Who would have thought trying to respect another people’s culture by putting my palms together as in prayer and intoning ‘Namaste’ would cause certain Indians such annoyance.
First it was a female editor from one of India’s most successful newspapers who told me to ‘stop doing that’ and then at a party a State Attorney-General looked at me as if I’d just defecated on a Ganesha statue.
Not only that, he cut me off completely by looking me up and down and muttering ‘interesting’ as he walked past (and through) me, giving attendant friends much pleasure in the process.
East is east, west is east, blah-blah, never the twain shall meet, blah-blah and maybe the grass is always greener… or whiter depending on your shade. While white people flock to the beaches of the world to darken their skin, in this country the more pretentious classes spend crores on cosmetics to whiten their flesh.
This desire has its roots in the caste system and while it is not confined to the fairer sex (sorry), this is primarily a feminine concern. The cause is the Caste system where fair-skinned Brahmin males looked to similarly coloured women to marry… and the darker ones who finally got their man also got shit from their in-laws for the rest of their marriage.
Recently, however, there has been a backlash with some Indian models (some more than others admittedly) eschewing the cosmetic industry’s millions to put their name to glorified bleaching-chemicals.
And about time too. ‘Until the significance of a man’s skin is of no more significance that then the colour of their eyes’ as Bob Marley once sang but it still astounds me how Marley’s words have still to come true.
So, maybe I should dump the ‘Namaste’ gesture and instead compliment people on the whiteness of their skin, but there again I’d rather set fire to my house than genuflect to that particular philosophy.
Oh well, whatever, time for the weekend and the beach to top up the tan. Now where did I leave that coconut oil?
Monty Munford has more than 15 years' experience in mobile, digital media, web and journalism. He is the founder of Mob76, a company that helps tech companies raise money and exit. He speaks regularly at global media events with a focus on Africa, writes a weekly column for The Telegraph, is a regular contributor to The Economist, Wired, Mashable and speaks regularly on the BBC World Service.
