Just finished reading Maurice Collis "Lords of the Sunset". Fascinating book describing the tour that Collis made of the Shan States in 1937. Much of the area he visited is off-limits to travelers these days (the famous falls at Nam Pang. The Shan heartland between Taungyii and Lashio along the Nam Pang river. The hill states (except for Twang Peng) on the north western edge of the Shan States (Namkham, Mong Mit). Almost the entire length of the Salween river in the Shan States. The towns that you can visit, like Hsipaw and Namshan, seem to have been far more vibrant in the days of yore than they are today.
One observation about Collis is that he had an eye for the ladies. A bachelor, living in Kent in the 1930s, he probably was not getting, to put it crudely, any. His book is full about observations about the eyes, the charms, the smiles, the beauty, and the characters of the various Mahadevis and Princesses that he met along the way. Very little about the Sawbwas themselves (except for how wonderful they were). And all those photographs ... Still, an excellent read, one that makes me want to pack my bag and head for the falls at Nam Pang!
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Blackness
Hunting for a reference to something that I remembered reading as a child, that Merle Oberon damaged her skin by excessive use of 'Fair and Lovely', a skin whitening cream popular in India, I googled my way to this blog about a New York mother who was shocked at the blackness of her adopted Indian daughter's skin color (does every emotion, however crass, make its way into the public domain these days?). Interestingly, I happened to be reading this:
The doctor was a blackish Indian, about twenty-five years old. None of us now, of course, suffers from colour prejudice--it is so low brow--but I must confess that it was rather a shock to see so dark an Indian in this Shan interior, and when I looked at his little wife, the Karen, colour prejudice did not seem so far-fetched. ........... I looked at her husband again. He must be a nice man if she was so happy. But it was hard to believe it on account of his appearance, though Rossiter told me afterwards that he had an admirable character.
This from Maurice Collis (Lords of the sunset: A tour in the Shan States, New York, Dodd Mead and Company, 1958) after he has repeatedly self-congratulated himself on how, unlike the other English in India, he could treat the Indians as equals. What is it about the blackness of the Doctor's skin that so shocked Collis in the 1930s? And, how could someone in the cosmopolitan twenty first century be surprised or shocked by black skin?
No answers. Just thought I'd share this. Meanwhile, my millions of readers, any ideas on a reference that shows that Merle Oberon destroyed her skin by using whitening creams?
The doctor was a blackish Indian, about twenty-five years old. None of us now, of course, suffers from colour prejudice--it is so low brow--but I must confess that it was rather a shock to see so dark an Indian in this Shan interior, and when I looked at his little wife, the Karen, colour prejudice did not seem so far-fetched. ........... I looked at her husband again. He must be a nice man if she was so happy. But it was hard to believe it on account of his appearance, though Rossiter told me afterwards that he had an admirable character.
This from Maurice Collis (Lords of the sunset: A tour in the Shan States, New York, Dodd Mead and Company, 1958) after he has repeatedly self-congratulated himself on how, unlike the other English in India, he could treat the Indians as equals. What is it about the blackness of the Doctor's skin that so shocked Collis in the 1930s? And, how could someone in the cosmopolitan twenty first century be surprised or shocked by black skin?
No answers. Just thought I'd share this. Meanwhile, my millions of readers, any ideas on a reference that shows that Merle Oberon destroyed her skin by using whitening creams?
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