I had a great time reading around your post as I read it extensively. Excellent writing! I am looking forward to hearing more from you.

Thanks for writing about this. Very interesting to read.

I really enjoyed the above article and that is all the true . Boys of today’s era mostly refuse the girls because of their dark complexion and refusal doesn’t come just from the boy , his family also refuse the girl . As i am the student of Karachi university so i m getting dark and dark day by day although i used to have fair complexion . Now my mom also cares for me and says to take different whitening facials in order to get my whiteness back.

Such nonsense!

This bias for fair skin is inherited from the Arabs!

Even today in Saudi Arabia a woman would be admonished for getting a tan by being called an Abd – black or slave!!!

(Only low-class women who needed to work outside their homes would be dark.)

I really enjoyed reading this article…and its so true!!!
In Canada all the desi’s here including myself love tanning when summer comes…but in Pakistan when I was there, i was being yelled at because i would darken. But its not only the South Asian world who is like this. Even in Latin American and African Americans have the same issue the lighter you are the better.
I guess people forgot to remember that God made us how we are supposed to be and we shouldnt change it. And also keep in mind your DNA and genes too.
I’m a fair skinned Pakistani, and even in Canada people mistake me for being lebanese probably due to the fact my hair is curly too. But when I tell them Im pakistani the shock on their face is unforgettable…they think all Pakistanis are dark.

Its a pathetic world out there and the judgments made are worse. We come in different shades and sizes so why not accept the fact and move on…???

Pak_Crazy: You are right. Right now ‘figure’ rules over ‘colour’ at least in the West. You are beter off fit and dark instead of being fat and white. In any case ‘dark good looks’ have been greatly favoured.

I guess it boils down to what the majority population in a country looks like. If it is mostly dark, then I guess being white is an advantage- as in the case of the subcontinent. The reverse applies in Europe. (Funnily a white person fails to distinguish, like the South Asians do, among the various ’shades’ of light skin! Indians use a term called ‘wheatish’ colour!!).

An unfair skin with a fair mind is vastly more beautiful than — a fair skin with an unfair mind.

I still remember me and my young brother sitting there watching Miss World 1999 (may be). A black girl from Jamaica came up, we looked at each other and I knew that my brother was thinking the same thing as me, “how in the bloody hell could a black girl enter a competition like this”. The racism is fed to us by default. I belong to a Kashmiri family (fair skinned) and every one in it somehow feels like he’s superior to everyone around him. People here have a misconception that white is good, it is free from all sins. I just want to state the words of Reverend Martin Luther, ” I have a dream today, that one day people will not be judged by the colour of there skin but by the content of there character”.

Our preference for white or fair skin is not akin to racialism. It also probably does not stem from the skin color of the invaders from Alexander to Babur.
Had it been so, blond hairs would have been preferred over the long and black.

A westerner will do everything to turn ‘dark’ with a tan and us will do everything to get ‘whiter’.

Funny world.

This was an exploration of a rather old and fatuous theme that really resonates less and less by every pasing day in a global world. So what matters to anyone but the individual if s/he is fair or dark or middlin’?

One must remember two truths:

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder” and “There’s no accounting for taste.”

Well written article. the author hit the nail right on the head.

I think that there is just a little bit of over exaggeration in this article. Maybe a lot of folks in Pakistan like to identify with invading Muslim races like Central Asians who mixed with locals. Then again most Pak dramas don’t show fair skinned Pakistanis at all. We all now that most people in Northern and Western Pakistan are pretty fair or as fair as Europeans but we almost never see them in dramas. Mostly we see darker skin girls from Karachi who have lots of make up. For example someone like the actress Maria Wasti is pretty dark but she is very successful in dramas.

Kara Swart singles out Halle Berry as the most beautiful woman ever. Very nice looking, but not in contention for my own idiosyncratical first prize. Although, I venture to say that in days of old the spunky blokes from Haileybury wouldn’t at all mind Halle cooking their curries, eh?

