I grew up watching Keeping Up Appearances , Mr.Bean on my Brit blood side :) The evergreen 80's kids can never forget the era where we've started getting Americanised in Malaysia. I'm talking about "The Mission Impossible" , "The A Team" , "McGyver" , "The FullHouse" and the ever famous "Beverly Hills 90210". I had huge crush on Brandon ( Jason Priestly ) then *sigh*.
Do you guys remember "The Growing Pains" ? How I wish I could turn back the clock and go back to my childhood! Ugggh..... I cant believe I've always wanted to grow up when I was young......what the........... was I thinking ?
After all these series of Americano.... as a teenager I was so hooked to FRIENDS :) Who will not love David Schwimmer *screams*. Those were the days I say!
Uncle Onslow in gray suit and Lady Bucket in the pink hat :)
Uncle Onslow ( Geoffrey Hughes) is such an awesome guy......... I've just remembered the bitter sweet memories of London life back in 2004/2005. I was back to my childhood routine of watching him in Keeping Up Appearances. The Buckets never fail to make us laugh bursting out our lungs!
Certainly the world is going to miss you. RIP Geoffrey Hughes.
The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation...…a sensitivity and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen................. – Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
Came across the simplicity of this statement.Typically.......I just want to extend this !
This year I am blessed with a chance of performing the Varalakshmi Vratham at my mom's place ( July 27th 2012 ). Total marathon of running around the KL and Brickfields , I should thank my Bee for gifting me with a precious piece of long garland :) You know what I mean and yes , we took great effort to decorate ambaal in our altar. Overall, I wouldn't say it's a grand day but we managed completing the pooja traditionally, that what matters above all! Thanks to Amma for being there and guiding me.Here , some feast to the eye!
No one can deny that we're living in a fast moving life where image plays an important role. Women of today is faced with challenges of handling too many things at once Human beings, we're all different and unique as god's creation.
As we've completed the first decade of this millenium, being an Asian (that too of Indian ancestry) SKIN colour is of the "main" attraction people see in the society. Well, this conception existed centuries ago. Light skinned ladies are seen as beautiful people.
Indians Asians are very much obsessed with the skin colour and fairness creams. 10 years ago when I was the bride's maid of a relative, I wore an electric blue saree (which my mom chose and she think's I look good in it! ), the story started when the guests at the wedding started complementing me saying that they were not able to differentiate the bride and the bride's maid because we looked equally good. One of my aunt commented saying that I'm brown and the bride is light skinned :)
15 years ago ( I was in school then ) I played hockey and netball for the school team. Well, I'm naturally born brown and I get tanned and dark very easily exposing myself to the sun. We never bothered about sunscreens and facials. My grandma used to comment on saying that I'm dark and I dont care about my skin. I overheard her conversation with my aunt "dont she know girls should not be long under the sun, these days it's tough to get groom for light skinned girls and she's dark".
It wasn’t the first time I'm forced to listen to comments about my skin , the topic has come up in my extended family several times, usually in relation to beauty, marriage, and the tan I get each time I step out for game. But their exchange also served as a reminder that, despite the backlash in progressive Indian circles, the color of someone’s skin continues to be an age-old point of contention dating back at least to British colonization, and perhaps even to ancient times.
I'm lucky that I've come across many open minded people and like I've mentioned in my earlier write ups, I've been showered in complements. I still remember the day I was out with Bee to the Japanese Garden in San Francisco. My darling Bee does all sorts of comical stuff trying to snap my pic, I was smiling out from ear to ear and a passer by walked in to say that I'm beautiful :D Well, I believe Bee's quite used to this scenario in the restaurants, shopping malls and at places of interest. My point is, not to speak that I receive complements but the point that we all hang on beauty matter.
Beauty is skin deep. We must be thankful that God blessed us with a capability to lead our lives. Just see a girl who is deaf and dumb, see a boy who cant walk on his own. See a family in America hit by economy crisis and jobless. See the hunger of helpless kids in Somalia. Have you seen the suffering of a cancer patient on the bed on death ? My heart goes out for all of them.
The outrage in Indian social media reached it's peak - FAIR & LOVELY the reigning fairness cream and Indian ad campaigns that try to dispel the myth that the most beautiful women from the subcontinent are the ones who could pass as Westerners.
But then, our obsession with skin color in the U.S. is equally alive, just in the opposite direction. The indoor tanning industry worth billions, surpassing that of China and India combined, and about 70 percent of young and middle-aged Caucasian women use products to make their skin darker. One of my close friend is willing to take the pain of burns to get her sexy tanned look ! For Americans, a tan is associated with being healthy and athletic; the need to have some “color” in your cheeks, arms, or cleavage has become the norm. In a way, it’s comparing apples to oranges—the social implications of fairness cream in India can be vastly different than tanning in the U.S. But the truth is, such distinctions don't amount to much when people's health and positive self-image in both countries are under threat.
I'm just shocked to see an Indian ad, Clean and Dry Intimate Wash to lighten up the private parts ! How ridiculous is that ? I'm just speechless as this looked like a real comedy stuff to me as I've seen the good and the bad side of India. Instead of improving on life aspects , the social media is manipulating the people to make billions in the cosmetic industry. I just wonder what Mahatma Gandhi thought when he stood by his principles to form India !!
The experience I've gained meeting desi ladies in the US, they'd always bragged about how California changed their rosy complexion to brown :)) Skin colour was the first thing run in their mind to look good. What can I say, the place and culture we grew up certainly influence and makes part of our personality. This inferiority complex or always nagging about self image is a kind of illness. The thing would constantly hit their mind and make them depressed. It's ridiculous how Freda Pinto was pointed out to be very dark to represent an Indian beauty :)
People, because they think and they have memory, are born to discrimnate for one reaason or another. It's not only lack of beauty, it could be race, religion, intelligence, sexual preference, caste, or whatever. If everyone on earth were of same heritage or looked beautiful, we would invent preferences to differentiate one another. While we try to eradicate discrimination for all reasons, we should keep in mind, it's human nature.
We can never change people's thinking but we can choose what we want to be and how we want to be happy. I'm thankful for what I am today and yes, I'm dark and I'm loving it! Here's the lovely Anu Hasan speaking for the rest of brown beauties!
