The dreams and disappointments of India's Barbie

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2023/07/28/ [login to see] /the-dreams-and-disappointments-of-indias-barbie
She's one of India's biggest Barbie fans. When Vichitra Rajasingh was growing up, family and friends helped her build her collection of Barbie dolls until she had almost 80 of them. She once owned a Barbie camper, a speedboat, supermarket and post office. The mermaid Barbie and scuba-diving Barbie were her favorites.

Since her family ran a hotel, they put the dolls on display in the lobby in the late '90s. On Rajasingh's 14th birthday, her parents painted her room bright pink and hired artists to draw her favorite Barbie dolls on the walls.

All her Barbies were blond. She says she didn't like the Indian ethnic ones that came on the local market.