One evening, I stared at my laptop, hearing actress Nandita Das talk about “Dark is beautiful”. Being dark myself, I used to wonder why Indian women are so obsessed with their fairness creams, carrot juices and skin bleaches. The number of advertisements on fairness creams and whitening sprays has increased more than ever in the media and every news anchor to actress on the wide screen has been sprayed with white paint from top to toe. Due to the influence of the media and the commercial market, the definition of beauty has been trimmed down to being ‘fair’.
This has affected the public (Indian women) to such an extent that they strongly believe that their lives depend upon it. Men are better liked being rugged, muscular and dusky while the women are adored only when they are as white as a sheet and svelte. India, where disparity according to the colour of the skin was never prevalent in history, has now join edthe list of racist countries in the world. Most of the women splurge on their sun block and avoid stepping out in the sun just to preserve whatever white is in there. The society has stooped low to a cheap trend that if a woman is dark, she might possibly not get any attention from the opposite sex and there is also a notion that these dark women also do not have better chances in high-profile jobs like that of pilots and air-hostess.
If we look into the matrimonial sections of the newspaper, there are advertisements wanting fair, sleek women from the same caste for some NRI man to marry. This kind of prejudice lowers the self-esteem of the Indian women to an extreme level. Being dark is unique and beautiful in its own way. It is high time that the media-influenced, self-obsessed mob of humans learn to give respect to all the people whether dark or fair.
