To be Fair
I love the fact that India & Indians today are much more self aware , confident, assertive and activist in their outlook than when I left about 12 years ago. One of these activist movements that has garnered momentum and in the right direction is the fight against fairness creams in India and the notion that light coloured skin is associated with confidence and success.
Our gods have always been multi-hued, be it the swarthy depiction of Lord Krishna, the ferocious Ma Kali or the ash smeared destroyer Lord Shiva. These dark gods are worshiped with equal reverence as their fairer brethren. Why then this notion of being ‘fair’ began to be associated with ‘superiority’, I do not know. Perhaps it is an vestige of the caste system, where the higher castes were ‘fairer’ than others. Although there is no empirical evidence to suggest so. It could have been strongly influenced by decades of colonial rule where our then masters were pale skinned.
In any case, this chronic epidemic has seeped into our collective psyche. Be it the the classified ads seeking a ‘fair bride/groom’ or the disgusting display of fairness creams commercials. When I was in India last December, I saw this ad where a dad proposes a groom to his daughter saying, he is well settled, has a bank balance etc. The girl then looks at a mirror longingly thinks , “I want a career, bank balance etc”. I thought , yeah, women empowerment (not the Rahul Gandhi kind) , when a paler than thou Bollywood starlet, Yami Gautam emerges and hands over this fairness cream, for it is the magic wand which will get the girl all this. Could you imagine how many countless. not so fair, not very strong willed woman across India would start doubting their confidence by seeing this. We should not treat our own people like this.
Previously, these ads and the products they peddle were targeted towards woman. But we are not sexist society. Hence, the advent of fairness cream/s for men. ‘Fair and Handsome’, being a famous example of the male counterpart of the ubiquitous ‘Fair and Lovely’. While some might think that one of the heinous crimes committed by the Badshah of Bollywood is acting in IQ diminishing films like ‘Dilwale’ or ‘Happy New Year’, I would differ and say that it is the endorsing of fairness creams. Really Shahrukh Khan, we loved you and elevated you to super stardom because you looked like us, the boy next door, the ones we went to school with or worked with and not like these super pale demigods Bollywood kept bombarding us with. We didn’t relate to these heroes like we did to you. as we didn’t couldn’t tell whether these heroes were from Malibu or Malabar Hill. But you, you were one of us, until you decided to tell us that to become successful we need to emulate you by using skin whitening products. Not a ‘Fan’ Shahrukh. Not a fan.
I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t affected by these ads or products growing up. I was but an Indian in India and in constant scrutiny of people who seemed to posses a well calibrated skin colour meter and gave me detailed measurements of how my complexion improved or diminished since I met them last. I love them, I know they did out of love and there was no malice in their thoughts. But the young and impressionable me did care.
I will tell you when all this changed for me, for good. It was when I came to the land more equal than others – USA. Here, everybody from India was brown, not light or medium or dark brown, just BROWN. I remember back in India, other than people who looked like abandoned progeny of Norse gods, there was rampant comparison among our shades of brown, and I fell into the darkest camp. Some of the coffee with a lot cream folks from India must have been mildly disappointed in America when the double latte me and them were addressed in the same light. It became funny to me when I went back from vacation and family would remark how I had become fairer. It didn’t matter anymore.
All this said, I’m not against products that you need keep you skin glowing and protected no matter what shade you are. Use a sunscreen, the indiscriminate Texas sun can bake my face to crispy pappadam if I were not to use protection. And having suffered terrible acne and sunburns, I have had to use a dermatological prescribed bleach to remove dark spots. I’m not ashamed of wanting clear skin and neither should be anybody else.
How do we prevent/arrest this malice from spreading? And I do mean it to be a mild disease of sorts because I truly believe that our friends, family and well wishers are not inherently racist and this would take a change in societal attitude. Start with family and friends and don’t be militant about it. My dear mother (how can I write an article without mentioning here, love you mom!) had this expression where she would say “Isn’t s/he he beautiful even though they are dark”. I gently reminded her of my own complexion and since then the expression is just – Isn’t s/he he beautiful. Just like that , it was a like a switch flipped in her. Also, when the buying stops , the ads and products will. You don’t need no goddamn fairness product or light sking to make you feel confident. Salute and support stars like Kangana Ranaut whose refuse to endorse such products.Spread awareness, support movements like Unfair and Lovely and Dark Is Beautiful.
10th June, 2016