At last!
A good article from Talha, the last few have been lacking in content and very biased.
This does show the argument and issues on both sides.
I actually think its a cultural bias and almost a case of trying to be as white as possible as this colour is thaught to be best.
We have to look at the history of this to really understand why we have these ideas and beliefs.
From the days of Alexander the great, or the Aryan invaders from europe who set up the hindu caste system(again these white invaders were the top caste and hence the best) to the Britsh rule, white was always thaught as best. Inbetween we had a multitude of Arabs, Turkish(moghals) invaders ruling the dark-skinned locals. Lower castes were mostly darker in skin, so over centuries this bias has become ingrained into the very heart of people from the subcontinent.
Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder but the brain that supplies the eyes has these preset ideals feeding it.
I dont think this will ever change much in the subcontinent. Younger generations in Europe and America are starting to shed these sad cultural traditions but there parents(who were not born in west) will still prioritise white skin when it comes to marriage partners.
The most ironic thing is that in the west, the brown and tanned skin is heald up as superior, with white pasty skin looked down upon. People sun themselves regardless of the risk of skincancer and weakly spraytans for both men & women are common.
So maybe its not just a problem with us, it could just be to do with the Human condition!

I completely agree with the argument the writer has presented. Given the fact that we are still coming to terms with our independence and freedom being a relatively infant nation i believe that people in Pakistan are very stuck up and racist.
One can draw this comparison very easily after traveling abroad as i have recently to UK and the US where you see people not being so openly racist towards each other. Being racist towards immigrants is entirely another matter which i will not delve into right now.
The individuals inhabiting the developed nations have come to terms with the fact that skin color is only a result of the evolutionary processes our ancestors went through but in Pakistan people (esp. women) find it hard to even find a mate if their skin so much as has a dark tinge to it and the ‘market’ (dare i say) for fair girls is through the roof.
This mindset, in my opinion, will take another 100 to 200 years to change as currently Pakistan’s major population comes to terms with Talibanisation on one end and Modernisation on the other that have burnt serious holes in the country.

It is true that some people have preference for fair skin and stage dramas are not doing a good job in this regard but generally among people I know and personally I don’t think beauty has anything to do with color.
It’s not like that dark colored people are looked down upon or something like that. Atleast that is how I find things around me.

Color bias is easy to struggle with. In the Inidian sub-continent, beauty is almost equal to fair color. But we know that beauty is rare. Thanks to our historical antipathy towards anything black, the fair ones get by as beautiful. Which is a pity. The idea of “racial bias” may be too complicated for people who had not experienced historical developments such as “Renissance” in their history.

There does not exist one South Asian series – in particular Indians and Paksitanis – where the actors are not brushed with all types of materials so they can look whiter on the screen.

They seem Europeans even at times!

Really low kind of mentality this.

This gori syndrom is almost 5000 year old. When White aryan took over India and enslaved local dark skin people. As one of the reader suggest to read some old sanskrit litrature in which not just god and godess have been discribed fair in complexan but all demons have been discribed of draker skin color. We could not break this barrier in 5000 year. All we have left with is a all Kali population and a gori immgination.

Having said that, the real Bollywood beauties were dark, very dark skinned. The major South Indian beauties- Rekha, Jaya Prada, Waheeda Rehman,Aishwarya Rai and some Bengali ones Suchitra Sen and Bipasha Basu are all dark skinned. Rekha is indeed very dark skinned. Probably dark skin films better. Ask Halle Berry the most beautiful woman ever.

I think it’s a huge exaggeration on the part of Mr. Zaheer. Everyone has preferences. Some like fair skin over darker complexion but that is simply one’s own sense of beauty. Coz if that was the case then Iraj the model and others like her would not be making it to the top in their profession! Plus, I really think that Pakistan is suffering from other forms of discrimination of a far more serious nature like gender discrimination and ethnic differences to be discussing an issue as worthless as this!

Actually, we people of India and Pakistan are very stupid. Our skin is of the color of wood.. reminiscent of the ancient culture that we come from. This color ranges from fair to dark.. in all the lovely shades of wood there exists. It is time we stopped paying attention to outsiders and create a self-image for ourselves.

There is a matrix of injustice around us and the “colour pride and prejudice” is an important element of it. This is tribal in essence and shows certain fear of the environment that surrounds us.

@Anonymous (October 19th, 2009 at 14:22)
Yours is the best criticism of this post. Well done.

I seem to agree with what Talha has written in some ways but your reply has really contrasted his post and added different perspective to it.

