India, a country which progresses forward and yet its own stigmas plunges its people backward. One of the stigma is the need for fairness. To prove my point I will now write some examples.
Name : Arpita Gupta
Age : 25(fictitious one)
City : Delhi
Looks : Very Beautiful
Complexion : Very fair
Qualifications: B Tech, MBA (not actual ones)
Then a photo shopped picture is attached.
Guy's family: The girl is so beautiful, educated and she earns as well. We will arrange a meeting next day,
The next day when they see the girl they feel a little bit disappointed since she is not as fair as in the picture, but beautiful. She has other qualities which make it up. His parents reject her mentally because she has a wheatish complexion. But the guy falls in love with her due to her other qualities. He tells his parents that he likes her and they agree.
At marriage, some relatives ask, "Your guy looks good, why have you chosen her? She is not even fair."
The parents, with despair evident on their faces, "He liked her and so we weren't left with an option."
*******
This is a real life incident.
At the doctor's place
Mom: Her pimple scars will be vanished na?
Doctor : Be assured of that. If she applies the drops I have given her regularly, then her colour will also become fair. See, already there is a lot of impact on her skin tone. It has become much lighter than before.
Mom: It is also because I apply a lot of home made face packs everyday so that she becomes fairer.
Doctor: Her colour isn't dusky naturally. She had a fair tone when she was born.
Mom: Yeah but she doesn't take care of her skin so her colour got down.
After some time a lady comes to her and takes an Ayurvedic fairness cream from her shop (she operates a clinic and a wholesale homeopathy medicine shop simultaneously).
Doctor: I don't know why people have this obsession with fairness. People should appreciate their skin tone. The lady which came wants to be as fair as my daughter in law. But she doesn't understand that it is difficult. Indian people naturally have a wheatish skin tone with sharp features, which makes them beautiful.
Mom : I agree.
And then they blabber and I don't listen to them.
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I want to ask all the readers, why is this phrase existing and being blatantly used, 'Beautiful but not fair' or 'Saanvli hai par sundar hai'. Why can't we use 'Dusky and beautiful' or 'Saanvli hai aur sundar hai'. Why do we associate being fair with beauty? The entertainment industry and bollywood has increased our obsession with fairness. We see that heavily laden heroines and think we should be like them. Why can't we accept ourselves the way we are?
I am sure many of the dusky people would have experienced some kind of teasing at some point of time. I had a dusky skin tone during my school days and my bus friends left no stone unturned to tease me on that. I had to constantly hear comments like 'Kali Madhuri Dixit', 'Kaali kaluti baingan looti' and all that. In a modelling dhow, there were girls who told that the were never treated with much respect by their relatives and friends due to their skin colour and that lead to depression.
Skin colour is a genetic things plus a result of climatic conditions. There are six gene alleles that determine your skin colour. No one can do much in it(I am not talking about cosmetic treatments and all that).
There are a lot of fairness creams in the market like Fair and Lovely. Their sales are on a rise because of our attitude that being fair is being beautiful. The fairness creams, if used for a long time, makes the face very sensitive and thin.
There was a campaign started by Nandita Das, called dusky is beautiful. It tried to make people appreciate all colours and skin tones. But still, the skyrocketing sales of creams like Fair and Lovely and Fair and Handsome, show that much has to be done in this regard.
Your colour doesn't define anything about you. Your colour will not help you with your job or your grades. What is important is how much fair and rational you are from inside. You get real friends not by your colour, but by what you are. Be proud with what you are and live with panache and style.