Are we true to ourselves?

India is so diverse in language and culture that each state can almost be considered as a separate country. The language spoken in Punjab and the food they eat is closer to that of Pakistan, than Tamil Nadu. But barring all this divide, the divide based on skin colour seems to be more. The country is obsessed with fair skin. We say Australians are being racist, but have we realised what is happening in our own backyard. The moment one person feels superior to the other racism seeps in.

A dark skinned girl can be brilliant, talented, a good orator and an all rounder but still talks about her skin colour will have precedence over her talent. Television channels are filled with advertisements which give out promises to lighten your skin in forms of lotions and oils.
Even the ads portray that it is the fair skinned who succeed and who are confident but the dark skinned lack confidence and cannot reach the pinnacle of success. Doesn’t this show double standards in a land where majority of the people are dark skinned.

The advertisements portray actresses who are already fair using the fairness creams and this sends a wrong message to the mass who try to ape their screen icons. All you have to do to understand the obsession of Indian people with light skin is to open a matrimony site and all you can read is “fair, good looking girl wanted”. Isn’t there any scope for the dark skinned? Bipasha Basu, who was voted as the sexiest person in Asia in 2005 and 2007 says that it is all in the mind. The way the society looks at you should not matter as confidence comes from within. It is also important for family members to support their kith and kin and not serve as confidence breakers.

Media can portray that white is beautiful and drive the point home but it is for us to realize that everyone should be recognized for who they are and not for how they look. We still live in a very stereotyped society and it is difficult to break the norms set by the society but small steps taken will help us realize the larger dream of abolishing the double standards. Let us work towards removing the spec from our eye before pointing a finger at another country for Racism….