?
Why do we look at massive corporations, target our most vulnerable population,
teenagers, an age at which we’re juggling so many things,
from planning our careers, to schoolwork,
to constantly thinking about how people around us perceive us?
Everything on social media is altered,
and this is altering the way we think.
It gets in the way of us recognizing the difference
between what’s natural and not,
stopping us from seeing how beautifully unique
and perfectly imperfect each human truly is.
Let me tell you all a story.
I’m taking you back to an August day.
This was back in 2020, mind you,
back when the initial excitement of the pandemic had faded,
and “normality” was just settling in.
I was lying on my bed watching YouTube, as one does,
when I came across a video,
a video of a nine year old with cancer,
crying tears of joy and excitement,
on receiving a mere wig.
This struck hard with me.
How did someone in so much pain,
someone going through so much,
find this much happiness in just a wig?
It stayed on my mind for quite a while,
and I had to do my part
in fighting this evil we call cancer.
What’s the next best thing that came to my mind,
you guys might wonder.
Well, remember how I told you I was passionate
about tackling beauty - modern beauty standards
and kind of emotional?
Well, I shaved my head!
(Applause)
Thank you.
That’s right, I shaved all 14 inches of my hair,
and donated it to a little girl with cancer.
I did this on the 10th of September 2020,
my 16th birthday, to be exact.
And the significance behind this date is that at this age,
young girls are subjected to constant societal pressure
to always look good.
They aren’t looked at as the smart,
or the passion-driven individuals that they are,
but as objects,
objects whose sole role in society
is to constantly look optically best.
And to challenge this very patriarchal view,
my decision to shave my head that day was, indeed, a small one,
but nonetheless a powerful symbolism,
a breakthrough,
to prove to the world that I was just as beautiful, if not more,
even with no hair on my head,
because the way I define beauty
is through selfless action,
unattainable, if you would, materially.
The same drive to bring change,
the same mindset
that can’t bear to witness the miscarriage of justice,
and the same passion for serving my community
is what brings me to my next story.
What’s the first thing that comes to your mind
when I say “homeless kids”,
kids that grew up in the slum, kids from the street?
A lot of you possibly associate it with negative things,
such as lack of hygiene, misbehavior, absence of basic social etiquette,
and I don’t blame you.
I am simply here to tell you a story that will change your mind.
The world we grew up in, is a world that teaches us
to make assumptions about people the second we see them,
based on nothing but vague physical attributes and stereotypes.
But what good does this do us?
Are we encouraged?
Are we uplifted?
Are we edified?
No, this has no positive or productive outcome whatsoever.
You and I, as humans,
we didn’t choose the life we were born into.
None of us know what life will throw at us.
We didn’t choose to be born into privilege
or if we’d be assigned male or female at birth.
We didn’t choose our ethnicity or nationality.
Let me illustrate this to the words of Dr Caroline:
“When two waves collide, they fall flat,
but when they uplift each other,
the crest rises
enhancing cultures and communities.”
This zero-sum mindset of pulling other humans down
based on nothing but vague physical attributes
is illogical, and frankly demeaning.
And to do my part in erasing this,
I decided to launch my very own passion project.
Here’s the kids.
My goal here was to simply...
was to simply display kids from the slum
in a purely positive light.
A light that this world has perhaps never let them experience before.
I wanted to make them feel as if...
I wanted to make them feel that their words,
and everything that they wanted to say mattered.
I wanted to make them feel affirmed.
I interviewed them, and took portrait pictures of them
in a professional manner.
I asked them questions about their goals and aspirations.
I asked them about their worldview.
I asked them what they love about the world.
And if there’s one thing they could change,
what would it be?
I wanted to show the world their intricate thoughts,
their beautiful faces, and their innocent smiles.
Each scar tracing a map, that symbolizes not their flaws,
but the beautiful journeys they’ve endured in their lifetimes.
And to further drive into these very intricacies,
I’m going to touch upon two case studies.
Meet Laki.
He likes to call himself Singhal.
And for those of you that haven’t guessed
what he wants to be when he’s older,
he wants to be a police officer, just like Singhal.
Singhal is a Bollywood character
that displays a selfless attitude throughout.
His holy grail is to simply right
the wrongdoings of the world.
When asked about his worldview Laki answered:
(Speaks Hindi)
Translated: he wants to catch criminals around the world.
He wants to catch criminals and wants to be known
all around the world for his actions.
Next, we’ve got Sandhi, a quiet boy of 11.
Having received an education only up to second grade,
he lacks basic arithmetic ability or understanding in English.
But what he lacks for intellectually, due to a neglected education,
trust me, he makes up for it in his values.
He is one of the most honest kids I’ve ever come across.
Oftentimes, when I’m distributing goody bags in the slum,
other kids falsely claim them more than once,
and even get away with it.
But despite witnessing this,
his moral values have always stayed in place.
And I find it truly inspiring and startling,
that someone that grew up in such impoverished conditions
has values so much deeper than the world in him.
You and I we wouldn’t know their stories
if we just went off with our negative assumptions.
The instances I’ve described today, have changed me as a person.
From redefining beauty standards, to in turn, discovering myself,
to being awe-inspired by kids with such intricate mindsets.
The world is full of quirks,
that may or may not appeal to us.
But I believe it is these very quirks
that make the world so bold,
so unique,
so beautiful,
so imperfectly perfect.
Thank you.