For so long, for so many years, I've been looking at the sunshine and the rain and thinking, "The sky owes me a rainbow. It is too hot to wear a raincoat, but if I don't wear one, I'll get wet. The sky owes me a rainbow." But I didn't see one. For years.And then, suddenly yesterday, arching its way across the eastern sky, I saw one! As I watched, a small double rainbow emerged. My skin tingled. I watched it until it faded away, wondering how the people in the building far away felt - the ones who were in the rainbow.My heart was full. Somehow, I kept singing, "Will we have rainbows day after day? ... Here's what she said to me: Que sera, sera Whatever will be, will be ..."Happily, I hummed and sang. My day was made.And then, today, I saw one that was even more beautiful! A true, complete rainbow, with all seven identifiable colours, curving its way across the sky! Almost close … [Read more...]
The Bluest Eye
Toni Morrison introduced me to the real horror of slavery. When I read Beloved, I simply could not get over the idea of black slaves being forced to wear the bit. I still cannot get over it.'Racism', in the way it exists in the west, simply does not exist in India. Sure, we have discrimination, perhaps discrimination of the worst possible kinds. We also have an obsession with fair skin. I like to think that the obsession is on the decline, but I'm horrified by the number of times I come across it in the most casual ways.The Bluest Eye was another of those eye-openers. A black child, looking at the fact that little blond babies with blue eyes are caressed, loved and cooed over, wishes for blue eyes herself. The idea of very black skin and very blue eyes is simply appalling. The child prayed, prayed, prayed for blue eyes. Why? Why did she need them? So that she would be loved? So that … [Read more...]