Neha Maqsood: What Is It About Brown Girls?
Photo: Joanna C. Valente
what is it about brown girls?
brown girls have hair of various
persuasions – straight, greasy, frizzy
curly, silky
pubic black
eyebrows bushy and unibrows a norm.
faces playing a ‘fifty shades of brown’ game, brown
hued skin deeming us
exotic
pudgy bellys and muffin tops from all the masala
biryani, keema & qorma
hair greasy from the
leftover, unwashed coconut oil massaged in
from the kaam wali. black locks turn wavy
skidding past melanin laced shoulders.
hair unkempt, blown in a frenzy by
Storm Freya. white girls
hair stays straight.
‘is it glued to their head?’ the brown girls
ask
mama sends the phone flashing,
hello pyari beti
unchecked phone for 3 hours is a south asian no-
no Neha,
don’t
you
know?
brown girlfriends catching your vibe as
auntie’s note the pimples in your
t-zone
uncles’ comment
on your thigh chub, gazes lingering just below
the neckline.
seeking refuge with house help
coming from inner-pakistani villages – they catch your vibe
too.
somehow everyone catches your vibe
except the aunties and uncles.
brown girls who listen to mama’s stories,
fetch daddy’s medication
finance little brother’s education
brown girls who are multitudes
colouring outside the lines,
stretching the box patriarchy
set for them.
girls with big
dreams and wild fantasies knotted to their
hearts
girls who sacrifice.
girls who
i
am.
Note:
biryani, keema & qorma – Pakistani cuisine
kaam wali – people who work in your house
pyari beti – beautiful daughter
Neha Maqsood is a journalist who has written for multiple publications ranging from but not limited to, the Tempest, Media Diversified, Brown Girl Magazine, Rife Magazine and The Uni Bubble. Her poetry has been published in honey & lime, Turnpike Magazine and Vampcat Mag. For her efforts in tackling discrimination against people of colour (POC) and increasing South Asian representation, she was listed as the 100 Most Influential BME (Black and Minority Ethnic) people in South-West England and was nominated for a UK National Diversity Award under Race, Faith and Religion. She also starred in the 2018 film, Sisters in Arms, which premiered at multiple international film festivals in Toronto, Los Angeles, London, Kerry and Dingle.
