Melanin

Toronto. One of the tallest skyscrapers with seventy-nine floors stands close to   Dundas Square – city’s well-known public place in the heart of downtown. Nocturnal life has begun. One Indian is engaged in sex with a Zimbabwean girl in one of the condos on the fiftieth floor. A brown man with a black woman. A black female with a brown male. Melanin – the pigment that determines color of the human skin and thereby the category of people and race across the world – black, brown and white. If you want to read that the other way round – white, brown and black.

Mohan and Lilian went through the pictorial book of Kamasutra together that Friday evening. After a slow-motion flipping through a few stimulating pages, they at once fell into the honey-trap to experience and experiment… Vatsayana Mallanaga, the author of Kamasutra who is believed to have written this great book for people of this earth in third century of Common Era, should be happy with continued followers in the twenty-first century!

A large dialed clock on the wall is the only moving inanimate object in the room witnessing the acts of black and brown bodies madly entangled in romance!

Kamasutra has fallen off the bed and is now peacefully resting on the floor.

The minutes hand is wheeling around in the wall clock, at its own sweet pace. It continues to tick along – neither forward nor backward – only in circles. The longer hand stretches up to the outer ring of the dial while the smaller one affectionately touches the inner circle of the dial. Three hands at different speeds, each measurable precisely on its own.

Mohan’s hands are at action with blended pace: slow, fast and in between.

Lilian’s stronger hands are all over Mohan’s naked body.

Exhausted. Both twined each other into a single body. They could pass through a ring used in circus!

Three hands continue to move in circles on the wall clock.

Four human hands have now fallen silent. No movement. Differently pigmented bodies fall into deep sleep. No difference in biological and physiological functions of Mohan-Lilian and Lilian-Mohan.

2

Mohan and Lilian have been deeply immersed in a serious relationship for the last six months. Intimacy grew gradually in the initial four months. And sex for the last two months.

Mohan is a fair skin colored Indian man considered to be a white according to societal standards of where he comes from, as Melanin did not favor him with much presence. He has nearly white skin and his parents are very proud of their son’s color. Living in the city of Hyderabad, parents were happy with son’s academic progress too. Mohan completed his master’s degree in Toronto and ably captured an attractive salaried job in an investment bank. Mohan’s sister, on the other hand, was born with rich Melanin content. Parents were disappointed when they saw the child for the first time.

Rituals went by as per the customs in their caste and geography. The girl was placed into a cradle thickly studded with a variety of flowers. And the name ‘Bhavani’ was announced. More than three hundred guests clapped at the revealing of the name.  Infant’s face was applied with plethora of modern cosmetics to suppress Melanin’s dominance. Relatives and friends categorized Bhavani as black in an otherwise largely brown country. Others who marched towards the cradle to see the child closely, reinforced societal perception. Unsolicited commentary was filling up in the hall. High density of Melanin in Bhavani’s epidermis will be a challenge for a girl in the outdated Indian context.

Mohan was actively running and playing with other children in the hall. Looking at him, relatives wished for a swap of colors between Mohan and Bhavani.  One commented, ‘It is difficult to find a matrimonial match for a black girl.’ Other whispered ‘Melanin concentration in men matters less in matrimonial world if they have higher education and a good job.’ Third person pronounced ‘Black is beautiful in men’s context but skin does not influence matrimonial deliberations and alliances!’

It did not come to Bhavani’s parents’ mind. Baby is a biological product of their romance and sex. It is their child in toto. Including the pigmentation. Bhavani is black.

3

Hundreds of pairs of eyes were looking at one of the tallest humanmade structures on this globe – CN Tower. Heads were bending backwards slowly to see the tip of the tower. Some pairs of legs anchored to the ground and some slowly drifting both ways, left and right, to see the hidden beauty of the tower. Suddenly one lady while admiring the architecture of the tower, lost her balance and fell on the hard ground, hurting her right foot. Mohan heard a loud thud behind and saw a lady holding her right foot groaning in pain. He moved fast to her and stretched his white hand to help an unknown female. A lady with rich Melanin content.

