Being Reshma -Book Review

‘Being Reshma: The Extraordinary Story of an Acid-Attack Survivor who Took the World by Storm’ by Reshma Qureshi with Tania Singh

Theme: How acid attack survivor Reshma turned a life-altering event into a movement for change.

“Being Reshma” is an emotional and eye-opening story of Reshma Qureshi, an acid attack survivor who’s now a Model, a Vlogger and an Anti-Acid Sale Activist.

This book lets us know Reshma Qureshi from the time of her early youth to how Reshma overcame her struggles to become a powerful voice for several acid survivors and an inspiration for many. 

Reshma is the youngest girl in her family. She grew up with her brothers and sisters in a conservative household in Mumbai. 

When her family finds it hard to live in Mumbai anymore, they shift to live in their ancestral home located at Allahabad. That is where that heartbreaking event took place and which changed Reshma’s life forever.

In May 2014, while going out for an examination, 17-year-old Reshma got acid thrown on her face by her sister Gulshan’s former husband Jamaluddin. It was a classic act of revenge. Her entire face was burned and when she was taken to hospital, but didn’t get proper attention from the authorities there. The police, too, behaved indifferently. From then, she began to face a series of callous behaviours from everywhere.

But, like us………. She didn’t capitulate.

But, not like us…….She did start to fight life and society. She did take power from her powerlessness.

Then…..

In 2015, Reshma participated in a campaign called #endacidsale that comes with three videos giving beauty tips.

In 2016, She went on to make global headlines by becoming the first acid attack survivor to walk the runway at the New York Fashion Week. 

Now, she is an Indian model, vlogger, and anti-acid sale activist. She is the face of Make Love Not Scars, an NGO that works towards rehabilitating and empowering acid-attack survivors.

When we talk about Reshma’s journey, we also need to mention two other strong women—Ria Sharma, founder of Make Love Not Scars (an NGO that helps in the rehabilitation of acid attack survivors), and Tania Singh, its CEO – these two women supported her a lot in her success. We have a lot to learn – From Reshma — How to raise up from those tragedies in our life? From Tani and Ria — How to be part of someone’s life by helping them to raise up from those tragedies happened in their life.

Being Reshma”, is a compelling read for more than one reason. Really, this memoir touched every corner of my heart deeply. I am a midnight reader and started reading this memoir around and completed it around 2’clock or less. But after reading this,  I didn’t sleep that whole night because I was that disturbed about…about .. I don’t why so?  about what?  But I really want to meet her one day because she is that much great to me. Really Really Really she is a heroine.

I highly recommend this story “Being Reshma” to everyone. There is a lot to learn from her life and her attitude towards life.

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Akshaya Thulasi🌼