Why tamilians are dark

Can't I just stop myself from googling further? Stupid me, I hit the enter and it spewed loathe from all over India, starting from borders of Tamil Nadu till Kashmir. One guy concluded we are descendants of Ravana meaning "Asuraas" since we worship Lord Shiva a lot. Another said during continental drift a portion of Africa got attached to India! Another called black swines.

Another said origin of mankind from gorillas can be studied from these people. And people created their own histories to prove Tamilians were some sort of slaves and that is why they all look like that!

Well in all the case, ugly translated to the dark complexion. I was touring Europe, when the guide curiously asked me, "Are you all from the same place? How vast is the country? I am from the southern most part of India! Most of the others are from northern part. You do look different from the rest of the crowd! I moved away and when I turned to punch him, he was gone.. Cha, chance missed. Hmmm well, may be I should feel happy that for once some one noticed me.

When I moved to Bangalore, it treated me no different than that European guy. Bangalore has people from all over the country. You know how these malls are designed no, they have a small wall running around so you can sit and watch as the girls do ramp walk into the mall. Man, even if I wax my legs am not going to get that polished look!

Enter into the shops in the mall and the sales girl would start, "madam I have a product for your pores, for your dark circle, for your oily skin, for the dull hair, for the uneven lip tone, blah blah blah.. And then one day one aunty stopped me, "kaana pakhana ke liye aa sakthe ho kyaa! I have been mistook as sales girl in a mall. And the security always looked at me like a suspect.. All because am dark and my hair frizzes out crazily! Bangalore people were no where looking like their heroes from their movies.

What a disappointment. There were also life lessons learnt - It was not enough to be just intelligent, smart, bold, good at English and good at work, it was required to sway your silky hair and battle your eyeliner defined eyelids.

Does your life get any easier if you are in Tamil Nadu? Wanted, fair good looking bride.. Why aunty, have you seen your son? Oh at least the child will be born fair no!

But you know what is the fun part, couple of aunties who told such dialogues and painstakingly found fair bride have grand kids resembling them! Buhahaha, karma effect. And then there are these guys who dream of having Aishwarya Rai as their girl friend. Their full time job is too woo the fair and lovely. But karma keeps a check point there too! These guys will get flipped for someone better but anyways no lesson learnt, they will again go in search of fair and lovely.

Life is so easy for those girls, it is like doing choose the best answer, no wonder why rest of the girls want to look like them. Oh yes, maybe you are right am talking of jealousy.

If adolescent is tough, growing up is not any easy either. Eat that saffron so the baby will be born fair. Give it a little bit of gold so it turns fair! Poor thing it has not even learnt to sit straight and the discussion on how to make it fair begins! If you are Brahmin but dark then you are doomed. Don't wear this color, it will show you more dark. Push her to the back row of the choir, voice is enough face is not needed.

Make way for the sun shine and let the darkness fade away. Kaala kauwa, kaala bhoot, kaala kaloota black crow, black ghost, blacky , black as coal — he has heard it all, from classmates in a respected Delhi school, mind you , neighbours, strangers, even relatives and friends. I saw his shoulders wilt in humiliation as a child, and each time my heart broke a little for him.

While writing this piece, I asked him why I was not similarly traumatised. Stressing his conviction that the epithets would have remained unchanged if he had been north Indian, he reminds me too that most Indians would not consider me as dark as he is. So, do I face discrimination as a south Indian living in the north? The answer, like I said, is complicated. Anna MM Vetticad is a journalist, social commentator, and journalism teacher based in Delhi.

If you have faced racism, tweet using LetsTalkAboutRacism or write to talktous hindustantimes. Share Via. By Anna MM Vetticad. Get our Daily News Capsule Subscribe. Thank you for subscribing to our Daily News Capsule newsletter. And this problem of being dark skinned affects South Indians or those of South Indian descent the most. Tamilians are labeled being dark, black as night, monkey likeness, and inept. We will touch on this later. Then I could variate from dark chocolate and then back to manja.

It appears that ancient India had a preference for dark skin. It is backed by lot of evidence. For instance, the epitome of male beauty in the Hindu tradition is Lord Krishna who is clearly dark skinned.

Lord Rama was also dark skinned and considered very handsome. Likewise, the gorgeous Draupadi, described as extraordinarily beautiful who could not be surpassed by any other woman during her time in terms of beauty, is also depicted as being very dark.

The fondness for dark skin traveled from ancient to the medieval period as well.