Dirty dark Tamils!

Oh really? I stand before the full length mirror trying to figure out if i really am dark. The darkophobia of those fair and lovely days are back again with a bang! I try to switch on all the lights and check for changes in the result- obviously, drawing a flack. I loved to retort when someone said i was dark, as i was only "dusky". My teen age dreams were always filled with visions of me bathed in milky white complexion. Poor Dad! If he had accounted the Fair and Lovely tubes his darling would have bought, he might have ended up with a heart attack! Ah! Fair and lovely- the God sent magical potion that is supposed to convert Obama to a white man!

Image courtesy- mirroremage.com

There are dusky diva friends who apply anything on their faces- right from egg white ( yuck!), papaya paste, multani mitti and even donkey's milk(!) There are others who always 'dove'd their faces- hoping to whiten their skin and another lot who apply face powders so much on their faces, that would put any whitewashed house to shame! It is not uncommon to see teen age bandit queens who cover every micro inch of their exposed skin with anything they could lay their hands on, starting from duppattas, hand gloves, coolers and even rags! People down South are so obsessed with fairer complexion, aren't we? And here comes the rude shocker- one Ms. Maureen Chao stands up and tells us, we Tamils are dirty and dark. Wow! what a remark from a Vice Consul! A round of applause please....There!

Dark- that i can understand, but 'dirty'? All people i know from Down South take head bath every morning. There is one Ms. Cleanomaniac in our office who washes, scrubs and even scales out her hands every time before and after eating. Another one washes, rewashes and does the same tiffin box till the sides start squeaking and pleading her to stop! Taking a head bath every morning after applying coconut oil everyday is almost a sacred ritual to us. Our turmeric, amba huldi ( curcuma aromatica- kasthuri manjal), herbal bathing powder ( personally dried, gound and applied by grandmas) and shikakai- all sweet smelling aromatic cleansers that we use in tonnes- and still there is someone who can say we are dirty??? Conservative Mothers don't even entertain bed coffee sans brushing...

Picture of US Vice Consul Ms Maureen Chao- courtesy google images

Is it the pot calling the kettle black? Nah! It is Chao calling Tamils dirty! Fair skinned foreigners who don't brush, but chew a mint every morning, who shower once or twice a week....my, my...Ms Chao must get her facts right before throwing stones on us. Would it be unfair if we protest against her remarks?  I hope not. Let them call her back- the last thing we need is a racist US Vice Consul in our Tamilian Soil.