Both sat on a nearby bench. Mohan saw scratches on her toes, mainly the middle toe of the foot. Blood began appearing on the black skin. Mohan took band aid adhesives from his wallet and quickly wrapped around affected toes. Her mild groaning gradually began to subside. She thankfully looked at Mohan. That was her first close look at this unknown person. Mohan was focused on the bruised toes. He was caught between the tall humanmade structure on one side and a beautiful biological structure on the other. After a minute, he turned his head entirely towards nature made beauty.

‘I am Lilian. From Zimbabwe.’

‘Mohan. From India.’

It was not a historic handshake between two countries by diplomatic standards. There was no one to take pictures. No media around. Only time will tell where this nano acquaintance will take them to…

Witness: None. Only CN Tower!

4

Scaddabush- a nearby restaurant. Mohan preferred to walk to that Italian eatery. It became his go-to place since he began living in that tall condominium.  One day Mohan spotted lonely sitting Lilian in that restaurant and approached her with a big smile on his face. Lilian looked more beautiful to Mohan than the first time.

Mohan was impressed with the expansion of Scaddabush’s sub-title: Little bit of that, little bit of this.  Lilian and Mohan ended up in true spirits of Scaddabush. Both exchanged their contact numbers.

‘Hope you are not giving me only a bit of your contact number’ Lilian spotted a missing digit in the number Mohan gave. He looked at the number and added the missing six with apologies.

‘Bruises on the toes had healed up. I remember you whenever I see my foot. Thanks a Million.’ Lilian bent her body and showed right foot to Mohan.

‘That is great.’ Mohan looked at the carefully pedicured foot. Healing merged with skin left no traces of the bruises from a couple of weeks ago.

Mohan was admiring the beauty of her feet. Lilian’s choice of nail paint was adding extraordinary lovesome to the entire foot. It was a crown at the bottom of her body which is rarely seen and appreciated. He shifted his sight to the left foot. His joy doubled. In a flash of second, he got an idea of Indian silver anklets for these feet. He made up his mind rapidly to get silver anklets from India to gift Lilian.

No. It is not just handing over the silver jewelry to make her surprise. He dreamt to fix anklets himself as remembrance on to Lilian’s feet. Mohan began dreaming for this day.

Weekends have become more joyful to Lilian and Mohan. Both moved together and explored new places in and around Toronto. Even though both had visited Niagara Falls as solo tourists, now they wanted to visit and explore the natural wonder together.

Lilian was thrilled and excited about spending a night at Niagara Falls. She comes from a small hinterland called Falls Craft Village, embedded with the surroundings of the Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. She worked as a tourist guide before she moved to Toronto for furthering her education. She planned to mesmerize Mohan with her previous skills during their visit to Niagara Falls.

5

Mohan’s parents have been pressurizing hard for his wedding. Like majority of parents from two Telugu-speaking states in India, whose children in large numbers, have migrated to North America, Australia or other European countries, began their matrimonial exercise and short-listed three suitable girls for Mohan. It was planned that one-day Mohan will come home and take a whirlwind travel to see these lined up girls and expected to select one as his life partner. It will be one of the millions of arranged marriages in the twenty first century!

Parental pressure of this sort has not been keeping Mohan happy. It has become an irritating item as it crops up during each telephonic conversation between him and his parents. Mohan has been evading this topic and dilly dallying for several months.

Multiculturalism and thriving diverse communities in Toronto had been gradually baptizing Mohan’s thinking. The idea of arranged marriages is rapidly evaporating from him. He requested Lilian to come with him to a studio for a photo session. Both rushed to a studio. Lilian was perplexed why Mohan was rushing for pictures. Mohan did not elaborate on the purpose.

Both ended up with three studio pictures in different postures. They could not believe how beautiful they look as a heterosexual pair. CN Tower was the first witness! Photographer at the studio can be counted as the second witness.

