Not so fair

The cashier at the supermarket handed me a small tube of a type of cream. “Oh, another freebie,” I thought. Often when you buy certain products a sample of something or other is on offer for free. This time the bottle of shampoo I was buying was offering a free sample of this cream. I had a closer look. It was a tube of ‘Fair and Lovely’ fairness cream. I handed it back to the cashier, who it took it back with a smile and said: “Oh, you don’t need this, Madam!” I had to laugh because in Europe, my olive complexion is considered dark, but here I get comments like: “That colour you’re wearing looks so nice on your fair skin!” That goes to show that everything is relative, even skin colour.

It’s hard to ignore the importance put on skin colour in India. I hear all kinds of comments around me like: “You’re looking dark, are you sick?”, which I find funny because in the West, paleness is considered to be a sign of ill health! “Oh, you got so tanned!?” was my dance teacher’s reaction hinted with disapproval after I came back from a holiday. Again, this contrasts with the popularity of sun beds and tanning creams in the West!

Beauty salons offer skin-whitening treatments and creams like Fair and Lovely are very popular. I don’t know if they work or not, but it’s a shame that attractiveness and even social mobility seems to be linked with skin colour. This is the message anyway which is conveyed by magazine advertisements and television commercials which invariably feature very pale-skinned models and actors. You don’t have to look further than the matrimonial ads in the Sunday paper to see the value placed on skin-colour: potential marriage partners are described as ‘very fair’, with a ‘wheatish complexion’ or ‘medium colour’.

Ads for Fair and Lovely used to run on television but this soon stopped when there were protests against their overt ‘insulting’ and ‘racist’ messages.

Here’s an example: a young woman goes to inquire about a job with her father. She’s wearing a sari and her father is dressed in traditional clothes. A very pale-skinned woman dressed in white at reception gives them a once-over and pretentiously tells them that they are a ‘modern beauty company’. As the young girl and her father turn to leave, the receptionist makes a snide comment about the girl’s appearance. When they get home, the father looks through his Ayurvedic texts for a recipe for fair skin. Fast forward to the future and his daughter is now much more fair-skinned and dressed in chic western clothes. She goes back to the same company but this time she turns heads and the same receptionist is suddenly speechless when she sees her. Suddenly she’s disembarking from an airplane to meet a crowd of television cameras. She’s an instant star thanks to Fair and Lovely Ayurvedic formula.

Watch the ad here:



Ads for Fair and Lovely do still appear on television but they are less explicit. However, the girl always somehow becomes a big star at the end, surrounded by cameras and admirers:

It's official: the monsoon is here!

Image courtesy of bri vos.

It's been raining every evening for the past week or so, but the papers kept announcing that the monsoon was to "arrive soon". It seemed to me that it had already started, but apparently these rains were only 'pre-monsoon showers', as the 'official' monsoon traditionally starts on June 1st in the south-western coastal state of Kerala, before moving northwards.

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

After a week or so of this, today's The Hindu newspaper finally made it official: "Expect rain for five days a week in the next four months", read the headline.

Accompanied by thunderclaps and strong winds, the south-west monsoon arrived in Karnataka on Saturday, just as the Meteorological Centre in Bangalore had predicted, three days ahead of its usual schedule.

Having set in over coastal and south interior Karnataka, the monsoon will spread to north interior Karnataka in three days.

The India Meteorological Department in Delhi on Saturday declared the arrival of the monsoon in Kerala and parts of Tamil Nadu and will officially declare the monsoon in the State on Sunday, said the Director of the centre in Bangalore, A. Muthuchami.

For the next four months most parts of the State, including Bangalore, can expect rain at least five days a week and a welcome break from rising temperatures, which are expected to dip to 28 degrees, said Dr. Muthuchami. The State would receive normal rainfall (82 cm) this monsoon in the next four months, he added...

Photo © The Times of India

The onset of the monsoon is always eagerly awaited and then welcomed enthusiastically once it arrives after the heat and humidity of the summer months. But the rains also bring a fair share of problems with flooding, traffic jams and falling trees...

Meanwhile, the monsoon entered with a characteristic bang in Bangalore. It rained continuously in the evening in many parts of the city. The lack of preparation by the city administration was reflected in the fact that almost all arterial roads were flooded, throwing the weekend traffic out of gear. Many residential localities reported flooding and rainwater entering the houses.

Due to an overflowing storm water drain that cuts across the Kengal Hanumantaiah Double Road, traffic movement was almost blocked on this road. Flooded roads affected vehicular movement near the Dell office on Koramangala Inner Ring Road as well.

Gusty winds that preceded the rains uprooted many trees. A huge tree was uprooted on Miller’s Road near CSI hospital blocking traffic for more than two hours...

Summer is now over and the monsoon has officially begun. Tomorrow schools are due to re-open and a new academic year starts for students. It's time to dig out the umbrellas and watering the plants will no longer be a daily chore!

