They called me “Bhaaloo”

They called me “Bhaaloo” (bear) because the hair on my legs poked through my school socks.

I was the only child who didn’t have siblings, the only one whose mother worked instead of attending school functions. I always arrived home to an empty house.

Different. Always different.

***

Now I transform these memories of isolation and exclusion into small tokens of belonging that I share with others.

Each one is handmade, imperfect, one-of-a-kind—just like the person receiving it.

Because being unlike others isn’t a flaw—it’s where your power lives.

My misfit status taught me to see beyond surfaces, to recognize the quiet loneliness in others. So I craft little ambassadors of understanding, carrying messages that say:You’re amazing just the way you are!

No two tokens are alike. And neither are we.