Fair or not?

I started this post as a lazy Wordless Wednesday but simply couldn’t NOT write a couple of lines about it!

Do take a look at the picture below ….

Is this fair?

And we don’t spare even London!

 

What is with our Indian mindset that ‘fair’ people are automatically considered ‘good looking’? Why this obsession with fair skin?! I have never understood this!

I know of so many girls/boys who are praised for their ‘beauty’ ONLY because of their skin colour (I say that because they utterly lack other features!). Just the same, I know some people, who are truly beautiful, but are not considered so simply because they have dark skin!

Why is someone with a ‘milky-white’ or ‘wheatish’ complexion considered to be a better human being than someone who is dusky or dark (worse!!)?

Why is a fair-skinned person rated higher on the matrimonial scale than a dark-skinned person??!!!

Westerners go all our to get a ‘tan’ and we layer ourselves with skin-lightening creams!

On my last trip to Chennai, a nice elderly gentleman mentioned that he was trying to find a groom for his daughter. His exact words were ‘She is very fair and good-looking, like your relative xyz’. I was amazed at his simplicity, naivete and crudeness all rolled into one. I don’t blame him. That is simply, a part of our culture! We are ignorant enough to assume that someone who is fair is indeed more beautiful than someone who is dark!!

I wished him well. And also wished his daughter had more to her than just fair skin! Like perhaps some inconsequential things like confidence, education, capability, etc.

I met someone the other day, who said something at the opposite end of the spectrum, but that was, in essence the same! This acquaintance casually mentioned a distant cousin who was an extremely intelligent and wonderful person, but was unable to find a bride because he was ‘extremely dark’. Well, what can I say! Had this been the ‘2000 pounds’ scene from ZNMD, I would have just laughed! But this is real.

We just seem to be obsessed with skin colour! Something makes us believe that being fair is an achievement in itself!! There is some underlying factor that makes us proud of our light (read: ‘superior’) skin-colour? I would really like to know what it is.

Is this ‘fair skin’ purely an Indian obsession? Or is this rampant world-wide?

Please, do share what you think!!

Three in a row – book review

I can proudly and quite unashamedly proclaim that I’m a sucker for chick-lit and romance (er, novels, that is).

A friend was leaving on vacation, and very sweetly offered me two of her novels, that I grabbed outright.

So first, I read ‘The Notebook’ by Nicholas Sparks. I was not expecting much more than a light and refreshing read, and I have to say it proved to be more than that. It was a typically quick read, replete with romance and emotions, suspense and drama. All in all, quite an enjoyable book. Leaves one wanting to either fall in love, or envelope someone special in a bear-hug, and never let go.

****Spoiler alert**** I wonder if this Bollywood movie was made AFTER or BEFORE the book was released?!!!

Rating: 3/5

Then I grabbed ‘A Walk to Remember‘. I was expecting to see the same amount of mush in this book, but very interestingly, I found a lot of humour instead. (Now, if I’m a sucker for romance, then I’m an even bigger sucker for humour :-)) The author does warn you in the prologue. He says, the book will first make you laugh, then cry. I wholly agree. You will have more than a few laughs in the first half of the book, and even the second half, despite being sad, is extremely sweet. The book reminds one of the innocence and freshness of youth 🙂

Rating: 3.5/5 (enjoyed the humour)

And yesterday, I happened to get another book from the library. I had reserved ‘Atlas Shrugged‘ after reading a FB message by Rakesh (and loads of comments from our usual comment monsters :lol:) and I THOUGHT I was going to collect this book, but happened to bring home ‘Dear John’ instead.

Now, I confess felt very slightly bored, at the beginning of the book. However, it rapidly picked up pace, and I found myself, wanting to finish it before the day ended. And I did 🙂 (Kind courtesy: Little brat who very sweetly decided to keep himself occupied with winding his microphone around his hands and legs!!!!)

The synopsis of the book certainly does not do justice to the plot. This is not the usual ‘love story’.

For one, the characters in the book have been etched so beautifully, that you feel their love, their anxiety and their pain. They are very real.

Secondly, it gives one a glimpse into the ugly face of War, and how troops deputed in war zones actually spend their life. One actually ponders about the futility of it all.

And third, the book is not just about the love between a man and a woman, but also about the delicate relationship between a father and son. I loved the way this was brought out, in a very subtle and tender way.

To me, the character that stands out the MOST, is one that is mentioned neither on the back-cover nor the website. It is that of the Father of the protagonist. He is a simple, good man, who lives his life exactly the same way each day, but is a terrible social misfit. The father suffers from autism, and the way he reaches out to his son, in his own unique manner, twists and wrings your heart!!

Every character is true to life, and in those couple of hours spent on reading the book, one actually understands WHY each character takes the decisions he/she does, and how it seems both logical yet sad.

You must read the book, to FEEL what this is about.

I loved it, and I think it has made me more understanding of how a developmental problem can affect the lives of the person and his/her family and loved ones.

A note of caution : .This is a heart-wrenching book. It left me incredibly sad and dejected, wondering why life cannot be more simple. So, please save this for a long weekend, where you can recover and bounce back to your happy self 🙂 before the week begins again.

Rating: 4/5 (Exquisite characterisation)

Something I found to be a common undercurrent in all three books, was the almost naive, but constant emphasis on ‘true and ever-lasting love‘ (assuming, there is such a thing!).

I also liked the fact that the author managed to keep the ‘hero’ and ‘heroine’ from not jumping into bed, at the drop of a hat (or anything else for that matter). I understand that can be quite a put-off for a Mills & Boon fan 😈 😆 but it made ‘love‘ seem more special. Old-fashioned, perhaps. But ‘sacred‘ nevertheless.

As for the language and quality of writing, I was not expecting much, being ‘romance’ and ‘chick-lit’ and all. And neither am I into reading ‘difficult’ books (aka, I can’t understand them 😛 I’d much rather read a simple easily understandable sentence, rather than a paragraph full of words that contain 4 or more syllables! 😆 So yes, the language was simple, engrossing, and made all the books an entertaining read.

I just happened to find this link on Youtube.

So, if any of you happen to be die-hard romantics, do grab a copy and a bunch of tissues.

Happy Sunday, folks.