Apparently being AIR 2 in CA still isn’t enough if you’re not fair-skinned?

parents tell this story sometimes that honestly always shocks me.

We have a relative who’s considered the “perfect match” in the traditional sense — AIR 4 in CA, then went to IIM and got Rank 10. According to everyone in the family he’s also “fair, tall, and handsome,” which apparently makes him even more impressive.

He married a woman who is arguably even more accomplished than him — she got AIR 2 in CA and Rank 2 at IIM.

But whenever my parents describe her, they always say something like: “She’s dark-skinned and short, but she’s very smart.”

The way they narrate it almost sounds like they’re saying, “Look how amazing this man is — he still married her even though she’s not good-looking.”

The weirdest part is when I actually saw her photo. She looked completely normal — honestly pretty. The only thing that seemed “wrong” in their eyes was that she wasn’t fair-skinned.

It just made me realize how deeply ingrained colorism is. In their minds, her intelligence and achievements somehow had to “compensate” for her skin tone, while his fairness automatically added to his value.

The fact that someone can be AIR 2 in CA, Rank 2 at IIM, and still be introduced with a qualifier like “but she’s dark” says a lot about how society evaluates women.

It’s honestly crazy how normalized that mindset still is.