Page 22 - INSIGHT 2021

The Complications of Complexion

Mamta Chhetri, Shreya Roy Chowdhury, Nahid Saifi, Kamakshi Tomar
B. Sc. (H) Biomedical Science, III Year

ें
े
े
े
े
“य काली काली आँख य गोर गोर गाल” (These black eyes, these fair white cheeks)
े
े
े
े
“चिटीयां कलाइयां व ओ बबी मरी वाइट कलाइयां व” (Fair wrists, oh, my white wrists)
े
े
े
े
“तनु काला िश्ा जिदा ऐ, जिदा ऐ गोर मुखड त” (Black shades suit you, suit your fair face)
े
े
ं
ु
ें
े
ं
“गोर रग प ना इतना गमान कर, गोरा रग दो ददन म ढल जायगा” (Don’t be so proud of your fairness, fairness will fade away in two days)
े
ु
मा
े
े
े
“हो तझ दख क गोररया बयोन्स शमा जाएगी” (Beyoncé will feel shy once she looks at you, fair girl)
Boys Do Cry Sorry for ruining your favourites with these transla- Why does the variation exist?
The amount of melanin (coloured pigment expressed
tions, but do you see a pattern here? All these Bolly-
wood hits centralize the idea that fairness is equivalent in skin cells) produced by the melanocytes (cells that
Sanidhya Pandey, B. Sc. (H) Botany, I Year produce melanin) decides our skin colour. Pheomela-
to beauty, and even Beyoncé will feel shy looking at such
nin (reddish-yellow pigment) and eumelanin (brown-
a fair lady. But is it only limited to our entertainment
Yes, we too have a heart with millions of emotions, black pigment) are the two types of melanin produced
industry? Well, in some households, pregnant women
Ups and downs, life full of commotions. by melanocytes in the skin, which type of melanin is
are made to follow a diet that majorly comprises food
What’s going inside, cannot be explained in detail, produced more is determined by genetic inheritance. As
items believed to lighten the skin colour of the baby. We
Boys do cry when they fail. the number of melanocytes is almost the same in every-
all might have come across at least one desi aunty who
one (as far as the number is concerned, we are all made
advised us not to drink tea, coffee, Coca-Cola, or Pepsi,
Taking care of the one whom we love the most, equal), the amount of pigment produced is responsible
not for our health but to avoid getting darker skin. Let’s
To see others happy even if we face our worst. for the skin colour. But why do these wide varieties of
not just talk about the slangs, we all have heard them.
Yeah, I agree skin colours exist at all? Well, melanin protects us from
Girls are conditioned to think of fairer skin as beautiful,
We don’t take seriously most of our mistakes, harmful UV rays that can damage skin cell DNA and
and thus, they end up using over-the-counter commer-
But boys do cry at heart breaks. lead to cancer. Melanin absorbs UV radiation, covers
cial fairness creams and home remedies without regu-
the nucleus (inside which the DNA resides), and neu-
lating their usage. The fate of marriage is judged by the
We might arise from different societies tralizes the free radicals formed in the skin as a result
complexion of the bride and groom, and dark-skinned
But deciding who is right and who is wrong, of UV damage. So, as we evolved, we lost more of our
people are often thought to have slim chances of finding
We surely know our priorities. body hair, and the melanin production increased to pro-
a good match. Finding the right shade of foundation or
No one in the world will want to support crimes, tect us. The stronger the UV radiations, the darker is
face powder for a dark complexion is next to impossible
But boys do cry seeing parents facing bad times. the skin colour (as more melanin is produced), and vice
in most Asian countries. Society has a notion that dark-
versa. That is why people living near the equator or high
skinned people are less attractive, less competent, less
In our fights, only a win we want to register, altitude have a darker skin tone than those living near
confident, and less successful. Even our fairytales have
But brothers are the world to their sisters, the poles.
beautiful fair-skinned princes or princesses, and the an-
The only day when he took her to the carriage Due to the biological adaptation of populations to dif-
tagonists are portrayed as dark-skinned, thus, ugly. Is it
Boys do cry when their sisters leave them after marriage. ferent solar conditions around the globe, different skin
justified to appreciate or depreciate someone for their
colours arose. So why does light skin colour exist at all if
skin tone? How is being fair an achievement? Why are
Handling the pressure of family and career, melanin serves the protective function for us?
darker tones considered ugly? Is it justifiable to mock a
We all emerged as a true warrior. Because a small portion of UV light (called UVB) is es-
person of a certain colour which is something beyond
No one knows how much we tolerate, sential for the production of Vitamin D (yeah, the one
his/her control? Let’s answer these questions one by
Yes, boys do cry but don’t imitate. that is important to strengthen our bones and immune
one.
16 system). 17