I was just reading this article in Outlook about how this election perhaps proves that voters are not swayed by religion, caste etc any more. At least not the majority of them. I am not fully convinced about it, because Congress did play the caste card frequently. But nevertheless it is a good piece and we need more discussions like these.
It actually got me thinking about how much discrimination exists in India today. Both negative and positive discrimination. By negative I mean, decreasing opportunities for people of a certain segregation. Its the discrimination we all know. And by positive I mean, creating opportunities for people of a certain segregation, like reservations in universities, jobs, etc. My post is too short for me to give enough justice to both the discriminations, I hate so much. I also feel so strongly against them that I don’t think I can write sanely and make any sense.
So I will just talk about one not so invisible discrimination, but rarely talked about. Color.
I’ve been thinking a lot about it after my two weeks in Switzerland. For the first time ever in Switzerland I felt comfortable in my skin color and body appearance. Let me explain. I am dark skinned and Indians would call me ’skinny’. Both these characteristics have been the exploited to the core by my friends while teasing me. When I was a kid, being teased about being of a skin color not considered to be desirable by popular notion, made me cry. Later it just became easier to laugh at myself and secretly keep applying mom’s ‘Fair & Lovely’ to try and lighten my skin tone. And the first thing my female relatives or friends of my mom, would remark on seeing me after a long time, would be ‘You’ve grown darker.’ As if that was an unfortunate thing. I won’t even discuss that this obsession with fair skin seems to be more female driven than male. Seen the disgusting ‘Fair & Lovely’ ads? Only fair women get jobs and husbands. This is very well reflected in the matchmaking sections of the newspapers. Mentioning skin color is almost neccesary. And the high prevalance of ‘fair’ in the postings makes me think that perhaps dark skinned people feel inferior to even take out a posting.
What really pains me though is that I see this among my educated friends as well. Jokes about my dark skin seem so juvenile and painful to me that everytime a friend tries that on me, I hate him a little more for being so insensitive. People might say it doesn’t affect daily lives or hiring process. But I know for a fact that it does. I know for sure it does affect men’s perceptions of women, not very sure about vice-versa, but considering women are more obsessed with such trivialities I would be surprised if it didn’t. At my university, I was a part of a club(rather a festival department) which blatantly would recruit new female members on the basis of looks. If you conformed to commonly accepted notions of beauty, like fair skin, you were in unless of course someother club had snatched you already. I am sure the members of the club would go on to try and hire women for their looks in their day jobs as well.(This is not a jab at my club, but at the entire new member recruitment system at Pilani.)
So in India when I go to Northern cities, first thing people try guessing which state I might be from and then immediately expect me to be stereotypical. They are surprised when I speak fluent unaccented Hindi and curse that people down south don’t know any other languages, while they are content with speaking a single tongue and bad english. And then they are obsessed with skin color, going to no end with foundation creams and talcum powder to enhance theirs. That obsession extends to making fun of my ‘Gult’(slang for people from Andhra Pradesh) skin color.
This is simply insensitive and a very corrosive feature of our Indian society to consider dark skin as inferior.
So in Switzerland I was actually surprised when people didn’t stare(I get more stares walking in some Delhi lanes). People didn’t judge or size me up by my skin color. I expected some to immediately assume I was Indian or Sri Lankan, but I was always asked where I was from. And I didn’t feel any insensitivity about being Indian or dark skinned. Having friends who are shamelessly stereotypical, I initially made a few bad jokes about being American or China. I stopped the second I realized I was being a jerk.
In the entire country, entertainment industry especially is obsessed with fair skinned actors. In fact Frieda Pinto had no chance of entering the movie industry if it wasn’t for the western director. Andhra Pradesh movie industry hardly has any dark female actors. Dark male actors are used only for comic or negative characters. Now this is discrimination on the basis of color.
Think about it. How does it make sense that fair skin is better than dark skin? We love dark clothes, but wouldn’t like a dark skin? Isn’t beauty a matter of perception? I personally find dark skin more attractive than fair skin, but that doesn’t mean I let that inhibit my logic and discriminate against people with lighter skin. Think very hard about for how long has this idea about dark skin being uglier than fair skin has been stuck in your head. It is time that we as society stopped being
This is me.
Me
And I have a beautiful skin tone. I will no longer stop myself from being indecent when you are not decent enough to consider my feelings while making my skin color the object of your poor sense of humor.
Addition after reading Gangu’s comment. I am not against being jocular about this issue or trying to be extremely politically correct about this. What I can see is that such things are so deeply ingrained in our Indian psyches that it plays a role while making judgments. Now that is unfortunate. I agree not many would see the point of this post, but perhaps you would if you stand outside this all in my shoes and then think. A close friend pointed out that we have so many prejudices today, things we just can’t explain. Like naturally assuming beautiful people as dumb, there are so many of these that we suffer from. I think it is important that as we progress as a society, we would get rid of some of them.
ps: My friends reading this might find it surprising that I’ve written about this because I’ve never spoken about this to anybody since I was, maybe 10yrs old. I’ve ignored it for a long time but it does bother me.
