Story on the proliferation of fairness creams in India and their impact, for a Uk-based news site
Read the complete piece, here
Like most people, I possess a set of unique and twisted insecurities. In fact, I suspect that I am far more insecure than your average Anita. And yet, there is one aspect about my physical appearance that people of my country are surprised to find I genuinely don’t give a shade about - my skin colour, a fairly common, darker shade of the Indian brown.
I have managed to secure jobs that I aspired for without being discriminated against. And I have enjoyed attention from all kinds of men, including successful and good-looking ones. Yet, everyday I am told differently. That because I am dark, I will not get my dream job or the man I want. That I will be unsuccessful, miserable and unhappy, all because of my skin colour. Like these commercials here and here.
Welcome to the unfortunate business of fairness creams in India.
Colours of history
May be, our colonial past has us feeling deeply inferior about our brown skin. Or it’s our caste system and the widely prevalent belief that fair people belong to higher castes. Interestingly, the Sanskrit word for caste, ‘Varna’, literally translates to colour.
Although, in recent years, experts have said that the colours or Varnas on which the castes were divided – white, red, yellow and black – does not imply skin colour. “It’s not so much the caste system but regional differences that give Indians different skin shades. In northern India, because of their history, people tend to be light-skinned,” says Sociologist Anupama Gandotra. Historically, northern India has been more vulnerable to invasion and foreign settlers and north Indians are commonly perceived as fairer than south Indians. However, dark and fair-skinned people can be seen across the country.
May be I don’t care so much about colour because I grew up in the nineties in urban India, when the country was on the cusp of change and the caste system - at least in the cities - was losing its stronghold. Commercialism hadn’t spread its tentacles yet and at age 13, I was not bombarded with advertisements telling me that I should slather my face with chemicals...
Aarthi! So nice to 'meet' you online. I found it very disturbing how my friends in Pakistan were always talking about how 'fair' people should be. I wrote about my experiences being white in Pakistan on Matador Abroad - I think you'd find it interesting.
ReplyDeletehttp://matadorabroad.com/tales-from-the-frontier-of-expat-life-a-memsahib-in-pakistan/
hahhahah! Your piece was lovely Heather. Especially the end about giving in to being a novelty! The picture shows that you're not just giving in but wholeheartedly embracing it :D :D
ReplyDeleteoh yea the disturbing bit... you distracted me with the humour.
ReplyDeleteYes, it is very. In the 90s I saw the trend sort of dying out in India, especially in the cities because nobody was talking in terms of caste anymore. But suddenly the cosmetic companies swooped in and launched all these creams.
Beautiful in these parts of the world is always affixed with fair.
IS she good-looking? "yes, fair and tall ...." and so on.
The bit in your piece about job offers...I had a friend from Germany who was offered a two-year contract in a top advertising agency without them having seen here work. And this is mumbai... talk about 'privileges'!