Gora: A Hindi word that can mean both ‘white’ and ‘beauty’;

also used to denote the British during and after the Raj.


The daughters of India are burning

Because below the skin you see is the skin you want
The daughters of India are blistering

Because inside the brown onion nestles a pearl of great price
Aishwarya your green eyes, your coconut flesh

Michael Jackson your vitiligo
The daughters of India are itching

Because brillo pads are not designed for use on the forearms of children
The luminous faces of Brahmins bloom only in the shade

‘I dream about how to become white, how to look white and beautiful’
The daughters of India are developing cancers of the skin

Because $1.75 buys a tube of Kojic acid, hydroquinone, mercury
The rites of mortification shall deliver you to paradise

You must be this pale to ride
Guaranteed fairness, guaranteed fame

base blackness transmuted to gold, to moonstone
‘Seeking a slim bride of wheatish complexion’

A series of painless de-racialisation treatments
My Fair and LovelyTM ones, you shall shed teak, mahogany,

coffee and chocolate. You shall be stripped
of walnut, of honey, of toffee. You shall be scraped back

to wheat, pounded and bleached to flour
‘Dr Shailesh, the patches are darker now than when I started.’

(to the ignorant the cloth may appear invisible)
Oil baths every Friday. Chick pea flour paste on your five-year-old cheeks

Your father wishing kash hame ek beta hota wishing you had been a boy
No coffee, no tea, they will make you too dusky dear

You shall bathe in cucumber, in lemon and almonds
You shall eat of these also when pregnant to ensure

children white enough to pass
without harsh scratching

There is no evidence that whitening creams cause irreversible skin damage
apply in a gentle circular motion

purchase only from an accredited Hindustan Lever Ltd reseller
avoid direct exposure to sunlight

and instantly the tarnish is gone
Below that layer, another and another

When you reach the bone
you shall enter the heaven of bleached skeletons

Right now, tomorrow, in four to six weeks, you shall achieve
at last

satisfaction