I think the prejudice has cultural connotations – India, USA, Germany are few countries where skin color is still a tool for discrimination. However, countries like Switzerland and inherently multi-cultural and hence the problem does not exist. That being said, I think it will take years (maybe generations) for this bias to change (as many cultural trends do). But we are already making the transition from ‘fair’ to ’sultry’ in our very own crappy film industry.
It seems so trivial to jest at someone based on color, hence even more surprising that sensibilities could be offended by the same. But the matter becomes serious when the discrimination extends beyond mere jocular remarks.
Oh, and I can’t help refuting your point about beauty – true, fairness is an accepted notion of beauty but it is by no means a necessary and sufficient condition.
I never said it was a sufficient condition. And this is no mathematics problem.
Dude I am genuinely sorry if I ever acted like a d*ck. I just hope I haven’t. And yes, thanks for also bringing the bigger picture of discrimination into focus.
finally you have written something which really moved me,do u know i always thought u were sexy
,i too recall jeering at ur complexion once or twice,but i still thought u were sexy 
but,one thing u haven’t considered is that ur world might have been a lot less brighter had u not been as smart as you are,for as you are moving forward in life,u are spending more of ur time in places where the density of smart,open-minded ppl is much higher.I dare u to come back to places still stuck in time,like our school,say,and u will find ppl still the same.
Just a question. Why do Indians say that Wheatish is the standard Indian complexion? How is the color of wheat more representative than all the other colors??? I take offense because it’s like saying that darker complexiones aren’t as Indian. My guess is that it’s Indians way of psychologically distancing themselves from being dark-skinned or as a form of denial about what they look like as a nation. Another thing. Has anyone noticed how Indians view of their skin tones is more appropriate for Saudis than Indians? What Indians consider light, medium and dark is way too skewed toward lighter complexions and leaves too many out. Frieda Pinto is not dark. She’s not even medium and neither is Bipasha. In reality light skinned is just about any Bollywood actress, from Aiswarya to Bipasha. Medium is Paraminder Nagra http://theyoungandsassy.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/parminder-nagra.jpg
and dark is Mindy Kaling http://www.accidentalsexiness.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/mindysag1.jpg or these
http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/04asdlYbfJ69L/610x.jpg
http://siteresources.worldbank.org/SOUTHASIAEXT/Images/223545-1220369774093/india_aprprafp.jpg
This is the correct way because it’s more realistic and inclusive of all Indian complexiones and doesn’t offensively leave so many to be called “extremely dark.” Anyone agree?
I think indian (and even sri lankan, pakistani and bengalis) should leave their slavish attitude towards white-standards.
Beauty doesn’t include criterias like skin ton, it’s too rubbish to think like this. Look, nowadays every top actress is dying for having a nice tan and people think pale faces are old-fashionned and qualified as ” ugly” … but here too , it’s totally rubbish.
Beauty is a notion which is not about skin ton but the whole internal and external content of an individual.
Down wid ppl still thinking that fair-skinned people are prettier or smarter. Better having a glowing dark skin than a lousy white-skin
I have to add here to what you say (and it’s all too true, unfortunately). When I was in final year in college, we had a “beauty and grooming” workshop, which was compulsory for all graduating history majors. I was quite mad, because we hadn’t had any real career counseling. So, after considering giving the workshop a miss, I finally attended – wearing black and refusing to participate in any demonstrations or anything. I was shocked to find that much of the emphasis of this workshop was on fairness and how to achieve it. Bleaching, fairness creams and honey treatments dominated discussion. Towards the end, the person conducting the workshop even had the nerve to say “No one cares how well you think or how good your brains are. What you say won’t matter unless you have the face to go with it.”
I was born to a dark father and a “wheatish” skinned mother…I remember growing up my parents would always tell me that I needed to get a good education because otherwise no one would want to marry me since I am so dark. I grew up always trying to put on skin lightening things and doing anything to try and make myself lighter. I went to med school and almost ready to graduate and hoping that my parents change their attitude. Well, again I heard it from my dad the other day: I’m dark and not pretty and no one’s going to marry me. Well, this is the reason why I never have and never will date an Indian man; I refuse to be judged just based upon my skin color. My Black boyfriend recognizes the beauty of my skin color and realizes that my beauty does not just end there…
You are indeed a very handsome man. I think you skin color brings out your good looks!
I have a South Indian co-worker here in California. She’s very dark, and with well cut sharp features. Look’s really good. At this age of 24 she still goes into a shell. Do you know why ?
As a 6-7 year old kid, at a school in New Delhi, she used to be made to feel low, wretched because she was dark. Those kids called her “dirty” and isolated her. They called her bad words in Hindi (which she did not know too well).