After coming to the US and seeing the beauty trends here first hand, I am surprised to see the amount of struggle the Caucasians go through to have the skin tone like an average Pakistani… from sun-bathing (which can cause skin cancer) to tanning beds to tanning sprays…there is no end to their struggle to look more like Hispanics or Arabs or South Asians. What is more, both the African American and the Caucasian community spends millions of dollars every year to get hair like South Asian people (namely Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi). Its such a marvel to see them struggle, if only the people back home in South Asia would value this too.

prejudice related to skin color historicaly goes beyond mughals and mongol. you should try reading some old sanskrit litrature in which not just god and godess have been discribed fair in complexan but all demons have been discribed of draker skin color .even darker complexion of few god have been explained through stories so that no body can doubt about their divinity. krishna is one of such god . kushan,saka and aryans are other invaders and rulers with fairer skin than that time local population.

This article is funny and true-especially coming from a ‘gora’ skin coloured guy!

well , i must say that the white complexion people would still get higher marks as compared to sanwala rang. i have been listening to my friends advices of what to use make u look white and a rishta kind girl , although i just love my self ! When our society will Grow up .

“Stereo Nation’s ‘Gallan gorian te gorian”

actually this isnt what you think it means. goorian means “deep” in punjabi. the title is about having serious, deep conversations with someone you like.

What’s sad is that South Asians and Pakistanis can’t understand or appreciate beauty unless the person in question is fair. Wake up boys and girls, we’re beautiful! And just for the record, I would personally keep my Pakistani complexion a million years before trading it in for the white skin of a westerner.

A survey was conducted few years back of 40 kids aged 2-4 yrs of age (both genders, various ethnic backgrounds) where they were shown pictures of white skinned caucasion women & men, spanish, latinos female models and dark skinned African, Srilankan & Indian female and male models including famous models.

Guess what!!! 80% of the kids were attracted to the white skinned or to really structured symmetrical faces of females and males having white skin or light dark skin. least were attracted to Afican and Indian.

We can debate this for hours but studies show that human psychology appears to be attracted to fair skinned symmetrical faces or atmost light dark skinned.

An issue of TIME magazine few years back also depicted about Beauty and a documentary on National geographic covers this issue deeply as to how human mind defines Beauty.

Its sad fact it is a fact.

This article only touches upon the superfluous aspects of the prejudice toward whiteness in the subcontinent. The author fails to talk about the inherent dislike and prejudice that the majority of Pakistanis harbor toward dark skinned Africans and African-Americans.

On numerous occasion, which visiting Pakistan, I have heard talk about how awful blacks are–undereducated, dangerous, criminals, drug addicts and any number of other such sentiments. There is a loathing toward black people that goes beyond the egalitarianism that Muslims profess to practice as part of what Islam teaches.

Racism is alive and well in Pakistan and also within the Pakistani community now living in Europe, U.K., and North America.

Yes, it’s time “to kick racial prejudice out of the beholder’s eyes”

well as you said..It’s as if that’s the way it was meant to be. But i feel beauty doesn’t need to be equated to fair complexion only, one needs to know what in fact the BEAUTY is… only then can he/she make a judgement.

Buddy, complexion racism is embedded in human nature. No matter, which continent you are from, you will run into it.
Its perfectly normal. Let’s not make a fuss out of it. Everyone is a racist to some extent. You worry about skin complexion, try ethnic racism!!!

To call somebody racist when they comment about a persons complexion is stupid. This is because at the end of the day we are all the same race i.e. asian race. Society in genral favors those characteristics that are termed beautiful as it represents a better mix of genes, this is because as a person moves up the socio-economic ladder he or she will be able to better look after themselves. Therefore indirectly a persons attractiveness will allow one to make a judgement of their overall success complexion is just one of these. Of course exceptions exist in any trend.

I agree with all you wrote expect the first paragraph.
South Asians don’t get discriminated against in the US. This misconception leads Pakistanis to find a reason to hate Americans. Yes there have been incidents numbering probably a handful, but that does not mean you should make blanket statements like you did. You should know better to look at least at statistics rather than assume that just like our country doesnt like Americans, hence the Americans dont like us.
Most Americans welcome us with open arms, appreciating the diversity we bring and strike conversations with us in buses, coffee shops, etc asking for our story and marveling at the prospect that the great American Dream still lives!
We are visitors to their land and yet they smile when we walk by. Can you say that Pakistanis to that to the foreigners in our lands? NO!!

