It was games period. Riya was heading towards the football field along with the other students when one of them said, “Hey, we forgot to bring the football.”

Pooja covered her mouth and giggled, “We don’t need a football when Riya is here!” Then, gesturing towards Riya, she said, “Come on, Madam Football!”

Everyone began to laugh. Riya felt her eyes sting, and tears rolled down her cheeks. As always, she was being fat-shamed.

Riya was a cheerful and well-mannered girl who loved to dance. She was a brilliant student, too. However, she was unhappy because she was overweight. The other children in her class were thin, and compared to them, she looked huge. She often heard other students whispering and giggling behind her back. They made all sorts of mean comments, making fun of everything from the space she occupied when sitting to the food in her lunchbox to the size of her clothes. At times, a classmate would even laugh at the bicycle tyre flattening under her weight.

Though she pretended that the comments did not disturb her, her self-confidence shattered anew every time someone commented on her body. Over the years, she had developed an inferiority complex and preferred to keep to herself most of the time. She didn’t enjoy participating in school events because she believed other students would surely make fun of her if she went on stage.

Of late, things had become worse. Riya had started skipping meals, sometimes for days altogether. She also exercised for several hours a day to lose weight. However, her efforts yielded few results.

Riya’s mother told her not to worry about her body shape. She encouraged her daughter to focus on her health, studies and other activities. However, it was all futile. Riya was unhappy and didn’t like mingling or making friends with others.

One day, on the way back from school, a shop’s signboard caught Riya’s eye.

“Magical Mirrors,” Riya read aloud. Intrigued, she entered the shop.

An old man welcomed her, saying, “Come, Riya! I’ve been waiting for you.” The man said her name with a certain familiarity as if he had known her for years.

Surprised, she asked, “How do you know my name? We have never met before. Who are you, sir?”

The old man’s eyes twinkled. He said, “Call me Uncle Mahesh, and I know you are Riya because as soon as you entered my shop, the magical mirror told me your name, and your thoughts and feelings.”

Riya’s eyes widened in amazement. She asked, “Can I see this mirror?”

Uncle Mahesh pointed to a large, elaborately decorated mirror behind Riya. As she approached the mirror, Riya saw her reflection and was thrilled! For the first time in her life, she looked slim and tall.

“Can I look like this in real life, too?” Riya asked, her eyes brimming with joy. She extended her arm, wanting to touch her reflection.

“Yes,” replied the old man, “but remember, each reflection comes at a price.”

Riya saw the slim version of herself dancing gracefully in the mirror. She gingerly touched the mirror’s surface, but the moment she did so, she was pulled inside it.

Riya felt she had stepped into a wonderland! She was standing in a grand hall, filled with mirrors of different shapes and sizes that sparkled and reflected light.

One mirror showed the reflection of her true self. She looked sad and blue.

“Who are you?” Riya asked the reflection.

“I am your past,” the reflection replied. “The time when you felt ashamed of your body.”

Riya saw several other children looking at their reflections in other mirrors. A boy named Arjun was looking at his reflection, with tears in his eyes.

“Everyone calls me mosquito because I am skinny,” he whispered. Prisha, a girl from Riya’s class, was sad because she was teased for her dark complexion. Then, Riya noticed Pooja, who always called her a football.

“What does Pooja want now? I bet she is here to trouble me,” Riya thought.

Pooja approached her and said, “Riya, look how ugly my hands are. My mother often reminds me of it.”

Riya was surprised to hear this. She had never paid attention to Pooja’s hands because she was absorbed in her own troubles. Riya looked around and observed everyone struggling with their physical appearance – some were concerned about their height, some about their face and others about their hair.

Riya wanted to help them all. She thought, “We need to leave here, but how?”

Suddenly, she noticed the reflection of her past pointing towards a small, ordinary-looking mirror. The words “the only way out of this place is through acceptance and love” were written on the mirror.

Riya thought for a few minutes. Then, she went up to the mirror and touched it gently. Within seconds, her surroundings started to blur and spin uncontrollably. After a few more seconds, Riya found herself back in the shop.

Uncle Mahesh smiled at her and gently asked, “What did you see, Riya?”

“Everyone has some concern or other about their body. To overcome that, one should accept and love themselves,” Riya responded, having come to a realization.

Uncle Mahesh nodded, gave her a small pocket mirror, and said, “Keep this with you always, a reminder to love yourself.”

Riya stepped out of the shop and noticed a group of children laughing at a thin girl. Riya went up to them and said, “Please stop laughing at her. Everybody is beautiful just as they are.”

Upon hearing her words, the other children realized what they were doing wrong and left.

Riya smiled at the girl and said, “All of us are different, and we should not make fun of each other for being too dark, fat, thin or tall.”

Soon, there was news about Riya’s encounter with the mysterious Uncle Mahesh, after which many children were seen with small pocket mirrors in their hands, reminding them to love themselves.

Excerpted with permission from The Hall of Magical Mirrors by Ashima Kaushik in The Greatest Champak Stories: Volume 1, Puffin India.