Human memories fade with time. Pictures remain the only witnesses to re live those memories.

6

Mohan decided to disclose his deep love for Lilian to his parents. It was a weekend. He was worried how his parents would react to his decision. Lilian noticed Mohan was very nervous and restless. She quickly moved closer to Mohan and hugged him. After a two-minute tight union, Lilian looked into Mohan’s eyes and began closing in and kissed him for a long time. It was a French kiss in the beginning. Then transformed into smooch. She madly kissed Mohan all over his face. It was Mohan’s turn. He held Lilian’s face and began planting kisses. Forehead, temples, cheeks, nose, neck, lips… fifteen places that fully covered Lilian’s beautiful face.

Melanin, with a chemical formula of C18H10N2O4, laughed, disintegrated and disappeared from the act.

Mohan got highly recharged. He is a roaring tiger now. He called up his parents imitating his routine weekend call. After exchanges of pleasantries, he gathered courage holding Lilian’s hand tightly, told his decision to marry Lilian – a Zimbabwean girl living in Toronto.

That was a long-range missile which had travelled twelve thousand kilometers in seconds and hit the old couple in India.

Srinivas and Malathi were speechless. Half fainted. Luckily Mohan’s sister Bhavani was around at home. Sensing something abnormal with parents, she ran fast to parents and sprinkled water on their faces. Father returned to senses after a minute but mother was still in a different world. Daughter shook up mother, took her head, and placed in her lap. Nervous father joined in too, bringing Malathi back to baseline.

Phone line was active and Mohan’s voice was still struggling to connect with his father’s unfinished conversation. Bhavani took charge of the mobile and told her brother that she will call back shortly. Mohan was worried about the abrupt end to his conversation. He expected some turbulence about his choice of girl mainly from his father.

Bhavani comforted both and sat with them till they stabilized.

Lilian did not take much time to get a quick grasp of the situation. She held Mohan’s head sympathetically looked into his eyes. She drew his head closer to her chest to subside his emotions. Mohan’s head rested between two large sized breasts. After a few minutes of silence Lilian affectionately kissed Mohan’s forehead.

7

As the vital communication about his life could not reach his parents, Mohan requested Lilian to be with him till his parents’ consent is taken for his choice who will be their only daughter-in-law. A key member of Indian families.

Lilian has a plan to attend a friend’s birthday party in Mississauga. She canceled and stayed with Mohan till this intercontinental matrimonial issue is settled.

Mohan was anxious. Restless too. After a couple of hours, he spoke to Bhavani and briefed her about his relationship and decision to marry Lilian. He enquired about parents and their mental readiness to resume conversation on his wedding proposal.

‘I am sending Lilian’s pictures. Please see them and show dad and mom.’ Mohan made a special request to Bhavani to impress upon parents to get a nod of approval from them for marrying Lilian.

‘Do you want to talk to Lilian? She is with me.’ Mohan asked Bhavani.

‘Okay. Let us have a video call. Bhavani was curious to see Lilian.’

Bhavani is a genetic engineer and employed with a well-known international research and development institute. It is a prestigious global company located in the Genome Valley of Hyderabad. Her work is immersed with DNA and MicroRNA related matters. For ordinary people, including her family members, Bhavani’s work remains a mystery and tough to grasp. Father understands daughter’s work as identifying genetic material, slicing it, transferring genes to other chromosomes and so on. He also knows Bhavani plays with DNA, RNA molecules, like a child with toys, for the betterment of humanity. Srinivas, very proudly, tells his friends that his daughter has research papers published in reputed international journals.

Mohan was extremely happy that Bhavani and Lilian could talk to each other over a video call. Maiden conversation continued for twenty-five minutes. It covered quite a range of subjects that bonded Lilian and Bhavani well. Mohan was very pleased. He spoke to Bhavani. He believes strongly how his sister’s opinion can influence his parents. He felt that he won the battle.

