Just when I was finalizing
this write-up, I realized it is being published on Independence Day.
Independence. Setting free. Physically, it has been seventy years. Mentally, a
long way to go. A long way for a country obsessed with fair skin.
Why fair is considered
better in India? We associate fair skin with beauty. Dusky or dark skin, which
we are naturally blessed with, is seen lowly in this part of our world when the
other half is dying to get a tanned skin. Bizarre!
Till date, a fair girl is
deemed more eligible for marriage. It is so deep rooted in our society that
most of the times it fails to see beyond the skin color. We might be literate
but not educated for education liberates us from our prejudices. I say so
because no matter how qualified we are, we show that still there is a long way
for us to go before awareness percolates down to every strata of our society in
its true sense.
What made me write about
this issue is when I evidenced a child falling prey to this ugly trait of our
society. Children with dark skin are bullied and are made to feel awful about
themselves by their peers. A 5 year old refusing to go to school unless she is
made to look fairer, read – beautiful and acceptable, using makeup! It is
difficult to gauge the amount of pain this little child is going through,
wounded self respect and confidence. Affronted by peers, little ones again, for
color is beyond comprehension!! I wonder what kind of educated parents and
families in today’s times these children hail from. Definitely children cannot
be blamed for this. It is their families and parents who sow such
discriminating ideology and hostility in these tender minds. India is
developing in so many ways but what about its people. Somehow we are stuck
somewhere, minds harnessed back to the colonial times.
Do not make your own
children’s life miserable by planting such racist ideas. What difference their
acquired thinking would do to others’ lives is another story. It is no worse
than planting weeds and worms in your own crop! Promoting fair and
devaluing dark skin is not less synonymous to living with an ingrown disease. I
am not fair. Have never wanted to be. I was blessed to have a bunch of friends
to whom color did not matter and it never featured as a topic of discussion in
the family as well.
God forbid but just think
what would people, for whom color, beauty and appearance are the most important
parameters, do if something happens which might change their appearance? Would
not they be shattered? What would give them strength at that time to fight the
odds of life? It is the teaching that they have got as to what is more
important in life. Their strength, individuality, their will and determination,
hard work, feeling confident about themselves irrespective of their looks is
what will help sail them through!
Most of the times, we do
not even realize how we indirectly promote fair and devalue dark in our homes,
schools, colleges, work places. Subconsciously, we say things in front of our
kids which makes them associate fair skin with beauty. Mocking others for
physical attributes is not what a responsible and sincere parent would want to
teach. We all should exercise wisdom while discussing sensitive issues when
children are an audience.
Just recently, I was having
a walk in the evening with a friend of mine, a beautiful person inside and out,
always there to help, a kind one would love to hang out with – who happens to
have a dusky complexion. She was upset that she is time and again cursed by her
in-laws for her color and more so that her son has also got her dusky tone
instead of his father’s fair! Does the color of a person actually matter? Isn’t
it like I have two eyes, two hands and two legs, you have two eyes, two hands
and two legs. Shape and size varies and so does the bloody color! Isn’t it that
simple?!
This is for all those
people who think fair is superior. What do you think about APJ Abdul Kalam,
Vanessa Williams, Serena Williams, A.R. Rehman, Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey,
Shakira or Mohammad Ali? Pink-tinted, huh? What makes these insanely
successful, powerful DARK people known worldwide? It is their hard work,
talent, perseverance, strength and their attitude towards life!
Feel free to be glad of
your child’s white skin but teach them to respect others as well regardless of
their color. Don’t become a contributor in tarnishing a child’s confidence and
self respect for life. Adults can handle this though they are also not free of
its effects but here we are talking about little innocent children whose identities
are bruised for life!
There is one more aspect to
this, responsible advertising. There are a number of companies selling fairness
creams in the name of making one fair and beautiful! The problem is not with
the creams or their sellers, but yes the way they are marketed is discriminating
and demeaning. Most of the TV commercials emphasize the fact that the fairer
the skin, the more successful you are. They portray a dark person as depressed,
unsuccessful, under confident, ignored by others and soon after applying the
cream becomes fair and as a consequence successful, attractive and is loved and
respected by others.
Two fold side effects of
these advertisements:
Effect on a dark person
watching this commercial –
1. I have lesser worth than a
fair skin one.
2. I must become fair to
be happy, successful and be socially acceptable.
Effect on a fair person –
1. I am superior because
I am fair and the darker ones are inferior.
2. I have all the rights
to make the dark people feel inferior.
These corporate houses do
owe some contribution towards the society. Creating any kind of discrimination
among the people and making them feel humiliated is least expected of them.
These fairness creams have been successful in India because they know how
powerful a concept fair skin is in our culture. Hindustan Unilever’s Fair and
Lovely is sold in thirty countries across the globe with their major customer
base, no prizes for guessing, Indian community! How obsessed we are with fair
skin!
There is a lesson to be
learnt from Ghana. It has banned all the fairness products effective from
August this year claiming they contain bleaching agents such as hydroquinone,
mercury and clobetasol causing cancer and several other toxicities throughout
the body, already banned in Japan, Europe, US, Australia and Canada. I wish
India followed suit!
Hypocrisy – we are setting
benchmarks! When we adore Baal Gopal, worship Krishna, Shiva and Kali Ma and
find dark-skinned individual not beautiful. There is so much literature in our
culture, old and new that represents dark skin as something that is sensual and
beautiful, also the case with mythology and art, then why such obsession with
white. Remember the clichéd ‘tall, dark and handsome’? Why this bias more so
against women?
Dark, fair, dusky, wheatish
are mere descriptive words, defining one’s physical attributes, not associated
with assessing beauty in anyway. What is not fair is discrimination.
Things are changing for
sure. And people as well. But a lot has to be done. We have to do it. In our
minds. Indian skin is beautiful, the way it is. Feel beautiful the way you are.
You are the one of a kind creation of the Almighty. You have to realize that
you are blessed with something unique like no other. And he made nobody
perfect. Just stop comparing and complaining. Try to find miracles in small
things. Celebrate this little word called Life!!