Nice article and good comment on our one of the several social ails. Well it is a fact that we are a very racist nation (south asians). Skin color is just one aspect. There is racism based on language also which is much more pronounced (sindhi,punjabi,urdu speakin etc).We have long ways to go to come colse to what western civilization has realized and achieved, they are still not perfect though.

Going by the Darwin’s theory, there dark skinned Pakistanis will be an extinct species in few decades.

well to be honest, most of us have a set standard for beauty, including all the parameters such as height, complexion, eyes, weight, personality, style etc. also it is ones prerogative to like or dislike any one on the basis of physical appearance. in the light of the article, i would like to ask why are taller men preferred over short ones or why a sleek, thin lady more fancied over a stout one?
it has nothing to do with racism or prejudice. i mean if a girl doesn’t wanna go out with a dark-skinned man doesn’t make her a racist!! i have known so many people who actually find sanwala complexion more enticing. so its all a matter of personal preference.
what does upset me at times is the forced concept of beauty that media imposes. that has indeed strenghtened the conventional concept of beauty in the minds of orthodoxes i.e. “beauty is gori”.

To say some one is “kala” with a derogatory sense is offensive and discriminatory, but can not be classified as racist comment. In our South asian societies we crave to become light skinned and Gora is prefered over kala in many situations, specially for match making. In Pakistan it is in pendemic proportion. The man who is Kala himself, will try his best to look for Gori girl, but for a Kali girl, the match is very difficult to find.
It is very common to see people attaching high qaulity blood line to the Gora folks and a low quality blood line to the kala folks.
On the contrary, the India film industry has seen some super stars with dark skins and the light skinned actors struggling to compete with them. I am sure such discrimination in India would not be so profound as in Pakistan.
In any sense, such discrimination must be despised and rejected.

Consider the usage of fair and dark: unfair, dark forebodings, dark thoughts. Makes me want to stop using the word “fair” for just. Can I replace “It was a fair decision” with It was a just decision”? Then you have “tall, dark and handsome”???
Maybe if we changed our language a bit then the little dark brown boys and girls would not be so put out. As for the people basing a marriage on appearance rather than reality, we will get what we deserve.

I’ll have to disagree with you on this one. Actually, I find myself agreeing with one of the anonymous comments above. If a fair skin looks better, then it looks better. You can’t really do much about it. I don’t think it is a mark of poor character if a fairer skin appeals to the taste.

Look at it this way, people tend to prefer taller men over shorter ones. I’m on the short side, and I admit, I’ve had a chip on my shoulder because of my height. But, you know, I don’t have a choice other than accepting my height. Likewise, if I’m not fair-skinned, I shouldn’t force myself to prefer darker tones over fairer ones.

Now, obviously, this taste preference should not lead us to completely shun dark-skinned people. It should not lead us to treating them unfairly. I mean, dark-skinned people bring their own flavor to the world community – there’s no question about it – and if we are going to force ourselves to do anything then it should be forcing ourselves to appreciate the diverse flavors.

During my stay abroad, I came across with lot of people who praise the Pakistani women for their beauty regardless of complexion.

Nevertheless, you made your point. Its very much true that this discrimination not only hurts but also has an impact on relations.

I know couple of people who started using Fairness Cream to their newborns within the first month of birth just because they are little tan. Perhaps, it is an attempt to protect next generation from being a victim of racism..!

If it was simply white complexion, then people would have equally liked orientals and Caucasians, both are light colored, therefore it is the looks and not simply color.

i was taunted for being dark skinned throughout childhood.. the discrimination continues in adult life, though it is more subtle now. All i can say is, kudos to you!

The writer is thoroughly confused. Preferences in personal life such as marriage to a fair or for that matter to a tall rather than short man does NOT impinge on another’s RIGHTS. Refusing him employment or housing on that basis is RACISM.

I strongly agree with Talha, but I doubt one reference he has given is probably not true. Stereo nation sung a song which was Gallan Guriyaan Guriyaan, which can be translated in Urdu as, “Baatien Gehri Gehri”.

It was a wonderful hit Talha, awesome and amazing.

very well conceived article…very important point has been so effortlessly explained by you…hats off

It is also true some people though darker i or brown may have innate desire to hang out or be married to a white looking girls, but don’t forget, it is not just their white color that they are attracted to, it is the looks, features & overall personality of the person that they have fallen to.

Some people like tall girls, tall men, some people like intelligent people only. I think more people discriminate based on looks than color.

