Black or White

I open the matrimonial pages and everyone in the world seeks a fair, slim, well educated, and  rich brides.  Well we can mange everything else on the list. How do we turn all the brown skinned girls fair? The recently crowned Miss America Nina Davuluri had to face racist remarks. The remarks went upto the extent of calling her a terrorist. 

Aren’t we Indians racist too? We have hundreds of fairness cream where the company has planned onto totally abolish all the dark skinned people by hiring fair models for the advertisement. I feel pity for the girls who have to run behind the anti-ageing creams and the fairness cream and hook onto the products as if their entire lives depend on it. Why only women, the fairness market is now open for the men too. If this continues at this pace soon all the kids will be engulfed by these products.

In a certain manner I would call myself a racist too. Whenever I see Dhanush on screen, it is very difficult for me to accept the unconventional looks of this hero (I hope the fans don’t get offended). As an actor he is exceptionally good (I would never deny that). Before the fans get offended let me share a personal experience. A few people have asked me that being a Brahmin how am I dark skinned. (The clique is that all Brahmins are fair. I would definitely have to ask my grandparents about the source).

A message for all the people out there, that do not weigh self worth based on complexion. Beauty is always skin deep. And every skin color is beautiful. Never regret your looks. We don’t have be be fair to be a good human being.  Instead we need to be successful by gaining good education and knowledge and most importantly a good human being.

The song goes on something like this

“Hum Kaale hain to kya hua dilwale hain”.

Trip to Kuala Lumpur with Air Asia

This post is the contest entry organized by Air Asia and Ripple Links,  World’s Best Online Travel Fair

My relation with Air Asia goes back to the year December 2011. Me and my husband left for our honeymoon to Malaysia by Air Asia. Ours was an arranged marriage, so it took us some time to get to know each other. And this trip was definitely a life changing one. It made us fall in love with each other. This contest has come around the time when we are about to celebrate our 2nd anniversary. The pictures are transporting me back to the days of my honeymoon. 

We had some of the wonderful memories in Kuala Lumpur.  We started off from Langkawi Isand in Malaysia. He had planned a romantic dinner for us. As we had reached at night we had a night time stroll on the beach. (Our resort was situated on the sea shore) Just to break the ice he started to make fun of the new haircut I had got. Since I was a person of serious nature I got offended and went back to the room. By the time he realized I got offended the day had ended. We had our first romantic fight in Malaysia. Later I realized how silly I was to miss out a precious day of our honeymoon. Everything was forgotten in the morning as we watched the sun rise together early in the morning.

At Langawi Airport on Air Asia.

The next day we went to a few places in Langkawi Island, where we went to an underwater world and clicked this pic with the python. Its was so heavy which I could definitely not have carried without his help. The snake taught me that he (my husband) will always be there to help me out in my difficult times.  We visited the hopping island and went for boating near at The Lake of the Pregnant Maiden, where we had some serene, romantic time and we where we stole our first kiss.  The place is just magical. When we were returning back I twisted my leg, and he carried me the entire way back and gave a massage on my leg and took really good care of me. 

The snake that was very heavy and squeezed us together

By evening I was fine again. We visited the Eagle square  went shopping for chocolates ( which was almost an entire bag). We visited the Eagle square  and we also tried Malaysian cuisine. There is a point where you can see the sea stretching to infinity.  For all the shopaholics (and alcoholics) Langawi is a duty free island.

Eagle Square

By next afternoon we had to leave for Kuala Lumpur. But make sure that you visit Langkawi Island as its a place which will kick in the romance. You can borrow cycles and go on a cycling spree on the Island. By the time we reached Kuala Lumpur it was night and we took rest. If possible catch sight of the Petronas tower during night as it doesn't look less beautiful that Eiffel Tower.


In Kuala Lumpur we visited the Petronas Tower, Martyr's Shrine, CKS memorial hall and national Palace museum. 

Petronas Tower

Petronas Tower, This is the place where Don (Bollywood Movie) was shooted

Birds of a feather flock together

On this trip we met another couple who were shocked when we told that we were on our honeymoon. Their question was how we could get married at such a young age (I was 22 and my hubby was 27). They were more shocked that ours was an arranged marriage. They asked if we were forced to get married. And he said, "No it was an arranged love at first sight". (Yes, he is good at delivering cheesy dialogues). But that me laugh really hard and the ice was melting finally. 

Kings Palace

Outside the gates

CKS Palace

The guard outside the palace

Us outside the palace

Marty's statue

After spending the entire day touring the places we went for shopping in Kuala Lumpur. Since we stay in a joint family we had to pick up gifts for everyone. One of the sweetest thing he did was he shopped for my dad, mom and sister too. I realized he loved and respected his in laws too. Over these 2 years he has bonded really well with my family. Next morning we had to leave for The Genting Island. before that our last stop was The Batu caves. 

During this divine visit, in the temple he took the Sindoor and applied along the parting of my hair. (It was a romantic gesture for me). And he still does it every time we visit any temple. 

Ayappa Statue at Batu caves. Seen in the movie Billa

Bird lovers will get the same sight as that from Gateway of India,  Pigeons

Swamiye Sharanam Ayappa

After the divine visit we moved on to Genting Island's. As we had been there in the month of December the weather was unpredictable. The Island was covered with fog and mist. We were lucky enough to get a ride on cable car as the mist had  cleared for a few minutes (or there are shuttles available as an alternative). We preferred the Indoor rides because of the weather. There was a wishing well in the mall. And the coin we were trying to put was rotating for a long time before it fell into the well, and suddenly another couple who were watching us came and told my husband that he was a lucky person (I still have not understood why he told that), and my husband replied "I am lucky indeed". One remark change your life. 

The Misty Mountains

 One travel has helped us get to know each other and this travel helped us fall in love. At the end of the trip we had a much stronger bond. He works in IT and has very little time for me because of the hectic work. I moved on to continue my higher studies after marriage and we got busy with our lives. And this contest has helped me revive and remember all the old memories. He is away from me right now in USA for some work and I miss him a lot. There were times when I have taken him for granted and now I realize how despite of his busy schedule he used to take time for me on weekends. He would come with me to the local park for a walk, caress my forehead at night when I have a horrible headache, ask me concentrate on my studies. 

The nostalgic memories of Kuala Lumpur has made me fall in love with him again. I wish to visit all the places once again, walk hand in hand on the Langawi beach, fight over silly stuff, and fall in love again.  At the end of the trip we were a couple almost in love (we fell in love with each other gradually over the months), had cute nick names for each other, had our own song (in our case it was "Vadi Pondatti"), had invented a term called "dupe love" (as I had not shared my pepsi with him, he said that all the love I showered on him was truly fake) and many more things. We became husband and wife in a true sense. 

I just love this pic. On Hopping Island

I would like to take this opportunity to thank my in laws for arranging such a wonderful trip and to Air-Asia for making our travel a pleasant one without any glitches. 


The link:  http://bit.ly/AirAsiaTravelFair

Official Air Asia Website:http://www.airasia.com/in/en/home.page

My entry on their Page: http://www.ripplelinks.com/airasiabloggercontest/all_entries.html#.Uopc4WSMFe4 

The last entry. Don't forget to click on like.