THE HIDDEN APARTHEID

India has always advocated human rights and social equality. It has always supported the countries fighting against apartheid. In fact, India is known to be a “Defender of Social Rights”. But India is a developing country. A developing country has to eradicate all its problems in order to grow. Several issues have been raised by many people. But there are some issues, people have forgotten or rather want to forget. One such issue is growing apartheid in the 21th century.

Fair skin is believed to be the symbol of purity and aristocracy. It is believed to be the ladder to success and happiness. This is prominent especially in the marriage market and the matrimonial columns.

“WANTED Extremely Beautiful and Fair Complexioned Girl for handsome IIT Graduate.”

If we look at any matrimonial site in India all profiles would self-describe them as fair, attractive etc… but none of them would call themselves dark. But, majority of Indians are brown rather than fair.

Don’t dark boys and girls deserve to get married? Why this biasness or preference for fair complexioned? People also get over excited whenever they see a fair skinned foreigner. They show off and couldn’t stop staring at them.

It is not only the marriage market that fair complexioned is desired. Any glamorous field, be it media, acting, airlines, hotels etc requires so called beautiful, fair and handsome people. Don’t dark/wheatish complexioned people fit that definition?

This has given rise to the use of fairness creams in India. The ads for these creams showing girls getting jobs or getting married after using these creams should be discontinued. One such ad shows a girl using a fairness cream goes on to win a dance contest. I have only one question-

WHAT HAS FAIR SKIN GOT TO DO WITH DANCE?

Does that mean that she wasn't a good dancer when she was dark? Or does it mean that only fair skinned people are talented and successful?

Our national obsession with fair skin is perhaps a hangover of white colonial dominance. The foreigners inculcated in us the belief that they were superior because of their fair skin. In fact, much of the colonization happened on the premise that white skin was superior and now this has been so ingrained into our mentalities. Not to mention all those fairy tales that you read of princesses who were fair as “snow” and beautiful as “rose”.

What is funnier is that India is a country where majority of the people are black/brown rather than fair.

Decades ago, a know-all neighbor of mine commented: "If a girl is fair complexioned and the boy is earning well, it's certainly a perfect match. Nothing else matters." By and large, this is still the common yardstick to measure qualities of a groom. Education, job, family background, talent and even moral values, are often all set aside in favour of bride's fair skin. It's a saving grace when all qualities are lacking. Bollywood heroines and heroes croon gore gore/, banke chhore, gora gora/ chand sa mukhra, goriya tu kahan chali, gaon ki gori, etc.

Ayurvedic fairness creams have extracts of roses, aloe Vera, walnuts, oranges, saffron, licorice, wheat germs, and even pearls. Niacin amide, titanium dioxide and hydrolyzed milk proteins are some of chemicals contained in fairness cosmetics. Dermatologists say that chemicals can cause unseen damage at the cellular level like sloughing. Basic skin tone cannot be changed. Milk proteins can lighten it to some extent and that too temporarily, after prolonged use. Fairness creams, claiming to transform dark ducklings into white swans, fail to deliver their promised results but they do sell hope! Even beauty saloons do a brisk business by applying bleach packs, churning out temporarily fair women. Bleaching creams' key chemical ingredients are hydrogen peroxide and ammonium bicarbonate, often resulting in temporary itching, reddening and burning of skin. The fairness cream business earned over $ 200 million in 2007 and over $ 300 million by May 2008!!

William Blake's famous poem The Little Black Boy reveals that ultimately the colour of one's skin does not matter at all, but it is one's deeds that count, when one goes to Almighty after death.

“My mother bore me in the southern wild,

And I am black, but oh my soul is white!

White as an angel is the English child,

But I am black, as if bereaved of light.”

When the Australian Cricket Team accused us of being racists, we defended ourselves and the people rampaged and burned effigies of the Aussie cricketers. But when one ponders over these allegations, he finds that yes, it is true.

It is unfortunate that a country which worships Goddess Kali and Lord Krishna (who is also called Ghanshyam), is so much obsessed with fair skin. If being black, is a curse, then people like Morgan Freeman, Barrack Obama and Oprah Winfrey and Indians like Bipasha Basu, Nana Patekar, etc would not have been popular.

I, too, want to be fair and handsome. But not by skin….but by heart.

POPULAR BLACK SKINNED INDIANS

· Nana Patekar, 3 time National Award winner.

· Late Smita Patil, a veteran actress.

· Bipasha Basu, India’s popular actress and model today.

· Barkha Dutt, leading news reporter.

· APJ Abdul Kalam, former President of India.

And many others who’ve reached the pinnacle of their glory not by the colour of their skin but by their hard work, sincerity , perseverance and determination.