Jyoti Amge (The smallest woman in the world)

Twenty-one year old Jyoti Amge, the smallest woman in theworld, laughs easily and often. Perhaps, from a height of twenty three inches, the world does look a bit funny.

Afflicted with achondroplasia, a form of pituitary dwarfism, 21 year old Amge is a bit shorter than her two year old nephew and a little taller than her framed Guinness Certificate. In fact, Amge, the youngest of five, wasn’t even visible in her mother’s womb. The doctors thought she wasn’t alive and her mother Ranjana, who underwent a two hour caesarean operation in her tenth month to birth her,  welcomed her youngest as a blessing. In all of Amge’s  birthday pictures in the album, her height is the same from age three to twenty one. Kitted out in custom made frocks and bright red lipstick, with fancy beads lining her permed hair, the tiny Amge turned heads in Nagpur and became hit with Hindi news channel crews that approached her for bytes, any excuse would do, even the elections. Apart from a cameo in a Mika Singh video, she appeared briefly on the reality show Big Boss 6.

“I have always wanted to be an actor” says Amge. Amge was quick to say yes when the producers of ‘American Horror story’ Freak Show contacted her. “They had seen my interview in a New York daily” says Amge, who readily agreed to play the role of Ma Petite, the miniature sari and bindi clad assistant of a woman.

“In spite of the name the show was not about freaks it was about compassion”, says Amge. “What makes the world so interesting is that we are different and some folks a little bit odd” she said. Sadly, Amge’s own home country does not seem to respect differences. Amge’s brother complained that unlike the west where “people ask permission before clicking a photo”. Indians take her privacy for granted. People look at her like she’s wonder and try to get too close to her. I have to shelter her like a bodyguard, adds Satish. Amge’s family members now make up her entourage. They help Amge, who suffered an accident in Kashmir that severly fractured her left leg, everything from braiding her hair to carrying her to the wash basin. Be it the nearby malls or a trip to China, one or more of them always accompany her.