I have seen typical older ladies & even younger women in some typical families, obsessed with gold & white looking girls for their sons, obsessed with a whiter looking girl for their dark plump & short son, obsessed with who gave what to their daughters, and the girls is white looking or not.

Among such people are the first ones to find a missing gold or diamond ring in a heap. So this is a typical attitude prevalent among some kind of people who have a predictable behavior about what they perceive as glamor. But we cannot generalize it as norm.

I would have to disagree for me ‘Beauty is Brownie”

I can fully understand the point of view of Mr Talha as I myself have been criticized as well as taunted by people because of my dark skin which is not my fault and being a girl it becomes more difficult to cope.I would like to ask only one question…….did we ask for a dark skin?then why are we punished for a crime we did no commit.

well done ,its a great contribution,keep it up and spread the message

I think it is very hard to put this sub-continental form of racism to words, but I must say that you have done a good job. Worth sharing it with my circle through facebook, twitter or however I can!

yes the writer is very right

I kind of disagree with Mr. Talha that in foreign lands people are discriminated against on the basis of skin colour. In fact white people per se expend substantial chunks of money to frequent tanning saloons to reduce the “paleness” of their colour. Infact some ladies over here fancy black men more so over their own white counterparts. This discrimination agaist us, so to speak, is not a result of our skin colour but in large an outcome of the lack of self respect we have compounded by the terrorism stigma that afflicts us everywhere we go.

Apart from that I would not go as far as to say that the european and american world looks down on us owing to our colour, in some cases it come be our biggest appeal to them.

I think it is not simply the color that attract girl with fair complexion to men or boys with fair complexion to women, it is the overall personality of the person, it is the strong personality of the person, it is the sharp features which may or may not also attract, it may or may not be height, it is the whole package, it is not simply color.

As an example, there have been actors and female actors in Pakistan & India, who have been more popular than fair complexion ones.

There are many fair complexion women or men, who do not get attention, due to their attitudes, dishonesty, or not sharp feature, and darker looking girls & boys may get more attention, due to their attitudes, success stories, valor, honesty, character, height or sharp features & so forth.

It is the whole package, and not just the color, as it may sound, in my opinion.

The racism is actually ‘promoted’ through adverts in the subcontinent.Being saanwli is equal to being a loser.If you notice the fair and lovely ads especially – the theme is usually the same in every ad – A depressed loser saanwli girl turning into a confident white heroine ready to conquer the world after applying the cream over a period of time.Nonsense.

We need some legislation regarding such ads.

“My sweetheart’s cheeks are dark as eye-liner and lips broad like bananas” This is a common poetry trend in Ethiopia and Kenya. They have no concept for a white skin which shows the blood flowing under it or delicate lips like rose petals.

According to the current scientific research, humanity evolved from Africa over 3 million years back and humans were originally black-skinned. Advent of Ice-age during the course changed the human skin complexions to all varieties seen today.

But, the fact remains that the neighbour’s grass is always greener. Therefore, all the fuss about changing skin-tones. Sanity demands natural beauty because acquired colours are always fake, making the bearer unreliable.

skin complexion is god gifted. We have no right to dig out flaws in Allah’s creation. we should try to improve our character, which is more important.

Yeah the article reminds me of the popular number of Vital Signs “Gorey Rung ka Zamana”… at that time I never thought that song has a racist touch…but Vital Signs also made “Sanwali Saloni” for the tanned ones … lol

Universally, people have a strong instinctive tendency to identify worthiness and beauty in those held up as paradigms, with whom we strive to be similar. The paradigm involves physical appearance AND numerous attributes of culture, personality, and lifestyle. But the paradigms morph through time. These are generalized phenomena; individual tastes and preferences (stigmatising them as “prejudices” only clouds and emotionalises the discussion) are more unpredictable, vary tremendously, and are quite complex. Language, education, religion, politics, personality, lifestyle — the list of traits that either endear or alienate is virtually endless.

It is presumptuous, and also naive, to accuse someone of “racism” simply because dark complexion does not appeal to her; if it doesn’t, it doesn’t; that’s her personal prerogative. Chances are, it was more than skin tone that coloured her perception of the man anyway. And, chances are he’ll also find someone he likes better elsewhere. What does your girlfriend look like, Mr. Zaheer? Are there any ladies in your world that you would term ugly? Come on, confess.