Lilian truly enjoyed talking to Bhavani. When she saw Bhavani on video felt that she was talking to a native female of Zimbabwe. Their black pigmentation connected them well during their conversation. Looking at each other over the video put them into higher levels of comfort.

Bhavani breathed a sigh of relief. After a few minutes, she moved to parents’ bedroom.

Mohan too was relieved. He had strong faith in Bhavani’s abilities and skills. Clasping Lilian’s hand, Mohan stepped out to balcony of the condo. It was a bright sunny day. CN Tower was visible as it was close by. While the tip of the structure was clearly visible with the backdrop of pale blue-sky color, both were craning their necks downwards in search of the ground where they had got the first sight of each other.

8

Srinivas had his own plans. Since his son was living in Canada and one day he would be a citizen of this country, he dreamt of fat dowry from the bride’s parents. His short list of three prosperous girls ensured that their parents are rich and socially visible. He ticked his checklist and three families had gladly accepted to pick-up the bill of a typical Indian extravagant wedding. A long list of family’s wishes is directly pinned to Mohan’s wedding. That was a major concern if Srinivas agrees to his son’s desire to marry Lilian.

It was a tectonic shift in thinking. Srinivas was silent most of the time. Wife did not bother much and took the situation philosophically on her side – whatever is happening is good for the family. Malathi piously believed that God will take care of everything. Srinivas isolated himself from the family and began sitting for longer times in the toilet, thinking seriously on the lines of ancient philosophers. He did not allow solutions to crop up. This peculiar behavior made Malathi knock on the toilet door frequently, to check if he is awake or sleeping.

Srinivas was a worried man, if he agrees to Mohan’s proposal, his family needs to spend large money on the wedding. His mind was swinging between Toronto and    Hyderabad. He dreamt for a grand wedding and reception for Mohan. He wanted all forgotten rituals to be followed to make it a most memorable wedding in his family and community.

Bhavani was observing disorders in her father’s routine activities. It was abnormal. She began worrying about it. That day, Bhavani decided to spend more time with her father and decipher misconceptions he has been harboring for a long time in a logical manner. She was well prepared with her social arms to convince, remove taboos and transform father to accept and welcome Lilian with a smile to his family.

The final arsenal was to place Bhavani herself in the discussions as she is more blessed with Melanin in her body compared to Lilian. During the video conversation with Lilian, Bhavani noticed that Lilian has lesser Melanin than her.

9

Srinivas was struggling hard inside to accept Lilian as their daughter-in-law. He did not come across any family in his community and social circles whose sons living in North America married black girls. All of them married to white girls. Most of the weddings were performed in their respective villages or cities in India. Customs and rituals were followed and local media profusely covered these intercultural weddings prominently. Friends and relatives were proud and happy to see their boys getting wedded with white girls. Parents of such boys were on cloud nine of their progeny and their choice of white girls entering into wedlock.

Each night, innumerable sexual encounters are taking place across the globe between less and more Melanin human bodies. Sperms are making love with Ovum. The products, children, of these millions of romantic acts do not have any opportunities in selection of their skin pigmentation.

Melanin… Melanin… Melanin… Why are you so good? If you are less, you are white. Why are you so bad? If you are more, you are black. A chemical compound continues to play havoc with humanity. Across continents. Across countries. Across cultures. Across people, families and individuals. It was not a poison gas used by countries in wars. It was an omnipresent but invisible chemical run through all human bodies across the biosphere. Concentration levels of Melanin continue to curse, provoke, instigate unrest in human race in twenty-first century too.

Melanin has been in existence since Adam and Eve. This compound that determines skin color, is active in the epidermis. It varies from person to person and across genders. It is not uniform over the same human body! It is uneven in males and females. Yet, it continues to challenge humanity by putting human beings into broad color buckets.

