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Thursday, October 14, 2010

The white, black and greys in between

In all her Amar Chitra Katha books, the demons were black. Her muthassi told her that bad people are dark. "Their colour of skin is because of the colour of their hearts". 

Once in school, her friend had told her "Do you know? Sitting with black girls and boys will make us also black? See am not sitting with Kalyani anymore. My mother told me if i am friends with her again, I will also end up bad and black like her"

Through out her college, she had girls around her who spoke lovingly about fairness creams

When she hit 23, her mother too had panicked about her job making her darker. "Quit being a reporter. Its making you dark and ugly"

Today as she lay under him, moving under him, she saw her arms on his back. Seeing white on black quickly made her withdraw her hands.

He stopped to look at her. She hated herself





4 comments:

asmita said...

and it was only today that we were having one of our mundane post-lunch conversation about people's obsession about the equation "fair = pretty"

ps: ask safa for the details :)

Anamika said...

@ asmita

And this post was inspired by a conversation between a mother and daughter sitting next to me in bus :)

Shweta said...

I wish the title wasn't 'Shallowness'. It turns this post into a flat narrative. :(
Rest, I felt incredibly sad for the woman in the post. But you know what's sadder - when i meet dark-skinned women who wish for a fairer complexion, and tell me I am pretty. If I say anything, I am scoffed at because I 'obviously wouldn't understand'. :/

Anamika said...

@ shweta

I had felt the same, but no title came to my mind then. hope this one sits better..

And I don't think we "post colonial" countries ever get rid of the many colonial traces