“Even in the diaspora, it is harder for liberal parents to accept their offspring dating black individuals, whereas whites are more generally accepted and desis naturally preferred.” It made me laugh.
Anyway well done Mr. Talha Zaheer. Your article was one worth reading.

West wanting to tan and Subcontinent wanting to bleach simply doesn’t compare …

People who tan mostly do it on their bodies … most of them would want to keep their faces fairly fair-skinned … and even the body tan, they don’t want it to the extent that makes it look like a typical Subcontinent skin color …

i would say if a fair-skinned person is at lightness level of 9 out of 10 she would wanna bring it down to 7 … while a typical skin color of Subcontinent people would be at 3 or 4

Human mind works that way. What you have , you dont want…and what you dont have you want. The caucasians want to tan, and we want to bleech. Hardly a subject of any relevance. Waste of time. Sorry!

If we people of Islamic pakistan have ounce of shame left in us, we should consult last sermon of last prophet (pbuh) at haaj-tu-vidha. he said “there is no superiority to any body on basis of arab or ajem, skin color , ethnic origin, creed , culture ,nationality. if anything else is left to said then i am afaird we need to look deeply and ask ourselves “are we really muslim”

Poor people are falling down right, left, centre in Pakistan and poor and needy are being crushed for a packet of free ‘aata sack’ and the author is writing about skin color? What a waste of time and space. If you wish to write something about discrimination than write about social injustice in Pakistan. Pakistan is a hollow society that has moved away from religious core values and is drowning into pond of sin with every passing second.

A truly superb piece. I too have been shocked by desi attitudes towards colour. As I am darker-skinned than my siblings my Indian relatives refer to me as ‘kaalia’ (blackie) – despite the fact that many of them are dark themselves!

In the elite private school I attended, I was often taunted for being dark. And I can’t imagine what girls over here go through – many of my largely liberal and foreign-educated friends will not consider a relationship with a girl that is ‘black’, which basically covers everyone who is even a shade darker than being fair-and-lovely-ad-worthy fair.

What a shame.

We have aped the west for so many decades.
A good looking man was tall, dark and handsome, but today in India Gori-ness creams are marketed for men.
Do people know that white skinned women spend time in tanning beds in the west.
Over white skin means too many freckles….

Bravo! Very well written.

I agree with Mr Talha Zaheer fully. Prejudices such as black and white, rich and poor, brahman and lower castes, are widespread in the Indian sub-continent. The most effective solution to overcome these and other prejudices is education. Unfortunately, the politicians of the region have different priorities.

very well written.I see many people around me who are so conscious about color of the skin.even now the girls reject the proposal saying that we don’t want to marry a black guy,which is an extremely wrong thing to do.we human beings have no right to criticise others on their color or creed.we all are the creations of God and it is HE who gave these colors,if a person is tan or of dark complexion than it’s not his/her choice. we need to break this concept that beauty is in fair color.especially we asians can never get fair we’ll always be known as black people and we shouldn’t be ashamed of it.

I would disagree with a lot of what you said. I think if skin color is a cause of discrimination like ‘denial of service, employment’, or ‘human rights violations’, or ‘abusive ridicule in a comedy performance’ then it is racism.
BUT …
About the skin-whitening ads, you can’t call it racism cz they have to sell their product. You can’t call the poetry and music racist cz just because they are praising a particular race (goris) doesn’t mean they’re insulting other races… but you could argue it’s wrong with the culture that results in these ads and lyrics.
I’m not saying all fair skinned people are better looking than non fair skinned but there are “much more” percentage of better looking fair skinned people than that in any other skin color. Also, beauty is not always in the eyes of the beholder … sometimes the beauty is dazzlingly glaringly in your face and there’s nothing you can do about it … and most of the times that beauty has a fair skin.

also fair skin is not better “because” it is fair skin but most of the fair skin races..Caucasians, Turks, whatever … have genetically better skeletal features, skin texture, muscle-fat-proportion etc. that make them beautiful

and the lady who refused to date the guy cz he was black, did not commit racism … you have the right to refuse courtship-offer based on sex, colour, status, nationality whatever … the right that you don’t have is to refuse serving a black guy if you’re a waitress … or refusing him a job if you’re a CEO

And lastly, I myself am not a fair skinned person but whatever I said above I don’t see it as an inferiority complex … I didn’t live a slave life in colonial rule. I’m an independent person and I’ve thought it through… God made fair skinned people that way just like He made Africans relatively stronger and Asians relatively smarter. At least everyone has some potential that he/she can tap into and make the most out it if possible and stop worrying too much about other things.

