Nothing to hide

Paromita Gupta, a 30-year-old marketing professional battles alopecia, but refuses to be looked at as a victim. However, getting there took years.

- Nikshubha Garg

Ten-year-old Paromita Gupta was blissfully enjoying her winter break in Darjeeling, where she lived, when tragedy struck. On a certain morning, she woke up to find her pillow covered in hair. In the coming days, clumps of hair clogged the shower drain, and she lost strands as she combed. Such was the intensity that within one week, Gupta was bald. “I didn’t know how to process it. My parents and I visited several doctors, but my condition couldn’t be diagnosed,” she states.

Finally, repeated visits paid off when Gupta was diagnosed with Alopecia Areata—an autoimmune disorder that often results in unpredictable hair loss. Already struggling with coming to terms with her condition, resuming school only rubbed salt into her wounds. “Classmates poked fun at me, bullying became the norm, and some even thought my ‘disease’ was contagious. I would lock myself in the bathroom and cry for hours. If that wasn’t enough, I had unsolicited advice coming my way which included trying Ayurvedic oils, and onion and garlic pastes. I went out stinking like a marinade on a number of occasions,” Gupta elaborates.

This, she admits, had a deep impact on her self-confidence. Before losing her hair, Gupta was a regular at debates and elocutions, but the idea itself turned into stage fright. “My teachers encouraged me to participate, but every time I thought about going on stage, I felt the room would burst out laughing; I couldn’t handle the thought,” she says.