Masaba Gupta says father Vivian Richards has a ‘rage’ inside him against racism: ‘He grew up in the worst of times’

Masaba Gupta recounted an incident where her masseuse advised her to eat a rasgulla every day to ensure her baby would have a lighter complexion. “My masseuse told me, ‘You must eat a rasgulla every day because your kid has to turn out lighter than you.’ Another masseuse even suggested I have a glass of milk every day for the same reason,” she shared. “Saawli nahi honi chahiye (The baby shouldn’t be dark). It was said with so much innocence. What can I do? Punch my masseuse? No. You can only raise a child who hopefully has the resilience to power through it,” she said

While Masaba acknowledged the innocence behind such comments, she emphasized that similar beliefs persist even among educated and affluent individuals. “The number of times people think calling someone ‘kaali’ (dark) is a way of putting them down, I find that so absurd,” she added.

Masaba Gupta also reflected on how her father, Vivian Richards, continues to harbour strong emotions about racism. “Now I know why my father felt so strongly about it (racism) for so many years. Till today, if you ask him, he’ll have tears in his eyes or he’ll have this rage in him, where he will answer with a lot of pride. He grew up in the worst of times. He played professional cricket in a time where the colour of your skin came in the way of your ability to move ahead in the world. It’s there, everywhere. It’ll keep being spoken of until we fight for it, and it’s only going to happen if everybody fights for it,” she said.