There's rampant apartheid among Indians

A teacher rues our obsession with fair skin and discriminations therein

Sunita Prabhu. Mulund

The world is full of colours. But when it comes to humans, we see things only in black and white or dark and fair.

Even today, after all these years, we Indians are overawed by fair skin. Read the matrimonials — ‘Wanted: Fair, slim and beautiful girl.’ Beauty is only about fair skin, it seems. As a teacher, I have seen children who are fairer being chosen for dances and skits in place of more deserving but darker-skinned ones. When I did chose to ignore the complexion and selected a child on the basis of merit, I was asked,”Why don’t you take her instead?” pointing to a fairer child.

Earlier, I travelled from Kalwa to my school in Mulund by train. On one such occasion, a woman boarded the train at Thane only to have curious glances thrown her way. One woman had the audacity to say, “Excuse me, this is the first class. The second class is there.”

The woman in question was unruffled; may be she was used to such treatment. She confidently showed her valid first class pass and said, “Did you think that only those with expensive clothes, make-up and fair skin can afford first class travel?” I wanted to clap!

One of my colleagues’ rues the fact that her son who is dark-skinned is taunted  by close family members. What a terrible way to hurt someone’s self-esteem. My husband is quite fair whereas I am darker. One of my sisters — she is very fair herself — asked him, “How did you agree to marry her; she is so dark?”

My husband replied, “My father was also very fair but my mother was dark. After my father’s death, my mother brought us up single-handedly and instilled all the right values in us. I know that one’s colour is not important; it’s what is inside us that counts.”

Even my daughter is dark-skinned but we never make her feel inferior to others in any way. It is up to us parents to see that our children are not discriminated on the basis of colour. Already, the world is suffering with the differences of religion, class, caste and race. We surely don’t want to add to that.