ANANGSHA HALDAR A brown girl’s guide to skin

ANANGSHA HALDAR | A BROWN GIRL’S GUIDE TO SKIN

for all my brown sisters who were made to feel less because of the color of their skin

“Don’t drink too much coffee, it will make your skin dark.” “Don’t stay out in the sun for too long, it will make your skin dark.” “Put some haldi, beta, it will brighten your skin, give you that glow.”

Brown skin, an archaic papyrus heirloom that has borne the history of silent strength, naked pluralism, often, is dragged out—made to be a subject of shame, for simply being the way it is: brown.

Creams, lotions, prospects for a suitable groom—all hollowed aspirations, sold at half prices, if you are represented by the lighter shades on the color wheel.

Discounts and dignity withdrawn if you are dark.

A few unsolicited remarks by snarky relatives served at lunch; dinner shall have more appetizing starters.

Bland, run of the mill hors d'oeuvre for us brown girls—much like the overplayed remixes on the Sunday radio.

Magazines—Vogue and the Bazaar—talk of inclusivity. But the world of glamour cannot report on ground zero reality.

One that discriminates, berates you for the things you cannot change—your skin colour.

One that perpetuates, often through mothers, aunts, well-meaning neighbours, a sardonic mishmash of feigned open-mindedness and hypocrisy.

Melanin, a thing of beauty, is the arch nemesis of a brown girl.

You go on a shopping spree to buy the best sunscreens, scarfs to cover your face against the morning sun, wear the ugliest sunglasses as a badge of protection—to save your skin not from pollution or the cancerous ultraviolet rays, but to prevent the epidermis from turning into the rich alluvium that covers your garden.

I am guilty of this too. Brainwashed, subliminally.

That fair is rare; fair is beautiful. Brown is average; brown is common.

Now it’s up to us to change the narrative. With intrepid hopes, to make ourselves and others believe that brown is worthy. Worthy of being more than a flimsy tool of exotic aestheticism. Worthy of being worn with pride, in every possible variation.

Brown is a revolution, enduring and calm-provenience of the deep roots of centuries of culture.

Brown is the color of earth—the giver of life.