The Indian Obsession With Fair Skin

                                     
                       Indians in my opinion are exceptionally racists and discriminating in their conduct.We discriminate on the basis of caste,creed,status,region.Yet we are one of the capacious campaigners of non discrimination.Color bias in our country is startling,most nationals in our country are obsessed with fair skin and covet light skin.The infatuation with fair skin is discernible with the "How to become fairer" fairness creams advertisements.The companies manufacturing and marketing fairness creams in India have witnessed a consistent growth which bears the testimony to our obsession.Girls in India are especially bonked with this malady,many cosmetologists have begun to term this 'Snow White syndrome'.It's a opprobrium for a girl if she is not fair.She is  often mocked and looked down .It's really an unfortunate development in a country where most people are genetically brown-skinned – but resent their skin color. 


                  The fairness cream companies have belligerently advertised this craze.Skin color discrimination is emanating as a big social quagmire in India.As a result of this amplifying aversion for dark skin many teenagers are developing inferiority complex.It is exceedingly lamentable to deponent that when phenomenal social transformation is taking place in our country on one side,we are cultivating this obsession for fair skin and animosity for dark skin on the other.All the more disappointing to see those becoming campaigners of such malady whom a hefty population of our country regards as their role models.
                                                             
                                                         
                                                                 Shahrukh khan endorsing a men's fairness cream


                                                                               

                                                                    "Asin endorsing fairever fairness cream"

                        The fairness cream advertisers portray girls securing good jobs, securing the love of handsome men – because of using their fairness creams.This malady is not just restricted to women in India , Indian men have also developed this obsession for fair skin.

                        Are you daunted by dark skin?

            My old days:Reflections on my teenage encounters


                  I was not dark initially,but when i entered my teenage due to biological changes especially after puberty i suffered from anemia.As a result of which my skin color grew dark.Initially i didn't bother much till the time one of my aunt made me apprehend how grotesque i looked just because of my skin color.I still remember her nicknames she gave me.It started bothering me,i developed an inferiority complex and coveted light skin.Many of my peers also mocked my skin color in a concealed manner .Years passed and i recouped from my ailment,and thankfully repossessed my original skin color,but lamentably the scars of those ugly tags are still preserved in my mind.Sometimes i am petrified by the very thought that what if i had to take all those comments for my lifetime.When ruminating about my fears i think about those thousands of people in our country who are persistently facing  this humiliation and discrimination.

                  At last i would like to state that we just claim to be Indians,but India and its attributes no more  appeal to us.We are obsessed with everything alien to our country be it culture,food,language and skin color.
             

Inconceivable Denials

                                                               
                 
               

Did you by any chance envisage that the Anti graft movement by Anna Hazare could actuate religious altercation among hindu muslims .Cognizant that i am quoting a decrepit conte,yes you also contemplated decorously .Indubitably i am very much talking about shahi imam of jama masjid,and his statement that the "Anna's signature tune - "Vande Mataram", "Bharat Mata Ki Jay".." could stir religious disharmony among hindu and muslim nationals.Imam also asked all muslims to stay away from the fast venue.

Shahi imam said , "Islam does not condone the worship of the nation or land. It does not even condone worship of the mother who nurtures a child in her womb for nine months,"But many muslims in india refuse to accept india as their motherland on the basis that Bankim chandra's "Vande Matram" seeks to canonize motherland.If you care to have recourse of page18, India,1987 where the elucidation of the first stanza of the song is done by sir Aurobindo.

                        (To express gratitude to the soil from which you sprang and which sustains you with milk and honey every moment of your life is not idolatry simply because it is called your mother. In fact the country of one's origin can only be described either as "fatherland" or "motherland")
                 Is it appropriate to disaffiliate from a movement pursued in national interest for such reasons?I would like to quote of how a thing that is not considered anti-Islamic erswhile becomes anti Islamic in India.Hereby i would like to quote provisions from the constitutions of China and Russia ,both of which have substantial muslim population.

               Article 55 of the 1982 constitution of Chinese republic :"It is sacred duty of every citizen to defend the motherland and resist aggression"

               Article 59.1. of the constitution of Russian federation :"The protection of the fatherland is the duty and obligation of the Russian federation"

               So the when the Muslim population of these nations are obliged to swear by these provisions without balk,and when they don't find it anti-Islamic ,how could the same thing be tagged as anti Islamic in India? Many times political leaders use such tactics to fan communal sentiments for political gains,and nationals gets trapped.

               History:Vande Matram

           In 1937, The CWC appointed a sub-committee with Maulana Azad, Nehru, Subhash Chandra Bose and Acharya Narendra Dev as members to review the eligibility of Vande Mataram to the status of national anthem. The committee was to take the guidance of Rabindranath Tagore. And this sub-committee endorsed the CWC’s resolution to adopt Vande Mataram in its truncated form as the national anthem. The committee observed:

 "The first two stanzas began with an unexceptionable evocation of the beauty of the motherland, in later stanzas there are references where the motherland is likened to the Hindu goddess Durga."

