Whitney Houston, Holly Robinson, Halle Berry ... okay, I admit it. I've
always had a thing for black women.
Then again, I've also had a thing
for blonde women. And what about Indian women? Some of them are so hot,
you can cook chapatis on their chests. (No, in case you're wondering, my wife didn't let me.)
Beauty can be found in every race, every skin color, no matter what you might think from reading People magazine. Unfortunately some people just can't get past skin color. They've been conditioned into believing that light-skinned people are more attractive than dark-skinned people. They'd walk right past Halle Berry to ogle Mick Jagger.
It's a major problem in India, where Fair & Lovely and other skin-lightening creams fly off the shelves faster than toothpaste. (Yes, it's better to be toothless than dark-skinned.) So I shouldn't be surprised that a couple of black cheerleaders from Britain were recently mistreated in India.
Calcutta, May 19: Two cheerleaders from London were asked to leave the ground at Mohali "because of the colour of their skin" by the Preity Zinta-hired event management company, Wizcraft International Entertainment, which handles her team, Kings XI Punjab.
One of the girls, Ellesha Newton, told The Telegraph: "It was okay when we reached the stadium. It was when we were going to take our positions that some of Wizcraft's employees asked us to leave. We were surprised and asked them why and they told us it was because of the colour of our skin." [Link]
Wow, not only were they racist, they were blatant about it.
Wizcraft employee: "Sorry, you will have to leave."
Newton: "Why? What's wrong?"
Employee: "You are black. Please leave and don't come back until the Fair & Lovely has worked."
Sherinne, 25, burst out: "This kind of thing has never happened to us before, not in Europe, not here, nowhere."
Ruby Eaton, their fellow cheerleader, said that after the first two matches when they were all packed and ready to fly to the destination for the third they were told their contract had been terminated.
"We found out later that the main reason was we were a mixed group and they did not want coloured people," the 23-year-old Londoner said. [Link]
Perhaps Wizcraft should have put a sign at the airport: "Welcome to India. No dark-skinned people allowed (except for the one billion already here)."
Cricketer Harbhajan Singh was recently accused by the Australians of racial abuse and then let off but discrimination because of caste or the colour of skin is not unknown in India. [Link]
Now there's a newsflash. Not unknown? That's like saying "Shoveling snow to clear walkways is not unknown in Canada." Or "Gazing at Halle Berry photos is not unknown in Melvin's house."
Photo by Rochak Chauhan
This is my first ever response to you, though i have been reading you for quite some time now.
First, thanks for this wonderful blog.
Second, i forwarded this post of yours to about 50 friends of mine.
third, i had written a post earlier about a similar issue. I'd request you to have a look and comment at http://drsbhatia.blogspot.com/2008/03/great-indian-self-esteem.html
Posted by: Dr.Saurabh Bhatia | May 23, 2008 at 05:28 AM
Yeah India is the Land of the Original Racists. And we guys love to make it look like we are the victims. Ain't we wonderful... WHat's Nshima made of????
Posted by: The Pseudonym | June 03, 2008 at 02:01 AM
The Pseudonym, Nshima is made of corn (maize) flour.
Posted by: Melvin | June 03, 2008 at 12:46 PM