Color blind

Most of us are conditioned to believe and accept that white is a superior color and black is inferior. Also the word beauty is more associated with white than with black. And again anything white is pure and pristine and black is impure and evil. Is there anything logical to these beliefs? I am not too sure. But since our birth our mind is infected with such thoughts and we are informed, imbibed and bred with such words, thoughts, pictures and images that white rules over black.

Genetics decide whether you are born white or black. If you are born white you stand out and are recognized in a special way by your family, friends, and colleagues at work place and by the world at large.

On the contrary, if you are born black, even God cannot save you. You are taunted by your own family, friends, and colleagues and in short the world despises you and looks at you with distrust and disgust.

Keats said that beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.

How true, and in our eyes, only the exterior matter flatters us. We are hardly impressed or try to understand the beauty of the heart and soul. Purity of the inner soul does not matter any more to anyone.

Definition of beauty is driven by designer clothing, accessories, and facial make ups and as we see in fashion magazines, stars, models that walk the ramp and those with hourglass figurine in the case of women and 6 or 8 packs as defined by the stars or body builders.

Where is the soul within? It can hardly put up with the external vagaries that we undertake to keep ourselves presentable, marketable and likeable even to our own family members. Such is the sorry state of affairs we are in today, that anything black is unacceptable or a social stigma.

Can someone explain this dogma to me and who had drafted this social status which has like a legend been passed on through many ages?

Now whose mistake is it anyway if you are born black? Is it to be attributed to the parents who brought this child to this world or is it the blunder of the child to be borne to such parents who cannot genetically conceive a white child.

We tend to enjoy the lovely smile of the child and see if it’s black or white. Does the child know that you are creating a segregation based on colour? Not initially, but once it grows it would most certainly know and either it would also succumb to the dictum of the world or react in a rebellious way.

This way we perverse the minds of everyone generation after generation and create a chasm based on color, religion, caste, creed, social status…the list is endless.

Humans are humans no more.

We are no better than mechanical robots. We too are conditioned by various doctrines which are followed without true understanding of the underlying meaning. We accept what has been told or taught to us as right. If you question what is right and what is wrong, you are marked as a renegade.

And if you are born black, without your asking you would be brandished as defecation to the society. I am sorry to use such a strong word, but that’s how I feel internally now.

My son is now 10 months old and ever since he stepped into this world, family members would dissect and analyze him in various different ways. And one of the favorite topics would be about his color.

Did he choose to be what he wanted to be when he came into this world?

As his parents, we were so desperate to have a child. And once my wife conceived, we wished that it should be a girl baby. We wanted this to be suspense until the baby arrived in this world. Also, we reconciled ourselves that be it a boy or girl, the child should be healthy and…I leave it to your imagination…

Finally when he arrived…there was so much joy and the branding started at every level…is he black or white.

Did our son asked for it…or did he care for it…the world speaks…child you don’t have to ask for it…we tell you what you are…and will make out of you what we want you to be…not what you want to be…

I am just sick and tired of this and wanted to write and have a tirade on this color branding.

Will I let my son go through this diatribe on account of his color?

No, we will not and we will teach him to stand up against this and be what he wants to be. Not what we want him to be.

God willing, he should be as spirited as the nature, still as the river and righteous in his own ways.

God bless you my son…live life the way it should be, enjoy the call of the nature and be muted to the din of the worldly nuances.

#Thoughts #Anirud