beauty is only skin deep

I had one of the most interesting weekends and the Sunday evening was really special when I had to exhibit profusely my negotiation-cum-pleading-cum-convincing-cum-advocacy skills to the optimum level. I was on a very important call with somebody who is equally important and that somebody had to make some very important decisions concerning my academics. At this point it is wise not to reveal the particulars and to talk about this matter later in detail when things are in definite shape, hopefully, InshaAllah.

I do not even know how to be thankful appropriately to God for the opportunity that I had been blessed with, irrespective of the outcome of my little tête-à-tête, it is enough for me to explain my side and there was someone who was willing to listen. So thank you God once again.

It has almost turned into an epidemic that increasingly teenage girls and in particular their moms are pressing their daughters desperately to have fair complexions. It is a regular for girls coming to me for some magical cream which would make them fair & lovely overnight more so because my mom is a skin specialist and they expect me to have at least some expertise in this field. It baffles the mind how much significance is being given to such a superfluous feature more by women than men. Mothers and their mothers due to their personal complexes and dissatisfactions have now transmitted the white complexion virus in their daughters.

It is believed that a woman is not beautiful until she has a fair or white complexion even better if it is accompanied with coloured eyes. Mothers have infected their sons with this shallow way of thinking as well, unfortunately. Marketing executives took their hint and now there is a bombardment from all directions of fairness creams with majority of such creams leaving disastrous side-effects on the face. Besides no medicine could change our complexion since it is bestowed upon us by God in our genes and DNA through our parents and family.

To solve the fairness myth we need to get to the basics and the source of origin is one way or the other connected with the British Raj over the Indian subcontinent. The natives of the Indian sub-continent saw British as shrewd and powerful businessman who later became their Rulers. Although in 1947 the enslaved India became independent however more than 300 hundred years of slavery left indelible marks on the psychology of the natives. The British had and still have very fair complexions and coloured eyes so the then slaves and now the citizens of independent countries still associate Power and Dominance with fair or white skin colours, hence this dilemma.

The same logic is applied as to why English is considered as a superior language and the people who are not conversant with the language are thus considered belonging to an inferior class. Nonetheless, nobody could argue with the universal importance and acceptability of the language. English is the most widely spoken and understood language of the world and because of this strong feature, to not be acquainted with it, has introduced a kind of social barrier. Well that’s another debate all together.

What we witness today is the legacy of our colonial past and condition behavioural pattern of hundred of years. And to free our selves from this condition thinking pattern is to become aware of it presence and prominence in our thinking.

We need to understand that Beauty first shines within the person and what we may see on outside is a mere reflection of the inner nature. When some of the conventionally beautiful people behave like jerks their so-called beauty would not compensate for their ill-nature. Regardless of our skin colours we should learn to be content with what we are blessed with because Happiness is the decision we make.

And so I have decided to be in love with all of you for ever. Have a great day!!!

Sonya. (Day 65)