Coloured

Image Source

"If Rajiv Gandhi would have married a Nigerian instead of a white-skinned woman, would Congress have accepted her" Giriraj Singh, Union minister of state.

Goa chief minister Laximikant Parsekar allegedly advised the agitating nurses that they should not stage hunger strike in the sun because it will make them 'dark' and 'ruin their marital prospects'.

Why politicians or people in responsible position make such comments? Yes, it is an easy way to get publicity in the age of social media and TRP-driven news channels. But aren't most of the Indians are obsessed with fairness. Take any matrimonial add for 
that matter; beautiful, fair, slim girl needed for a well-settled boy. TV commercials are crammed with fairness creams. There are more than dozens of fairness cream in the market being endorsed by Bollywood celebrities. A perception of beauty is equivalent to being fair is sold to us and amazingly we are buying it. In 1978, Unilever launched Fair & Lovely cream, subsequently followed by numerous whitening products like skin bleaches, lotions, shower gel, soaps, and what not. And I read somewhere Indians consumed more skin-whitening cream than anybody else. Of course our population is enormous, but can we be indifferent to the craziness here. In 2005 by Emami launched Fair & Handsome for men. We cannot leave our men behind in this mania. Can we?

Then comes the celluloid. White-skinned actresses like Aishwarya Rai, Katrina Kaif, Kareena Kapoor are called beautiful. I am not saying they are not. At the same time dark-complexioned actresses like Bipasha Basu, Priyanka Chopra, Chitrangada Singh are labelled hot. Unfortunately, all the dusky beauties succumbed to the pressure of skin whitening. It breaks my heart to see Kajol, my one time favourite actress in new avatar. Thousands of girls were looking up to her. She was carrying off her dusky complexion with attitude and ease with expressive eyes and smile to boot. She might be having her reason for undergoing skin melanin surgery.

On a personal note, I am fair by colour. Am I proud of it? I did not do anything to be fair. I am just born this way. People say you don't care about colour because you didn't not have face the chagrin that dark people have to endure in day-to-day life. Maybe or Maybe not. I have seen and heard enough discrimination regarding this even in my family. My mother has a few tales to tell us. When my cousin was born(my mom's niece), baby' paternal grandmother said the baby took her aunt's (my mother)colour despite baby's father being dark himself. Ah...Patriarchy and my views for another post. My mother had to face societal brunt during her growing up years. What made it even worse for her was her siblings who are fairer and believe me the comparison still goes.

A few of my friends who are very beautiful, little dim in colour always had this inferior complex of being dark. They were hoping for fairer child when they were expecting. I have seen my cousins being ridiculed by extended family for their colour. I have seen teachers taunting classmates for their skin. I have seen movies where rude jokes were made on dark-skinned characters. I have seen family members making insensitive comments on a girl when she is being rejected by the prospectus groom. Yes, I have seen it all.

Do you think this madness has anything to do with being ruled by British for more than 300 years. As I know our mythology has characters like Rama, Krishna, Draupadi, goddess Kali and they are very much cherished among us. Why don't we think twice before degrading a person on his/her skin colour. There is more in life than just skin colour. Let us be compassionate and allow people to be comfortable in their skin, no matter dark or white.