My fair lady

India won independence in 1947, sixty years ago. But somewhere, we are still being subjected to some kind of subjugation, especially women. What is utterly annoying, is the fact, that we Indians, ourselves are doing it. Open any matrimonial ad in any regional or English newspaper; it starts in a similar fashion. “A fair, good-looking, Gujarati/Marathi/Punjabi/Tamil lady wanted for an educated, well-settled man...” Why do we need to only fair damsels? What is wrong with brown skinned girls or the variations of the same? We are Indians, a mixed race of Dravidians and Aryans, we are supposed to be brown, and for few ‘lucky’ of us, beige. Being fair skinned, with light eyes and hair, is being Caucasian, which we aren’t.

Many say that it is a colonial hangover. A brown man’s burden. Being fair is likened with being good, and being dark, with bad. In matrimonial settings, a girl who is fair skinned is always preferred over a dark skinned one. This is encouraged by the advertisements that we see on television. All fairness creams commercials reflect only one thing, dark skinned girls always face failure, and then with quick application of these fairness creams, they suddenly become casperish fair, and immensely successful. The treatment meted out to the dark skinned girls, before their make over is very disturbing. They are made fun of, insulted and refrained from taking up jobs due to their skin colour. Discrimination on the grounds of skin colour is called racism. Everyday, when Indians watch their favorite television shows, and then watch these advertisements during commercial breaks, are watching an act of racism take place on their television screens. Indians are racist. A bold, inexcusable, fact. We are against our own kind.

When a child is born, every body wants to know whether it is a healthy fair child. Even in commercials, one can never find a dark skinned child/ baby artiste. ‘Dark skinned daughters are a burden’, a theme currently running in two television shows, reflects our society. A mother worried about her dark skinned daughter’s marriage prospects, but forgetting, the charm and beauty and brilliance of her child is a reality which no Indian can deny. We as a country are obsessed with being fair. We have fairness creams for women and a new range of fairness creams for men. Many forget that fairness creams contain bleach. When people apply these creams on their face every day, they are bleaching their face every day, thus, blemishing their natural complexion. Unfortunately, fairness creams is a huge industry in India and has an enormous consumer support. Until we realize the irrationality of our expectations, the consumption of this product and utter racism that it spews, is going to continue.

To summarize, it is of utmost importance for us recognize our folly and make amends in our thoughts and actions. We need to stop this foolish discrimination against our own people and accept our skin colour the way it is. Whatever one may call it, brown, wheatish, coffee, chocolate, or beige, it should not determine who we are as a person, but just be a part of us.