Srinivas, lost in thoughts, was moving restlessly in the large living room. His blood pressure went up.  Clad in a pristine white cotton lungi with bare chest, he stepped out of the room and looked at the trees. Birds were chirping on grown up canopies. He saw the iron gate of their compound wall. It was painted in black. Srinivas looked at the shoe rack. Most of the shoes in the rack were in black. He looked into the mirror fixed above the washbasin in the open area. His hair and moustaches were dyed in black four days ago as he had to attend an engagement ceremony. His wife too dyed her long hair that day. Both wanted to present themselves younger than their age by suppressing tufts of grey hair into black. He moved his head closer to the mirror. Srinivas could see white at the bottom of each hair that constituted his moustaches. He was surprised to see how natural white color is pushing dyed bottom of each hair by a few millimeters. Black color will disappear in the coming days due to continued growth of natural silver hair. That was genetical and no one can stop. Srinivas continued to look keenly at the hair on his upper lip, like a scientist.

Something strange happened. Srinivas closed his eyes for a while. Suddenly a crow began caw… caw…cawing while sitting on a tree. That noise disturbed Srinivas, forcing him to open his eyes and he at once shooed the crow away.  Srinivas saw a black crow flying off the tree. He felt some enlightenment around his body. He shook his body from feet to head and began stepping into the living room. Bhavani was looking at him from the large photo frame that was fixed on the wall. It was her Ph.D. convocation ceremony at the India’s prestige university. Srinivas was on cloud nine that day. He got made this extra-large sized picture, framed with black painted wood and proudly placed so that none of the visitors to their living room would leave without looking at Bhavani’s picture.

Bhavani’s black skin tone merged with the black gown that she had put on to receive her certificate. Srinivas moved closer to the picture. Admiringly he began looking at Bhavani’s face. She housed more Melanin in her skin. She is beautiful and attractive. She is hardworking and affectionate. She has aspirations to reach heights in her profession. She is lively. When she is around at home, it is a different world for members. She fills home with joy, laughter and engages all to make them conversant. Bhavani’s presence is liked by all. At home. At office. At social functions. She is a mover and shaker. People simply loved her.

Srinivas was slowly entering into trance. Lilian’s picture began to superimpose Bhavani’s in the frame gradually. After a minute, his eyes could see only Lilian’s picture in the frame!

10

Mohan was glad to receive the green signal from his parents, specifically from his father, for his proposal to marry Lilian. He shared this much awaited news with Lilian instantly. They planned for a dinner at Four Seasons Hotel in downtown Toronto.

Lilian shared about her upcoming wedding in India with her caretakers who continue to live in Falls Craft Village on the edge of Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. They are engaged in making handicrafts as a source of their livelihood. Lilian lost her parents during her childhood in a natural calamity. Since then, she became an integral part of their closely knitted community. She strongly believed in education and that only will lift her from poverty and dependency. Lilian worked hard and learnt making of handicrafts to contribute towards the family income that sheltered her for many years. She moved fast in education and became a star performer in schools and universities with extraordinary academic accolades and sound soft skills. That brought her Toronto.

A long distance of 12,600 kilometers travel from Victoria Falls to Toronto for a determined Zimbabwean girl. And now another 12,000 kilometers for her wedding in Hyderabad.

11

Bhavani was seriously preparing for a presentation for an upcoming international conference to be held in Genome Valley of Hyderabad. Top scientists were expected including two noble laureates. She was excited to know that Albert is coming from Germany. Both knew each other through correspondence due to similarities in their research work. They were engaged in cutting edge research areas that common people find difficult to understand.

Bhavani was curiously looking forward to meet Albert in Hyderabad. And Albert too was keen to see Bhavani and explore joint research areas and possible collaborations.

Registration desks were busy with administrative formalities, noting down with the specific needs of the participants and so on. Bhavani collected her papers and name tag. Albert was yet to register. A white man approached the desk and told his name to a person sitting across the desk. Sound waves reached Bhavani’s ears. She moved forward and met Albert. They hugged respectfully.

A white human male body with a black female body. Albert with Bhavani. Bhavani with Albert.

Being active scientists, both published research papers in complicated research areas of DNA and MircroRNA. And they are well versed with gene expressions and variations and diversities in human bodies.

