Check this out. A sad commentary on Indian society’s obsession with the white skin, and the hatred towards its own people.
How foreigners are regarded in India is a curious matter. Our white skin, and the belief that we have power and money, unwittingly elevates us to the top of the social hierarchy. Doors will open for me in India, while at the same time remaining closed for many Indians. Shop assistants will beckon for my attention,while ignoring other potential customers. Everyone wants to have a foreigner for a friend. I’ve lost count of how many times my neighbours have knocked on my door, asking me to meet every relative who visits them. They’re not interested in my husband, though. [link]
This Australian woman marries an Indian guy, and moves to Mumbai with him. What follows is a rather sad tale where she is taken to be a prostitute, her husband to be into drugs, or, worse, her travel guide!
The couple faces repeated harassment simply because society refuses to accept that an Indian male could be her husband.
I remember one day, I was shopping at a stall at the Colaba Causeway market in Mumbai. My husband, who’d been looking at something else, came up to me and asked how I was going. The stallholder turned to him, and roughly told him in Hindi to go away and not interfere in the transaction.
Interracial marriages are a complex affair. Marrying someone from a different culture, and moving to their country with them is certainly not for the weak spirited. Gori Girl writes in much detail about her experience married to an Indian husband. Check out her blog here.
And to think we cried ourselves hoarse complaining about racism over a couple of muggings in Australia.
Aren’t we the same country where Shahrukh Khan peddles us the mardon wali fairness cream, because all of us who aren’t fair are sorry losers?
Related posts:
We are so obsessed with fairness, it is depressing. Pregnant women are asked to eat things that ‘ensure a fair child’, people with less than fair complexions are given tips to get fairer – but this absolutely takes the cake!! It is unbelievable how people can have attitudes even now.
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I know. Damn the goras who left us with such complexes about color!
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Oh yes ! Tell me about it ! in the south, a fair girl means lesser dowry ! Now, ‘dowry’ by itself is such an antiquated social evil ! But if you are dark lady..well, its a double whammy !
Things are changing though. Although Garnier and HLL would like us to believe otherwise..there is change happening. Slow. Very slow. But surely.
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The ‘dark’ secrets of our society!
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Oh yes! A 42 year old neighbour and I found a lost dog and went around looking for the family, and I noticed how from watchmen in societies to policemen to ordinary passerbys – all looked awestruck.
But when it came to a teenaged girl, I heard how she must respect Indian culture instead of dressing and behaving like she was in her own country!
So even with white skin we are totally mixed up, we hate the, we envy them, we think they are better than us.
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double standards!
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Yeah we are just obsessed with fairness. And the fairness cream companies bank on this ego.
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…and come up with absolutely hideous ads!
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I’m married to a white guy, and I’ve been refused entry into a hotel with him because they assumed I was the prostitute. In my own bloody country! It’s interesting to note that no matter white or brown, the woman is the one who is constantly judged.
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That’s horrible, Mridu. Absolutely unbelievable!
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Ironically, I have been less aware of my skin colour amongst the “white” people than some of my own coloured people. Weird? Oh Yes… but thats life when you come from India. For all its inclusivity and acceptance there is also this other obsession.
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Loral Alberta Cook Narayanan commented on that article that she had different experience, of being welcomed and appreciated. Apparently she was wearing traditional indian clothes. The experience of Sharell Cook may have also been partly due to her western style of dressing that accentuates her identity. Also, a person from northeast would be looked upon as a novelty in many parts of India, likewise, a north indian in south and south indian in north. The tendency to bond with people appearing to share similarities with themselves is common among people. Way of dressing plays a significant part in it.
India is the country where people still reveres the black coloured Sri Krishna, Sri Rama, Shiva, Kali devi, and has dark complexioned puranic heroes and heroines like Arjuna, Draupadi, Vyasa etc. This is also the country, perhaps the only one, where people recognizes physical body as perishable and atman as eternal, that recognizes objects of perception such as skin colour etc., as temporal.
namaste
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This situation is the same in the UK where some from the ethnic minorities prefer fairer skin when selecting marriage partners.
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