Albeit they were all kids, but it represents upfront, what adults do covertly, behind the back. The poor girl still can’t help feel touchy when she meets a Delhiite. Hah !
As a Bombay kid & Gujrati, we were never exposed to colour biases.
I am a typical African-American woman of mixed heritage and it saddens me to know that the beautiful Indian people are caught in the same web of colorism as we are. Don’t ever be ashamed of your color!!! Remember that the slave holders and colonial rulers in our pasts used the trick of color to divide and conquer us. The light-skinned Indian women are all you see in those very entertaining Bollywood videos. I wish they would use more dark-skinned women to play the leading lady because to me they are twice as beautiful! Just know that you will always be welcomed in most communities comprised of darker people of color.
“I wish they would use more dark-skinned women to play the leading lady because to me they are twice as beautiful!”
^I totally agree! Particularly the last part.
good discussion
@neil
I totally agree to your point about delhites/rather north indians as a whole being small minded. I also hail from Mumbai and I must reiterate that I would have found Ana’s blog pointless had I never been to north-India. (But I have definitely been _enlightened_ about the so-called elite fair-skinned Indians for two years)
And I think there’s a historical reason, as Chica pointed out. Imagine the world if Africans and Indians would have been wiser before the English and conquered and divided the world with the idea of dark skin as the more elegant and beautiful class.
It isn’t mere coincidence or not even a play of fate (as many nutheads would claim) that black/dark population resides majorly in the third-world. Its exactly the consequence of colonialism by the whiter side of the world….
1. I agree that someone should have raised the issue
2. Some comments about historical colonialism being responsible for this have been interesting
3. Yes, North India is much more colour-infected
But I still do not get the point of everyone coming together to celebrate the supremacy of darker skin tone (as is shown in some comments) or any other skin for that matter. I mean apart from the chance that we happen to share the same colour (and hence the discrimination) there is hardly anything binding us. In some ways, some comments here just aim to tilt the balance in favour of their skin-type more than anything else. Injustice/ discrimination hurts, I have felt it. But this is hardly the response expected.
I’m not sure but maybe these responses (incl. this one) isn’t what Aana had in mind when he posted this. And for the record, I don’t know if I should be considered fair or dark because I’ve a lot of other things to worry about which I can control.
This is a germane time to have a real conversation on the role of skin colour in India.
What are the social and economic consequences of having dark skin. I should qualify this
by saying that Im not talking about the Indian cinema notion of dark skin but skin that is at least as dark as Abhishake’s, there is of course even darker shades of skin colour that
many Indians have. I doubt that any of the major Indian universities have even looked into the matter. Most of us know though, from personal experiences, that people lose jobs, friendships, and potential mates, all due to skin colour. I recall watching NDTV with Burka dutt
having a rather juvenile dialogue on skin color. One of the audience members admitted that he prefers to hire light skinned sales girls, so not to lose business. Now if his daughter were denied a job in Australia due to her ethnicity he would be steaming mad. There is an element of hypocrisy in the minds of those who feel it is ok to discriminate against dark skin.
Abishake’s main point, that skin color insults affected his mental well being, is something that hurts both the target and nation. People with a depressed morale due to social harassment or social discrimination aren’t able to fully participate in life. And, for a nation that needs all of its people to live to their potential, skin colour discrimination is a retarding factor.
I could go on but this is a blog. But I’m glad you posted something on this matter, Abhishake.
The time has come for Indians to take an honest look at the society they are creating.
Academics should study the effects of skin color discrimination so we can better understand all
of its implication. Parents and schools should have no tolerance for this kind of behavior.
Corporations, including those in Indian cinema, should look at whether there are any formal or informal discrimination going on in their companies.
Many of the current practices of those who discriminate against those with dark skin are akin
to American attitudes and legislation in the decades after the end of slavery. The infamous Jim Crow laws prohibited african-americans from living their lives freely. Skin color discrimination impinges on the freedom of others to pursue and live life according to their work ethic an abilities. Fundamental change is needed to tackle something that so pervasive in Indian society. To end this evil, we need to begin having open, honest discussions on skin colour.
I have only started watching Bollywood movies recently and I have noticed that those of us that are of the darker complexion are always in the back. I say us being an African-American woman. I remember being called a darkie by my own great grandmother who might have been two shades lighter. India will eventually get over the skin issue many African Americans had the same mind set. If you were too dark you looked like a slave and if you were light it was alright because you had to have some white blood and that was considered a compliment. For decades some blacks passed as whites because they were so light. They were sure to sever all ties to the black families they came from and died as whites because living as one was much easier than living as a black man or woman.
. I think that you are a very good looking man no matter what the skin tone the heart is so much more important than the skin tone. After all white Europeans spend good money to try to imitate what we blessed with naturally.