Living for dance

There’s a magical place just outside Bangalore dedicated to Indian classical dance.

“I wanted to set up a place where anyone with a passion for dance could come and stay and train, not having to worry about finances or anything else, and devote themselves one hundred per cent to dance. The students would live on the campus learning all the major classical dance styles from the best gurus.”

This was Protima Bedi’s dream, which she realized by setting up Nrityagram – the dance village – in 1991. Her vision was to run the school as a gurukul, a place where students and teachers would live together in a community setting. Instead of paying fees, students would take care of the school’s daily household chores. Today the founder is no more, and there are only a handful of students studying only one classical dance style – Odissi. But Protima’s spirit lives on.

I’d been meaning to visit Nrityagram for a long time but whenever I planned a visit, the school was always invariably closed because the dancers were away on tour. The Nrityagram Dance Ensemble is known for it’s excellence and the group performs all over the world. Fortunately I had the chance to see them perform at the Chennai December Season.

I finally caught up with them on their return from their recent US tour. The dancers were busy rehearsing for an upcoming tour of Malaysia and a performance in Bangalore. Watching them rehearse in the specially-built dance hall filled with morning sunshine and a cool breeze coming in through the windows, I was struck by the dancers’ inner silence and concentration. One of the dancers would suddenly stop, think about her last movement, adjust it, and then ask the others what they thought of the adjustment. The perfection of their dance comes from their meticulous attention to detail.

The Nrityagram Dance Ensemble’s excellence is also a result of the dancers’ passion and absolute commitment to dance. You have to be passionate and committed to live in a small community in a rural setting where all you do is eat, sleep and dance.

This is a place where dancers live to dance!

Time for a puja

A puja is an important Hindu ritual which can be a personal prayer and offering to a god, or a more elaborate ceremony with chanting, prayers and other rituals to pay respect and invoke the blessings of the gods.

I’ve already written about Ayudha puja, Saraswati puja and, more recently, Vahana puja here. I don’t know the name of the puja I attended this weekend, but this one was to mark the start of a new business enterprise. In this case, the elephant-god Ganesh is invoked and asked to remove any obstacles that may be faced. Respects are then paid to the goddess Lakshmi so that she can shower prosperity and wealth on the new business.

The new business in question is being set up by a French couple who are keen to introduce French cheese to Bangalore. Their Indian manager insisted that a puja was absolutely necessary to ensure success and good fortune. Though sceptical at first about the influence a few Hindu gods could have on the success of their business, they readily agreed after having encountered some minor delays and setbacks. If Ganesh and Lakshmi could make things run more smoothly, why not?

Ganesh will remove any obstacles and potential difficulties that may be faced by the new business.

Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and prosperity will ensure success and good fortune.

French Television was on hand filming a documentary about people who leave everything and start a new life elsewhere. This retired couple sold everything they owned in France and moved to Bangalore to start a French cheese business!

After the puja, the priest distributes prasad, food that has been offered to and blessed by the gods, to the guests.

Lunch was then served to guests in the garden.

Best of luck to Monique and Daniel!

Flower power

Flowers are an important part of everyday life in India. Almost every street corner has a vendor selling flowers. They are used to decorate idols and given as offerings in temples. Women wear garlands of jasmine flowers in their hair. I came across this flower market in Gandhi Bazaar and I couldn't resist taking some pictures. Flower markets are a riot of colours and the smell of fresh jasmine flowers is heavenly!

Vahana puja

Photo © The Hindu

From my window I can see my neighbours’ new car parked in their driveway. It’s a new model that I haven’t seen before. It has flower garlands decorating the front and an OM symbol painted on the windshield. This means they had a vahana (vehicle in Sanskrit) puja done, a special blessing done by a priest after a new car is purchased. This wards off the evil eye of envious neighbours and brings good luck on the roads.

Photo © The Hindu

Many car dealerships have their own in-house priests specially for this purpose. I see them lounging around in car showrooms dressed in saffron-coloured robes waiting for a new purchase to be made. The priest will bless the car and the driver by breaking a coconut, lighting camphor or incense, and chanting some prayers in Sanskrit. A small lime is placed in front of each tire and the driver then drives over them. I often see this happening in front of temples too.

Notice the limes in front of the tires! (Photo © The Hindu)

Lord Ganesh, the remover of obstacles, is always the most important passenger in every car. He takes a prominent place on the dashboard, removing any obstacles on the road ahead and ensuring a safe journey!

Election fever

Photo © The Times of India

In the run-up to this weekend's state elections, campaigners are making last-minute appeals to voters through loudspeakers perched on vans or auto-rickshaws circling the city's neighbourhoods. The sale of alcohol is banned for 48 hours, in an effort to keep voters level-headed on election day. This photo in today's Times of India reveals some of the more ingenious methods used to attract votes!