Hi, my name is Kartik. I belong to Ghaziabad, a city near New Delhi, India. I am brown. Does it matter ?
I belong to a middle-class conservative family. Everyone says that I
am the brightest of all my siblings. I do well in studies. But they also
add that I look good. I don’t understand that why do they say so. Is it
really because of my good looks or is it because I am less brown than
my siblings? I don’t know the answer. Maybe it is, maybe not.
I had a subject in my second-year at college. Physics. I was not good
at it. I used to really work hard for it during my 11th and 12th grade.
I did fairly well in my exams in Physics. And I tell you, it was
because of my hard work that I got through. The course was different
than what we had it in school.More of imaginary stuff. There was a
different professor for theory and practicals. The one for teaching
theory part was quite strict. I was really scared of him all the time.
But the one at the practicals was different. He was not strict. He only
used to check our practical files and the readings we got in the age-old
inaccurate machines. It was a mind boggling task, really. Every week,
we had to get our files checked for the practicals performed last week.
Well, who did them seriously. Nobody. Getting our files checked with
good marks was the only purpose of the day. I always got 3 or 3.5 on 5. I
used to study hard for the practicals before getting my file checked.I
always used to answer the viva questions correctly in fluent English. I
had a friend Manish, who studied more than me. He always used to answer
in greater detail than me or anybody else. But the teacher always gave
him 2 or 2.5.I don’t know why. Once the teacher made a comment about his
appearance. He had taken a bath that day. Still the professor made fun
of him for not taking a bath and smelling badly, in a loathing manner.
Everyone laughed. He was really embarrassed. Because of his practical
results, he got low grades. Poor boy.I also had a friend, Imraan. He
was very fair. Fairer than the professor or any other student in
class.He always answered the questions, but not every time they were
right.He never got less than 4. His work was more or less the same as
mine.But nobody understood why he scored so much. No one knows why.
Maybe being fair worked for him.I am just guessing.Even I don’t
know.Maybe color matters, maybe not.
Last month, I had a guest student in my college.He was from
Germany.Rich country.There was a lot of buzz in the college about
him.Everyone was eager to go and talk to him.No one accepted this, but
no one left an opportunity when he was alone. Everyone would go to him
and talk to him about his country.Ask him how he feels in India.Tried
impressing him by showing their knowledge of his country.He was
nice.Girls too went flat on him.6 months before, there was another guest
student.He was from an African nation.He was dark.But this there was no
buzz in the college.No one looked for an opportunity to talk to him.No
one talked to him about his country.No one asked him how he felt in
India.Nobody tried impressing him by showing knowledge of his country.I
think nobody even knew which country he came from.No girl went flat on
him.Was it the color of his skin that mattered?Or was it something
else?Maybe color matters, maybe not.
I remember when I went to see a girl for my elder brother.His
prospective bride. He is a shy person.But good at heart, like an
‘Adarsh’ boy of Indian families. Earns well, respect his elders and very
intelligent. It was all very well till the time the girl came. The
parents on both the sides had a good laugh, enjoyed some snacks, shared
important information. But when the girl came, the smile of my brother
shortened in length. The glow was lost. But he went on to have a chat
with girl nevertheless. I was really impressed by her qualification and
her mannerism.Really impressive. When we were coming back in the car, my
brother said no for the girl.Reason ? Because he didn’t find her
beautiful enough.But the girl was good-looking and smart.I really didn’t
understand the logic behind it. Maybe he had huge expectations. But my
disappointment was deepened when he went on to marry a girl who was less
qualified, less beautiful but more fair than the previous girl whom he
rejected. I don’t know but I was confused. Neither this bride of hers
could match the mannerism of the ‘rejected’ girl, nor the
qualifications. Then why did he go for this girl? Maybe because she was
more fair. Maybe.Nothing definitive.Maybe color matters, maybe not.
