Wanted! Bride, for hard working and handsome boy. Masters degree in Computer Science, Software Engineer, Working for a US company. Green Card holder
Girl should be well educated, should be willing to relocate abroad. Should be good looking and FAIR!!! Contact with details at xxx-xxx-xxx mail Photograph at CompletlySelfAbsorbed@VainAsHell.com
How many times have we read this? For many this is the sad reality they have to face, when their ‘Savli’ daughter is of the so called marriageable age!!
So it doesn’t matter that the girl has done her schooling in the best of schools, is superbly qualified, is earning handsomely, but GOD FORBID, she is not fair!!!! Poor thing. (apart from that the fact that these advertisements hype the guy up – Working in the US, dosen’t matter he is a junior programmer, and earns peanuts, and soon is going to loose his job. But he’s working in the US and therefore DESERVES a fair bride!!!)
So across our country millions of girls as soon as they are born are being judged, not only for a fact that they are girls, but for how fair or dark they are. Mubarak ho aap ko ladki hui hai, chaand sa rang paya hai aapki beti ne!!!
For those moms who are so called unfortunate to have a dusky girl, the regrets are expertly delivered with half hearted smiles, mixed in with the even more half hearted wishes.
All across the country people advice us girls, not to go out in the sun too much, not that they are concerned about any health issues, a.k.a Skin cancer, but more about how, exposure to sunlight will lead skin to get darker…..OH THE DANGER!!!!
So what about in South India? A Majority are dark, a lot many are fair, but the norm is a ‘Savli’ or Dark girl. So what should the South Indian parents do? Look for a 40-50 yr old man as suggested by Fair and Lovely?
You remember that ad don’t you, before it was pulled off air after strong protest from feminist organizations? Well if you don’t remember let me tell you what the ad was all about. It showed the dilemma faced by the parents of a ‘SAVLI’ girl. They were unable to find a groom for the girl, coz she was DARK. And in the end they marry her off to a middle aged man. To add to the insult the parents actually say "Aise rang ki ladki ke liye to aisa hi rishta aayega". Can you believe that!!!!!
Oh how about the one where a girl, crazy about cricket commentary is advised to use fair and lovely to get the job. So this dark girl, after becoming fair, makes a tape of her commenting on cricket and sends the tape, which is seen my none other than Sreekanth who is instantly floored coz she is so fair, and she lands the job. Next scene is her mother watching her comment on TV, and so she is proud and thanks fair and lovely for it ALL!!! (PS: Shame on Sreekanth for endorsing such a product!!!...Public responsibility gone to the dogs)
The moral of it all therefore lies in the fact that you can have no talent to speak of and be a textbook case bimbo, but you can land the job of your dreams just by applying fair and lovely, and if you choose not to, you WILL end up marrying a guy old enough to be your father!
Its time, really is, to get up and discard all the stupid notions. The whole world is running towards getting tanned skin, coz it is healthy and lets face it, it looks gorgeous, but wee are running with outstretched arms toward fair and lovely. And to make matters worse now they have fair and handsome. They feed us a truck load of stinky dung, and we happily eat it, with our own forks and knives.
I myself am a supposedly savli girl, and my mom was pressured to apply some special paste that will ensure that my color will improve (which actually should say ‘decolorize’ me and take away my beautiful brown skin to make it ‘FAIR’…). But thank god, my mom is smart enough not to give in to that kind of nonsense.
Today while the whole world is running to get a tan, I apply sun-screen lotion, stand there with a big grin on my face and be thankful for my beautiful, healthy and radiant, WHEAT-ish skin!!!