I see trees of green, red roses too
I see them bloom for me and you
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world

I see skies of blue, and clouds of white
Bright blessed days, dark sacred nights
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world.

So sang Louis Armstrong in the 1960s. Yes when you look around you see it all – red roses, green trees, blue skies, white clouds. Every colour is out there in nature for you to see and marvel at. And they blend so well. The green leaves creep to touch the red roses. The white clouds spread over the blue skies. The red apples, the yellow mangoes and the red plums all stick close to their green leaves. Nature tells you that colours are not to stand apart, they are to stay together, stick to one another.

Then where did man get the idea to separate people of different colours - into black, white, brown and yellow and not let them mix with each other? Who decided that one colour was inferior to another? A really notorious mind but a powerful one to have spread that thought all through the world. For its effects last until today. Kerala is not far behind. Remember the matrimonial ads seeking “a fair girl” of so much wealth? Thus came your fairness creams in the market. And does it sell!

It sounds sick when people say “karuppaanengilum bhangiyundu” (even though someone is black, he/she looks good), as if it was an unattainable feat to remain beautiful when you are dark. Malayali’s obsession for colour has been discussed and debated for ages but there is still very little difference in attitude. How else can innocent little girls and boys who have just about started to identify colours come to feel that being born dark is something to be ashamed of? I know many dark skinned people who have quite a complex about their colours. For some it is inferiority, but some others declare it the supreme colour. I knew a girl who used to say she hated fair skinned people and later admitted that she said it only because everyone else hated dark skined girls like her.