I have a girlfriend.Her name is Natasha.She is nice.Like me, she is
brown.She always feels if she could be more fair than the she really is
now.One day she told me a story about her friend,Shubhangi. Shubhangi is
very fair. And she asked Natasha on why I chose Natasha as my
girlfriend and not anyone else.To begin with, she started pointing out
her drawbacks.The first question to come out was about Natasha being nor
fair enough and hence, not beautiful. I was furious on listening to
this. Not just because it was my girlfriend who was being the target,
but also because the argument that was being made had nothing to do with
something that was under her control.Moreover, she felt more
under-confident about her skin color, more than ever.
Why target someone because of his/her skin color, is the dilemma that
bothers my dubious mind. I am not Kartik, but the incidents aren’t
fictitious either.The names have been changed, but the observations
haven’t been tampered with. I do not intend to defame the people of my
country, but that doesn’t mean I should not be vocal about the odd
practices being carried out in our society.Time and again, people have
loathed and spitted upon news of racism in cold countries of the West.
Be it against Indians, be it against Africans. But then why is it that
when the same Africans visit our country, they are compared to monsters
and devils.Leave foreigners, we do not leave people of our own country
and judge them badly on the basis of the color of their skin. The truth
is that racism is so deep entrenched in our society that we even refuse
to acknowledge that it is racism. Beauty standards have been set in
accordance with the fairness level of an individual’s skin.The songs I
hear, the movies that I watch, the literature I read, the society I live
in.Everywhere, I see the same obsession with the ‘
gora rang‘.
Why can’t it just be that we humbly accept the color of our skin as
something related to our genes, and live happily with it. After all, a
dark skin skin is as healthy as a fair skin.So, why is lighter skin
given the dominance over the darker one? This single question has been
lingering in my mind for the past few years, and the answer to this
question is yet more complex than the problem itself.
“People are trapped in history and history is trapped in them”
– James A. Baldwin
History, in my view, is the best subject
that answers nearly all your questions in pertinence to human behavior.
Not surprisingly, it has a concrete explanation for racism as well.
Colorism also known as
skin color stratification,
defined as the preference for lighter skin and the ranking of individual
worth according to skin tone has dominated a broad range of societies
and historical periods, specifically in parts of Africa, Eastern Asia,
India, Latin America, and the United States.
Throughout
the world, the lightest-skinned people have the highest social status,
followed by the brown-skinned, and finally the black-skinned who are at
the bottom of the social hierarchy. This form of prejudice has often
resulted in reduced opportunities for those who are discriminated
against on the basis of skin color.
In
India, there is a long history behind the obsession with skin color,
owing to caste, and culture. The desire for lighter skin might have
originated from the structure of Hinduism’s social hierarchy, in which
those belonging to higher castes typically had fairer complexions and
are better placed in the political hierarchy. Furthermore, throughout
India’s history,India has been invaded by lighter-skinned nations, such
as Great Britain, and therefore fairness, strength, and supremacy have
become interconnected. Thus, fairness is an issue that has cultural,
sociological and anthropological roots.
However,
research
demonstrates that though light-skinned people have clear advantages
even when controlling for other background variables, dark-skinned
people are typically regarded as more ethnically authentic or legitimate.
However, the underlying cause for the preference for fair skin could be
probably attributed to the transnational correlation of whiteness with
personal opportunity, success, and privilege and global influence of
Western-dominated culture and media. Media and industry are the major
culprits in solidifying the place of fairness as a prerequisite for
beauty.
So, now that we have some insight into the details of how fair-skin
obsession came into picture, what do we do to stop it? The best way to
curb this obsession is to be vocal about it, whenever, wherever, you
encounter it.If you see an advertisement that promotes this fair-skin
obsession by false claims, protest against it. Raise your voice, express
your concerns, and if possible, start a campaign against it. Choose
your friends and partner on legitimate grounds of beauty, and not skin
color.Do not Discriminate! Yes, this is the best way we can ensure that
our generation can actually oust the colonial mentality that was
hideously inculcated into the brains of our fathers and forefathers by
the colonial masters, and has passed on from one generation to
next.Above all, be proud of your skin color, and never let that
under-confident vibe strike you down and make you feel inferior.Let the
world judge you, on who are from within and not by the color of your
skin.Yes, together we can knock this down and make a difference!