The entire “gora chamra” fixation is getting to me! With the pujas barely a month away, its amazing how nearly all my family have realized my “awful tan” and are trying their unusual best to get rid of mind, apart from the scores of fairness creams available in the market, my skin has gone through lengthy battles with multani mitti, chandan, besan, lemon, tomatoes and the like. Apart from being really, unhappy and irritated, I’m amazed to learn about everyone’s knowledge on getting “fairer” skin! Talk about prejudice!
To make things worse, last Sunday’s matrimonial column was far from its usual amusing self! Horrifyingly, every male in the country, starting from age 22 till maybe their last few days on earth, seem to be on a “heroic” quest – finding themselves the perfect Indian bride! Irrelevant of other qualities, the poor creature most definitely needs to be fair! For all one knows, the poor wretched NRI just might find himself stuck in an enclosure with his “perfect bride”, who not very surprisingly resembles a lump of lard and has brains perhaps lesser than a pea’s!
What exactly is the country coming to? What happened to respecting intelligence, charm and independence? Why do all Indian women have to feel so degraded for a patriarchal society’s perverse fetish? Why can’t women in search of a groom demand for some “fair and handsome” man, who’ll be “well built, educated and homely”?
In an act of rebellion, I have decided that t he next time someone comes close to commenting about my skin tone, I shall remind them of their age, wrinkles, et al! I shall remind them of the times their fair daughters came home crying cuz they were called “really stupid’ in school and of course, I shall gift their not so fair sons tubes of fairness creams!
And as for me, I’m perfectly sane… dark, short, ugly doesn’t really make a huge difference in my life! I’m happy the way I am… thank you! I’m an intelligent, successful woman and I don’t give a flying rat’s ass about achieving the “rare Indian beauty”! And everyone else, fair or dark, considering that you have a single brain cell, shouldn’t care either! Trust me, beauty can never be skin deep!!!
Pip! Pip!