Melanin ran away from the scene. Pigmentation could not stand in between. Melanin indices, different scales developed by scientists based on density of Melanin to classify human populations further did not apply to questing brains. Four eyes became blind to human colors.

Great minds met. Merged. They are already active with thoughts. So much is going to happen in a three days conference. Seventy-two hours. 4,320 minutes. 2,59,200 seconds! Countdown has begun.

12

Albert had kept three days for local tourism post conference. Instead of going to the tourism desk at the Conference Secretariat, Albert preferred to work it out with Bhavani. Both sat and finalized an exciting schedule that would give an excellent blend of heritage, history and modernity of Hyderabad and its surroundings.

It included dinner at Bhavani’s residence on the last day.

Bhavani accompanied to ensure that Albert departs Hyderabad with good memories and experiences that will stay with him for a long time.

Albert liked omnibus perspective that he gained over three days. Char Minar, Golconda Fort, Statue of Equality, Ramoji Film Studio, Salar Jung Museum, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, and Sir Ronald Ross Institute of Parasitology. As a scientist, Albert liked the latter immensely as it was a place where Dr. Ross made a historical discovery of Malaria first time. Even though the building stands as a symbol of simplicity, it remains home to a key discovery helping save humanity from one of the most dreaded tropical diseases, Malaria, that was taking high toll of people across the heat belt.

Albert specially thanked Bhavani for the composition of site visits and her company.

After dinner at Bhavani’s residence, Albert was spending time looking at the pictures on the wall in the living room.

Albert was standing in front of the extra-large picture of Bhavani holding her doctorate award certificate. He was looking at the picture attentively. A black attractive female scientist in black gown and a black cap… Albert was admiring at Bhavani’s face, eyes, lips, nose with a diamond pin, and ears with diamonds studded tops. He has been looking at these real and lively parts of Bhavani very intimately for the last three days!

Srinivas came and stood opposite to Albert. His thoughts were bombarding in multiple directions in the room. These peculiar thoughts were hitting with each other. Srinivas was feeling a slight headache. But he managed to stand there.

‘It was a very proud moment for our family when Bhavani received her Ph.D. degree. She published six papers in international journals from her doctoral work.’ Srinivas went on talking more about their daughter’s academic accomplishments and recognitions.

‘You should be very proud of your daughter. She is doing great work. Our research areas are similar…’ Albert was praising Bhavani’s contributions and research areas.

Bhavani heard these words when she moved closer to two males – one brown and one white.

Melanin was prominently showing up in three shades: Black, Brown, and White. Malathi was sitting in a chair a few feet far and looking at these three bodies.

Bhavani was looking at Albert hypnotized.

Albert signaled Malathi with hand to join them. Immobile Bhavani was looking at these four from the picture on the wall. Mobile Bhavani was looking at these three from the front.

Looking at Bhavani’s parents, Albert suddenly asked: ‘Will you accept me as your son-in-law?’

Everybody was speechless for a few moments. They heard it right.

For pious Srinivas, it was a God sent message. He looked at Bhavani and then Malathi. Srinivas was a relieved Indian father. High pigmentation of Melanin in Bhavani had always bothered him. His worries vanished in a fraction of time.

Bhavani blushed in agreement with Albert’s proposal.

Living room was filled with joy and smiles. Everyone was ecstatic. Bhavani in the photo frame also smiled. Nobody noticed. Albert took his cellphone and took a selfie.

Melanin ran away from the door of the hall and finally the compound gate colored in black.

It was all white. No, it was complete black. No… No… It was brown too. Minds were totally free from the consciousness of pigmentation. And racism.

If the human beauty is only skin deep, color of human beings is only epidermis deep.  

13

Melanin has been in existence since Adam and Eve. This chemical compound that determines skin color, is active only in the epidermis. It varies from person to person and across genders. It is also not uniform over the same human body. It is uneven in males and females. Yet, it continues to challenge humanity by putting human beings into broad color buckets.

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