Is white really the new brown?

Indicorps Public Column #3                            

A recent BBC news article cited that sales of Indian skin whitening creams are outstripping those of Coca-cola and tea – a phenomenon known as the "Snow White syndrome". (India's unbearable lightness of being)

Ironic, when you think of the struggle by the Nation's founders to become independent from the 'whites' and all things associated with them. A visual depiction from George Orwell's Animal Farm becomes a suitable picture to describe the situation – where those (animals) who sacrificed so much for freedom from 'oppressors' end up morphing into the very people that kept them in shackles (humans).

So, what is driving this desire to change to a fairer complexion? Is it the association of dark skin with poor outdoor labouring and the fairer skin of the white collar worker? The above mentioned article quotes top Indian actor, John Abraham, saying that "Indian men want to look better", the implicit assumption that the whiter you are, the more attractive you are. The Indian middle class is booming, growing at an exponential rate not to dissimilar to the speed at which multiplex malls are sprouting. During my last visit to Bangalore, I was overwhelmed by the luxurious brands and convenience within one building and could not help but feel I was bit too Indian to be there. There is a craze overwhelming Indians to be 'western'; underlying a belief that everything 'western' is better. Worryingly so, it was the West that caused the last recession due to greedy spending behaviour and it is also the West that has the highest levels of mental disease, heart disease and diabetes – things that are oblivious to this cultural shift pattern.

It has made me question – what is it that your typical middle class Indian is chasing? Perhaps, after so many years of poverty and hardship, they want to simply enjoy life – by the only means know to them as on the movie and TV screens: the luxurious lifestyle of a cosmopolitan urban citizen. I could be naive in saying this, but what about the beauty of our Eastern culture that makes India such a wise and genuinely happier nation? What about the new found belief by Westerners who actually desire to be more 'Eastern' with their Aryuvedic medicine, yogic lifestyles and even 'jugaad' way of doing business (FT Article).

The cool evening breeze passes over us, as we sit on plastic garden chairs placed around the solid-glass coffee table taken from inside. Located on the hilly suburbs of Hubli, a medium sized city in Karnataka, this relaxing set up is for a small 'social gathering' hosted by a middle-aged couple. Their only child, a 21-year old daughter, has just started her career in the one company every young Kannadiggan dreams of working for – Infosys Technologies. The three other couples are all in similar situations, at the peak of well paid semi-urban careers with their offspring beginning their professional lives in multinational corporates, in India and abroad. An expensive bottle of whisky warms up the conversation amongst the men whilst the women enjoy non-alcoholic limbu sherbat. There is mix of vegetarian and non-veg starters followed by a similar feast catering to both culinary tastes. Immediately, I feel transported back to my middle-income family in the UK – where this identical set-up is has happened many times in the past. I've come to realise that, even though my family back home is over 4000 miles away, they are actually not very different to my host family here. In fact, globalisation and high speed broadband is making this vast planet a much smaller place and so this natural harmonisation towards a common 'enjoyable lifestyle'.

Although the pace may be startling, manifesting such Snow White syndromes, I believe that human inter-connectedness will in the long-run smooth out differences as people on a whole are able to reduce poverty and live happy purposeful lives. And it is an ultimate realisation that happiness actually is in the simpler things in life, such as family and friends. I just hope it doesn't take too long for the modern Indian to realise and balance this affluent lifestyle with a meaningful multi-coloured life.