    As such CWC adopted the first two stanzas suitable to become the national anthem. The selected stanza is:

 वन्दे मातरम्
सुजलां सुफलां मलयजशीतलाम्
शस्यश्यामलां मातरम् |
शुभ्र ज्योत्स्ना पुलकित यामिनीम्
फुल्ल कुसुमित द्रुमदलशोभिनीम्,
सुहासिनीं सुमधुर भाषिणीम्
सुखदां वरदां मातरम् ||

           Rajendra prasad ,president of the constituent assembly,on 24th January,1950 "The composition consisting of words and music known as Jana Gana Mana is the National Anthem of India, subject to such alterations as the Government may authorise as occasion arises, and the song Vande Mataram, which has played a historic part in the struggle for Indian freedom, shall be honoured equally with Jana Gana Mana and shall have equal status with it"

            Vande Matram is an emblem of national freedom and not communism.

Any Publicity Is Good Publicity?

                                                                                                

        

                                                        

        
                 Few weeks back when i was visiting pages as my customary task on Facebook i encountered this page called "Beautiful thoughts".I read some wall posts and was thoroughly fascinated by them.Beautiful insights on life,emotions,relationships.Impressed by the insights,in a jiffy i clicked on the like button.I really found the page beautiful,but regrettably i flunk to hold on to my liking for long.The page owner shared a wall post accrediting Indian army for something which never belonged to it.

                Ostensibly,the cavalry person in the picture are not Indian soldiers but People's liberation army(PLA,China).Some Chinese folk saw the wall post and shared it on a Chinese forum,this paved the way for all the unhealthy debates and bickering.I was startled to see the animosity between the nationals of India and China .More startling was the ignorance on part of Indians commenting over there.They were hollering about Indian army heedlessly and by the dint of which the Chinese folks got hefty opportunities to hurl aspersion.I tired my best to stop the madness,but flunk to do so.I got frustrated with the heedless attitude of my compatriots,they didn't even bother to investigate.I think the country never demands this kind of reckless nationalism,for it just fosters irreverence for the nation.

              All the more stymie was ,why was the page owner not apologizing?Was the administrator oblivious about the ongoing madness?Can't be so.Isn't it the responsibility of the page owner to post something after thorough analysis,and especially when something concerns the dignity of the nation.I posted on the page owner's wall,but was startled when my post was deleted in less than a minutes times.Now it was pretty sure that the page administrator was deliberately fostering this grotesque debate to fetch some attention,and succeeded also.The incorrigible page owner hardly bothered to stop this unhealthy bickering and even denied other's the right to do so.I was baffled,is publicity so important than one could barter nation's pride also?
 Simultaneously,i realized how reckless some Indian's are, philistinism and foolhardiness engulfs some of our compatriots terribly.They flunk to demystify the obvious at times.

                  Here is the link :http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=172955132790017&set=a.111446175607580.24837.109070219178509&type=1&theater

Dissidents Of Democracy

                                                  

       

             
           India is the world's largest democratic country, of course ,it's like i am stating the obvious .But let me ask you are Indians democratic? Regrettably ,the answer is no.Perhaps, Indians are the most undemocratic people living in the world's largest democracy.We as annotators of democracy ,just behold democracy as a form of government in which people regardless of their status have an equal  say in the decisions that affect their lives.Anticipating the present dissatisfaction of nationals with the government,it would not be fallacious to tag the government as undemocratic in it's approach.Unhesitatingly,we hurl criticisms at the politician's ,accusing them of graft and undemocratic approach,but what we fail to comprehend is that to cleanse the system first we need to depurgate the nucleus.


                       Sudhir kakar in his book "The Indian's :Portrait Of a People" writes 
      "In the hierarchical nature of Indian society ,if the perception of another person has to first to do with age ('Is the individual male/female),followed by age (Is he/she young or old),and by other such markers of identity,then in India the determination of relative rank ('Is this person superior or inferior to me?)remains very near to the subconscious questions evoked in an interpersonal counter."
                                         So,undemocratic beliefs stems from the hierarchical pattern of our society.The principle of equality and freedom are denied at core level.If we deprecate the politicians and the government , we should belittle our core undemocratic beliefs also.
          ~Why it is so that a women's opinion is disregarded ,mostly remains unasked?
          ~Why we are skeptical to consider or rather plainly disregard what is suggested to us by someone younger to us or our subordinates?
                        What we practice on micro level,the government exercise at national level.Consider answering these questions !

Happy Diwali

           
                         Diwali puja(prayer) is over,and everybody is out to practice madness in the name of fun(bursting crackers).I flunk to comprehend the obsession with ignorance.People desperately chasing calamity ,i am exceedingly dissapointed to witness this kind of ignorance.Why do people fail to perceive the cimmerian side of this glowing object.?

                          What kind of celebration is this?We are disparaging our own existence discreetly.I know people would hardly follow something in the name of general interest,for this is what we like to do,harming other's.All the time we brag about our awareness ,yet we fail to deliver our responsibility.

                           Lets strive for conscious  and compassionate living.

         "HAPPY DIWALI" :):)