Colour Obsession

As a nation we are obsessed with fair skin. No this post is not another rant about our hypocritical view on skin tone. I am also not going to debate on the ethical stand point of fairness cream advertisements as well. This is more like a journey through our collective past, which I think shaped our mindset.

If we look back at our history and ponder over the last five hundred years and examine our rulers. First we had the Mughals of Persian-Afghan descent. Then for over a century we were ruled by the British. This era had a significant impact on our psyche. As the skin tone of our masters became fairer, our fear of the colour increased. We are victims of our past. I don't blame anyone, after all the British did dominate our existence rather brutally. And when they left our shores the fear, shock, awe,respect turned to love for fair skin. I wonder if our attitude would have totally opposite if we were ruled by a darker skinned race?

As we complete almost 61 years of independence, we are breaking the shackles. We are more confident in all aspects of life, acquiring businesses, leading innovation and driving growth (No this is not part of the India Shining campaign). The fear has reduced but it has not been replaced with equality in our minds.

You can't really blame the advertising guys behind the fairness cream ads, they are just taking advantage of a dominant prejudice (though the underlying concept still rankles me).
P.S - There is no anger directed at anybody.