Travel - International Indian

cyclists would leer at her for as long as theycould, swivelling their heads to savour everylast second of the disappearing white mirage …White Anglo-Indians in India in thosefar-off days, were regarded as more than justsuperstars; they were up there with the godsand goddesses. That is why a fair skin in thosedays was such a highly prized commodity onthe subcontinent. A fair skin, not education,was the passport to jobs as drivers and guardson the railways, our main occupation in thosefar-off days.Goans generally were better educatedthan Anglo-Indians, better mannered, sensitiveto others’ feelings, but all these admirablequalities amounted to nothing because Anglo-Indians felt their fairer complexions, real orimagined, gave them the right to feel superiorto Goans.At Anglo-Indian dances in India, superioritycomplexes based on colour came to the fore.Everyone’s eyes would dart around the hall tofind out who was the fairest of them all!Rapid assessments based on skincomplexion, colour of hair and eyes would bemade. As dancing couples swirled, they quicklyappraised other couples gliding past them,keeping an eye (a blue one?) open to see ifanyone was looking at THEM in that intenselyadmiring way which signalled that they werethe fairest Anglo-Indians present.This was a thrilling compliment to thoseconcerned, sometimes causing them to showoff by exploding into exaggerated laughter atnothing in particular simply to draw even moreattention to themselves!The dancers, in turn, would be watched byelderly folk sitting around the perimeter of thedance floor like a circle of crows, making theirown whispered assessments such as: “Who’sthat nice fair girl jitter-bugging with that greasychap?” or “Who’s that nice fair boy with gingerhair jumping up to catch the balloons?”The ‘nice’ epithet, by the way, was reservedsolely for white Anglo-Indians in those far-offdays, meaning others of darker hues were, indescending order, not-so-nice, far-from-nice oroutright villains, whatever the true nature oftheir individual characters.So has a fair skin ceased to matteraltogether in these enlightened times as wepower through the new millennium?Surprisingly, no.Sales of skin-whitening products in Indiaand all over the world are going through theozone layer. Sadly, it would seem that manydarker-hued people of whatever race (African,Asian, West Indian) still cling to the notion thata white skin is more highly regarded than abrown or black skin.They believe a white skin can propel onequicker and further up the career ladder, opendoors previously inaccessible or boost one’smatrimonial prospects sky-high by attractingwealthy partners.And while the blacks and browns are busy“whitening up”, the white races are hell-benton going in the opposite direction. They spendtheir holidays in perspiring climates, lying semicladin the scorching sun for several hours a dayin an effort to turn dark-brown or black. Even ifit means exposing themselves to the possibilityof sunstroke or skin cancer.Well, the grass is always greener on theother side of the fence.Green? Now there’s an interesting colour.If the entire planet is going green to ward offglobal warming, why don’t all of us (browns,blacks, whites, yellows) try having greencomplexions for a change?Now there’s a thought …Rudy Otter is a freelance Anglo-Indian journalistbased in the UK. Cartoon by Harry McLure‘‘TheyregardedmostGoansas “lessEuropeanlooking”thanthemselves.TheythoughtGoansmorecloselyresembledthe Indianside oftheir dualancestry.‘‘The International Indian 81