Mirror Mirror on the wall.. who’s the fairest of them all..?
How many times have you looked yourself in the mirror and wished if you cud have been more fairer.!! How many times have you changed your beauty creams, lotions, soaps for getting a fair skin. How many times have you envied someone more fairer than you.
If you haven’t done any of these, then there are two possible outcomes —
1. You really have a fair skin.
2. You should get your eyes checked to a doctor.
Dear reader, today I am going to take you on a journey of my life, where I was one among those who wanted a fair skin.
It all started when my history teacher in 7th Grade explained to the class about the two major races that reside in the Indian subcontinent- the Aryans and the Dravidians. The Aryans are fair skinned for the most part and the Dravidians are of darker complexion. In a nation where your caste & race will determine if your son gets a Mercedes Benz or a Maruti 800, this difference in skin color is a critical distinction . The darker you are , the inferior you get. And thus arises the association of fair with superior and dark with inferior. But I did not want to be the inferior one. I did not want to be the neglected one in this society. And thus I started using “Fair & Lovely.”
A huge dab of Fair & Lovely cream in the morning & evening. I was inspired by these advertisements of fair & lovely where the girl gets recognized for her color. And thus the ritual started. Every morning I took bath with Mysore Sandal soap, put on a huge dab of Fair & Lovely cream on my face, hands and all possible places you cud imagine. And then finally top it off with “Ponds” talcum powder. I weighed almost 50gms more with them on me. Besides all these beauty products, I also started consuming almonds on a daily basis. Now if you are from a middle class family, you’ll know how much these dry fruits mean to us. My mom used to hide these and use it only on special festive occasions or when guests arrived. These dry fruits are a symbol of sophistication for the middle class. One fine day, my mom realized that the stock of almonds in the house were depleting faster. And my mom knew it was me. According to her, I was the “high maintenance” child. I was spending a lot on beauty products + almonds.
“Obviously this has to stop”, she said to me.
And how did I react,
“Don’t you want a fair skinned daughter-in-law!!, Don’t you want your grandchildren to have a fair complexion!!… Don’t blame if they turn out to be dark..”
My mom thought about this for a moment and without saying a word, went out to market for shopping groceries. But when she returned, she surprised me by bringing a box of “kesar/saffron”. Guys, if you don’t know, let me tell you.. that saffron is given to expectant mothers, so that their babies are born with a fair complexion.
Fair & Lovely, Mysore sandal soap, ponds talcum powder, almonds and saffron were more dearer to me now. But nothing changed. I was still the same color. It was year 2005 and then came the advent of “Fair & Handsome”, the solution for men’s worries. I was drawn to it like a magnet. I was probably one of the first 50 customers, Emami had. And with that as one of my fair skinned girlfriends suggested me to use “Dove” soap, I did that too. All these left a huge hole in my pocket. I had spent a fortune for these beauty products, and did my skin color change…?? No it did not.!!
Let me put forward some facts —
- According to a recent research by a British beauty brand, the Indian beauty market is around 2000 crore +.
- Men have become more aware of their looks and hence there has been a 95% increase in the use of beauty products by men in 2000–2010 as compared to the 90s.
- There are beauty products named “Facial fuel”, “Urban look” to give the macho feel to the men.
Coming back to me, I realized is it really necessary for me or for you.to be fair skinned. Well what difference does it make..! I am still the same “old dark chocolate” I was 23 years ago. And women do like dark chocolates, don’t they..!
I have learnt this the hard way…probably the costliest way.. I have stopped complaining about my skin color. I have stopped envying people. I have stopped changing creams, soaps.. but I still use them. I have stopped looking at the air brushed pictures of models and actors and wishing I had a skin like them. I have learnt to be content with my own skin color. I realized that you can’t rely on how u look to sustain yourself. You can’t eat beauty. And there is no shade to beauty. The best clothing you can wear is your own skin.
A little tip to conclude —
If next time anybody makes fun of you — saying you are dark or black, just shoo them away, saying you are caramel colored or coffee colored.
The above writeup was part of one of the blogs that I wrote in the early 2000s. I came across this recently and thought it would be a nice change to add it here on my profile, which usually has only tech articles.
