LiFe...SuMTiMeS...jUsT iSn'T fAir!!!

Last week Monday night, I was sitting and day dreaming in my room when my sister Sarah yelled at me to come out and watch the news on CNN. I’m sure most of you have probably heard of the case by now about the Indian man who’s accused of killing his black daughter-in-law. Happened eight years ago - he supposedly hired a hit man to have his daughter-in-law killed, the poor woman was stabbed multiple times, the husband was not on the scene (hmmm why isn’t that being looked into?) Anyhow the news was devastating of course but what really caught my attention was the special report CNN decided to air following this headline highlighting the topic of “skin color” discrimination in India. The Reporter was commenting on how the outrage on the Indian man’s part was not just a result of a type of racism felt in the Western world – your blacks vs whites issue – but was more so a by-product of a society’s long & deeply-rooted insecurities and complexities towards darker-skinned individuals, people especially women who just aren’t fair enough. The Reporter went on saying that a mentality such as this gave preferential treatment to fair-skinned women, a general consensus he felt while interviewing some of his Indian comrades. Existence of certain cream products (helloooo remember Fair N Lovely!!!) in the Indian society advertised to make your skin complexion lighter hence fairer exemplifies such ignorance. That part made me Laugh Out Loud…felt good for a change…to have a media conglomerate as substantial as CNN confirm what I opine on!!!

So today at the office I sit and stare at this darn computer screen, BORED as hell, puh-lease someone save me from this BOREDOM…I'm dyyyyyyyyyyyye'in....I decide to Google the news to see whatever happened of that Indian man’s trial. In my search I come upon another news as seen below:

NEW DELHI: For a society often seen to reflect a deeply ingrained bias for "fair skin", a Supreme Court ruling sentencing a man to two years in jail for driving his wife to suicide following taunts over her "dark" complexion will serve as both a warning and a mirror to its uglier traits. The apex court was firm that ridiculing a wife by calling her "black" amounted to severe mental torture. While the court and legislature have acted against caste-based and, lately against gender-based prejudices, the colour handicap had not engaged its attention so far. In the facts of the case, Syed Fathima, within two months of her marriage to Farook Batcha in August 1999, got so distressed with the constant quarrels in her matrimonial home because of her dark complexion that she finally decided to end her life by pouring kerosene and setting herself on fire. In her dying declaration, she said that since her complexion was dark, her husband did not like her and there were frequent quarrels. A day after giving the statement, she died in hospital.

Sad, isn’t it? More serious of an issue than I thought it to be!!! No kidding!!! I’m sitting here hatin on all desi aunties for making those ignorant gorree remarks meanwhile in some other part of the world, a desi uncle is doing much worse - killing the non-gorree wife! It made me realize, just when you think you have it bad, there’s worse around the corner, with someone else. And that shouldn’t make you feel any better about yourself, should make you feel more thankful of what you have. See…some dark-skin woman who gets tortured by her in-laws or her society for not being fair enough & good enough looks at me on the street and wonders, “Man, this b*tch has it easy!” Oh what little she knows…that there’s always worse around the corner, with someone else. How ironic...life sometimes just isn’t fair!!!

signed: Thinker-Bell