I see them in trains; I see them in busses and on streets. They are also to be found in schools, colleges and offices. But no matter how hard I try, I do not see them in the movies or television commercials or soap operas.
Do not be puzzled please. I am talking about the brown skinned people in India. You would see them everywhere and why not! We are after all a nation predominantly of brownness in its varied shades. Why then is this brownness so conspicuously absent from the electronic media! Whichever soap opera I see, whatever commercial assaults my sense of logic is full of fair- skinned Indians. Not a single brown person in sight! I find it a tad bit strange to digest that in a country where brownness is everywhere; there is hardly any representation of the colour in the entertainment industry. By some insane logic even the South Indian cinema is full of women and now even men who look like as if they were locked up in the flour mill before they acted in the movie!
Why just the entertainment industry, even the aviation industry is actively promoting this “ colour” war. Have you ever noticed while flying in Jet airways or Go Air or Spice Jet, how all their cabin crew staff members lean towards the fairer side of the skin tone?
The colour war is not new. It is not even the remains of imperialism as some would like to believe. Because the “evil “ Brits cannot be blamed for everything that is wrong in our country. This unnatural pre-occupation is centuries old., where the Brahmins ( Who were at the top of the caste hierarchy) were fair skinned people by virtue of their roots being in Central Asia. The Shudras ( The lowest in the caste hierarchy), on the other hands were dark skinned, by way of being natives to the land. Gradually the whiteness of the skin ( of which one has no control over) began to be equated with beauty. The whiter you are, the more beautiful you are considered.
No wonder you have adverts over adverts of dejected looking brown-skinned women applying fairness cream or standing under a particular brand of tube-light ( Yes that’s true. One of the brands manufacturing tube lights promises “instant” fairness” as its USP) to becoming fair and then getting married to the man who rejected them earlier because they were not “beautiful”. Which self respecting woman would marry a man who rejects her on the basis of something as inconsequential as the colour of her skin! Wait, hold on, that’s not it. I urge you to pick up any newspaper in any Indian language on a weekend and go to the Matrimonial section . A standard line that is found with a minor variation is “ Wanted a slim, beautiful, fair-skinned bride……..”. Are the 80% plus women in India who unfortunately fall into the “ Not fair” category not allowed to get married?!
With the changing times, the companies have changed their strategies to promote the colour bias. Now, instead of dark skinned women applying fairness cream to get married, the cream is applied to secure a job! We might have moved on from marriage to economic self sufficiency but the yard stick remains the same: Fair skin. The implication of all such regressive commercials is to declare that not just beauty but your professional capabilities and confidence too are contingent upon how many shades lighter can you make your skin .
I have over the past few months become conscious of a startling fact. The celebrities and movie actors who had a brown skin tone when they started out a few years back, have magically become many shades lighter. And has anyone noticed how the models in the fairness creams ads are ever so fair even before applying the cream.
As a child and a teenager , I have often been asked if I was a South Indian or if my parents had adopted me. All these years later, I would do anything to be born in the Southern part of India, which boasts of not just a wide array of gastronomical delights but some exceptionally brilliant minds that India has ever produced. Nor does adoption makes any difference to me anymore towards how I feel for my parents. The sole reason that I was asked these questions was the fact that I am brown, very brown. Moreover, I am many shades browner than any of my family members!
Our bodies are meant to be loved and cared for. They are not the subject matter of public or media scrutiny. No one has the right to tell you that your body is not perfect. You are perfect the way you are: black, white, brown yellow…. Each one of them is unique, each of them is beautiful.
Add new comment