Colour codes

When my brother and I were kids, my grandmother used to rub Touch-Me talcum powder on my brother8217;s face, neck and arms.

When my brother and I were kids, my grandmother used to rub Touch-Me talcum powder on my brother8217;s face, neck and arms. 8220;I don8217;t know how you got so dark,8221; she8217;d mutter, dabbing his face with ghost powder. I was eight, then but I knew 8212; and I suspected Dadi did, too 8212; that Ali got his chocolatey colour from our father. I gingerly ventured once to say so, 8220;But Dadi, Abu is also dark and Ali has obviously inherited8230;8221;

8220;No he has not,8221; she replied, sternly monosyllabic, 8220;My son is as fair as a rasagulla.8221;

Recently, I was home in Lahore after a month8217;s stay in Delhi. I was told, delicately, that I had gotten darker. 8220;Have you been travelling a lot, beta?8221; my grand-aunt asked. 8220;Not really,8221; I said. 8220;I8217;ve been driven around in Delhi but have seen some of the city on foot.8221; She pursed her lips noncommittally but, unable to restrain herself, she added that my arms had been the worst victims of the heat. I told her that it was cool to have 8216;bronzed8217; arms and I was happy my jaundiced sticks have a bit of colour in them now. She wasn8217;t convinced.

My mother fondly recalls the palpable relief on Dadi8217;s face when I was born. With a shock of black hair and milky white skin, I was Dadi8217;s little aesthetic wonder. My maternal grandfather, normally above such classifications, couldn8217;t contain his delight, 8220;She8217;s just like my grandmother 8212; Barfo Begum.8221; Then he apparently leaned closer to me and whispered, 8220;Little Barfo8230; barfo8230; barfo8230;8221; and I was said to have responded with a loud gurgle of laughter. Since then I8217;m 8216;Barfo8217; to my mother8217;s side of the family. When I tell friends abroad that 8216;barf8217; is ice in Urdu, and that we in India and Pakistan are a tad fixated on the issue of skin colour, their brows furrow expectedly: 8220;But you8217;re not that fair.8221; When I said this to Dadi some years ago, she marked it down to the nasty Hepatitis bug I got when I was nine and continued, 8220;Before that your face was as white and soft as a ball of cotton.8221;