Fair & lovely

For years now the Afghan snow was replaced by the fairness cream. The women all over swooned over it. How can a cream make you fair & also lovely just by using it regularly? But the marketing tagline did wonders. Recently it has been changed to ‘Glow & lovely’.

Watching the show, ‘Rang Maza Vegala’ actually wanted to say Kaala i.e. black ! The daughter-in-law being ill-treated for her dark complexion. The mother-in-law Saundarya, owner of a unit manufacturing fairness cream. I wondered why are we regressing to colour now. But looking around found it exists & all over the world.

We may not blatantly say but it is in the minds. The ads for the marriageable have the skin tone writ large! The boy may have specs but the girl should not. Actually the specs are inherited from the father! He may be dark but the girl needs to be fair & lovely!

What Meghan Markle did endure we may never know but she did experience hurt & that is enough for us to conclude that the Royals are not different from us. They live in style but eat, drink & have opinions like us. Shobha De or Simi garewal may have their views but so do we.

Hindu deities like Ram, Krishna, Shiva have dark, glowing skins. Loved for ages & will forever. If their fair consorts have no complaints… but again the dark skinned Draupadi has the pivotal role in Mahabharata. None of her husbands were dark skinned. She was coveted by all. Her father had to arrange a Swayamvar to marry her off. From Duryodhan to Karna all wanted to win her.

If we never cared for the skin tone, how did we fall into the trap later? Why is it so important to be fair skinned?? Is it fair? The parents we have give us the genes for the skin tone. The region in which we resides the intensity of the sun rays. The melanin decides our colour, then how do we become so infatuated by colour?

How can every dark skinned person have dark thoughts? The fairest can harbour the vilest minds. Skin is just the skin. The outer covering protecting the inner delicate parts. An inch or less & we are smitten by it? Shouldn’t we care more for what lies within? We definitely need to rethink!