Love in the Time of Corona

She scanned through the magazine for girls who looked like her with deeper hues, flat nose, and thick hair. The day she turned fifteen she scrubbed herself with bleach while screaming for God, whispering over and over again "the darker the skin, the deeper the struggle" releasing a sigh that made her soul shake.” ―  Ijeoma Umebinyuo India and her obsession with the white/fair skin tone is not new. Being colonized for centuries, the post-colonial hangover hasn’t got any better. Walking through the lanes and streets of any big or small city, beauty parlours are adorned with the newspaper and magazine cut-outs of unbelievably beautiful fair-skinned Indian actors. These cutouts attract both men and women and make the beautician inside an unsung hero for the dark-skinned humans. Old household methods of making skin ‘fair’ have been in use since ages and sadly in 2020 are still being used. From scrubbing the paste of gram and curd to ‘brighten the skin’ ...