Matrimonial advertisements are fun to read, for you, but certainly not the bride-to-be. Apart from the usual demands such as Young, slim and attractive… highly educated… good mix of eastern and western values… enjoy cooking Indian food,; more and more mother-in-laws are becoming adamant that their would-be “bahu” be “a Milky White Girl” No, this isn’t true just for small town folk, even the most-educated and modern of families wouldn’t settle for anything less. The fact that their own son’s skin color resembles that of a newly laid stretch of road is of little consequence.
In her effort to get the best bride for her son, the highly imaginative ‘wannabe-saas’ has coined one of the most regressive phrase in matrimonial lingo. I wonder why can’t they just use the word “fair.” Most of us would settle for the word fair to describe skin color. But a phrase such as milky-white is an extreme and desperate obsession for a particular complexion is nothing short of demeaning and derogatory for the bride who just aspires for a respectable and loving family.
The world regards India’s desire to have a woman president as proof enough of the respect Indian women receive. But to me this means nothing. In India, people, especially women are still type casted on the basis of color. In spite of successive governments enacting laws to eliminate racial discrimination, there exists a section in society which continues to pump blood and oxygen into ancient discrimination within the same sex. This perhaps is one of the most heinous forms of discrimination.
Glorifying a staunch preference for the fairer skin isn’t a reflection of a progressive society. As more and more corporate advertisers are booked for lack of sensitivity in their advertisements, newspapers continue to permit offensive and demeaning language rather blatantly. Can’t the newspapers adopt measures to put an end to the segregation of women based on color?
Till that happens, it’ll continue to rain milk, at least, in the matrimonial classifieds. So ultimately, it’s upto the would-be brides to see such requisites for what they really are; crap, which is anything but white.
Friday, August 3, 2007 at 10:59 pm
We all love our darling bahu……….milky white does not matter at all.
Saturday, August 4, 2007 at 12:07 pm
Ya, that’s true! I consider myself lucky!
But seriously, I do feel very sad when I think that despite India being one of the fastest growing nations in the world, a large section of our population continue to cling on to such demeaning mind-set.