Because apparently the color of my skin just wasn't acceptable, and if I wanted to find a good husband in the future and be successful, I needed to take care of my skin and become fair.

Clearly the uncle hadn't anticipated such an answer. Nobody had ever questioned him nor his beliefs. But to have it presented before him in a room full of people might have really embarrassed him.

Beauty is a very clever, very evil capitalist tool. It traps those who have it into hanging on to it for dear life and those who don't into mutilating, torturing themselves to achieve the unachievable.

It is undeniably true that society's beauty and body standards have an adverse effect on people. For years now, the 'perfect Indian woman' has been portrayed by the media as fair-skinned with Eurocentric features.

Somewhere in the endless quest for perfect skin, glossy hair, six pack abs, fitting in with the current fashion trends and presenting a flawless self to the world, we lose ourselves.