Story Time
Today, I experienced something in the most unexpected way, and it left me frustrated and speechless at the same time.
A guy's mother saw my picture on one of my relative's phones from my sister's wedding and wanted to send a marriage proposal for her son. When she asked about me, my relative said, "The girl is nice, educated, and comes from a respectable family. But she's not fair, so if you're willing to compromise on her skin tone, I'll take you to her house and you can decide for yourself."
That relative called my mother today to discuss the alliance, she repeated the exact same thing to my mother (about what she had told the guy's mother) including the whole "compromise on her skin tone" dialogue.
Literally used the word COMPROMISE.
Just to let y'all know I have a light to medium skin tone. Apparently, if you're not "gori," you're considered a compromise in some arranged marriage circles I guess. This is honestly so frustrating. In love marriages, people have moved from inter-caste to inter-faith marriages ages ago, yet some arranged marriage aunties are still obsessed with finding a "gori chamdi wali ladki."
2026, and we're still reducing women to the shade of their skin.