Thanks to Talha Zaheer for this thoughtful piece of work. Here I want make some point with India’s perspective.

These problems are complex and multidimensional and may be more critical than those exists in rest of the south-asian neighborhood. We have caste based discrimination and untouchables are still present in few pockets of the country, and without any doubt color bias is part and parcel of daily life.

But on an optimistic note, there is a conscious effort within the civil society to single out these problem areas which should be addressed vocally and rooted out amicably. Economic independence of certain section of society has also accelerated this process.
This is beyond any doubt that the mindset of ordinary Indian citizens is changing towards a positive direction. It is difficult to enlighten a society that was immersed in darkness of social evils for thousands of years, but today at least the educated Indians from the urban neighborhood are not so proud in declaring themselves racists or caste biased bigot.

Very difficult to take out the complexion prejudice fromt the eye of the beholder. To add more meat to the bones of my statement only yesterday an aged friend of mine requested me to find a proposal of an educated young man for his daughter. He didnt have a problem with the man being poor as he said he will support the groom. He also told me about rejecting a very good proposal recently where the boy had the qualities like excellent education, young, good family, financially settled but just one big flaw: he was not fair.
When will the time come when people will give more importance to the nature of the person and is his character?

What an article, i am really glad to see this highly emphasised phenonema to measure how beautiful any one could be as a part of the Dawn blog.

Its very true that people living in sub-continent are very obsessed with the rigid concept of gori rangat,they hang the medium fair complexions to darks in one same category that is “kala”[Black] which is disgusting indeed.There is a quote “Things dont change, you change the way you look at it” so if we try to look at any body who is not fair enough with this perspective things would be better.

Another problem we have is the bridal make-up as they are settled over the idea that the bride (whatever her complexion is) should look “gori”. This brings them to make the bride a painted wall. Why try to change the natural look that is the best? I’d like to mention here “Maram and Abroo” [famous stylist and Photographer] who are some of the great talents Pakistan has. They also use minimum or no base on models,which is why their shoots are always fantastic. I am not against base application, but against changing complexion foundations.
I wish is the rest of us could change our minds too over the White looking concept.

It is not racist. Nobody in subcontinent likes to be gora like a Caucasian. We hate that pale color.

Every society has a concept of ‘beauty’ and people with rare features (like a long nose for Chinese or tan colored skin for Caucasians) are considered to be beautiful. This is not meant to hurt ego of others.

This is truly amazing… Talha Zaheer has expressed the very core issue perfectly with all aspects. we need to get rid of this racism.

Ironically, while so many desis strive for a fairer complexion, equally many people here in rainy and overcast Germany regularly visit suntan studios to get a darker skin tone, considered a status symbol because it implies a lifestyle “away from work and out on an exotic beach.” In fact, I have seen some people who overdo the artificial sun tan.

You have a good/positive approach towards this basic issue of our society.I fully agree with the writer.

As the younger generations become more established in ” phoren ” lands it is becoming obvious to them that skin color is only relative and it is all other factors like physique , features , personality etc. that will define ” beauty “. Models like Padma Laxmi and Naomi Cambell are very successful and it ain’t because of their skin colour.

Well done you pointed out the best thing exist in our society. Every where you see these Discrimination.
In My opinion things are starting to change Now a days In India Dark skinned Girls become Super Model or Actress and Pakistanis like to follow india

so we hope for the Best

It’s just time to kick racial prejudice out of the beholder’s eyes. Excellent!!

I THINK GOD`S FAVORITE COLOR IS WHITE COZ ALL THE HOORS IN HEAVEN ARE SUPPOSE TO BE WHITE. WHEN A BABY IS BORN IF HE OR SHE IS FAIR SKIN EVERYONE SAYS BACHA SAFAID HAI (THE KID IS WHITE). WHEN BOYS PARENTS WANT A WIFE FOR THEIR SON, FIRST QUESTION IS ASKED IS THE GIRL IS WHITE COLOR HER CHARACTER, EDUCATION IS SECONDARY WE BASICALLY LOVE FAIR, WHITE, SAFAID,CHITTI SKIN PERIOD.