BLACK AND WHITE SKIN

Why are Indians obsessed with fair skin?


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Aisa kyun hota hai? Indianz love  fair skin? Its very sad to note that people do it (even I am an Indian). Have you seen that serial Saloni ka safar? Its the truth they showed they consider dark gurls a curse in society. Eight observations on skin color in India:

1. A fair-skinned person is considered attractive regardless of whether that person has a symmetrical face or a healthy figure. I've noticed that certain people who would not be considered attractive in the United States are considered beautiful in India because of their light skin. The flip side is that some who are considered unattractive because of darker skin would be considered attractive in countries outside of India. The equation is simple: in India, light skin equals beauty.

2. In India, you can insult a person by calling her dark. I've heard these absurd insults several times. For example, an acquaintance was trying to insult another woman by saying, ;She's really dark. You know, really dark. She hides it with her creams and she keeps herself light but she is actually really dark. Good one! Zing! You got her good!

3. I've asked my mates to tell me which Hollywood actors and actresses they consider most attractive. Instead of choosing thespians with brown complexions similar to most South Asians' complexions (e.g. Denzel Washington, Halle Berry, Salma Hayek, et al.), they invariably choose light-skinned actors like Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, and Tom Cruise.

4. If one looks at the Bombay Times, Bollywood films, or Indian models, he will notice that the paragon of beauty is that of a light-skinned person with aquiline features. Indian movie stars do not resemble the men and women on the streets of Bombay or other Indian cities. India's movie stars look like light-skinned Iranians, Turks, or Spaniards who speak Hindi.

How many Indians have complexions like Aishwarya Rai or Hrithik Roshan? How many Indians have green eyes like Aishwarya Rai? Probably less than 0.5% of Indians.

5. The most common quip against Sonia Gandhi is that she is ;foreign born and Italian. Yet Indians never criticize the fact that several Bollywood stars are foreign-born or half-Indian, half-white. For example, Yana Gupta, dancer in several Bollywood movies and model for Lakme Cosmetics, is from the Czech Republic. John Abraham, star of Dhoom, is half Iranian and half Malayali. And Katerina Kaif, featured in Sarkar, was born and raised in England and is half British, half Indian.

My point is not to imply that the aforementioned actors are unattractive (I think they are all attractive). My point is that these people are far lighter than the vast majority of Indians, and this says a lot about Indian standards of beauty.

6. Unilever, through its Indian affiliate Hindustan Lever, produces a ;power brand called ;Fair and Lovely, according to Unilever Malaysia (this product is sold not only in India but in 38 countries around the globe) is meant to, ;unlock the secret of glowing fair skin... [and] unveil your natural radiant fairness in just 6 weeks; According to a 2003 article in Women's eNews, India's ;fairness industry; accounts for 60% of skincare sales and brings in USD $140 million annually.

7. Many Indians go to great lengths to avoid getting tanned and to maintain the lightest skin color possible. They consciously avoid the sun because too much sun can ruin a ;fair and lovely; face.

8. In India, light skin seems to confer a sense of entitlement. Because many Indians fawn over those with less melanin, lighter skinned people learn that it is normal to be stared at and to be deferred to.