'I dig black': Kerala chief secretary Sarada Muraleedharan talks about battling colour, gender bias

NEW DELHI: Kerala chief secretary Sarada Muraleedharan on Wednesday wrote an open letter calling out discrimination based on colour, gender and unfair comparisons with her predecessor and husband's tenure.

"I heard an interesting comment yesterday on my stewardship as Chief Secretary – that it is as black as my husband’s was white. I need to own my blackness. This is a post I made this morning and then deleted because I was flustered by the flurry of responses. I am reposting it because certain well-wishers said that there were things there that needed to be discussed. I agree. So here goes, once again," Muraleedharan said in a Facebook post.
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She also went on to share a childhood memory of requesting her mother for fair skin during rebirth, believing that fairness equated to beauty and acceptability.

"But why should black be vilified? Black is the all-pervasive truth of the universe. Black is that which can absorb anything, the most powerful pulse of energy known to humankind. It is the colour that works on everyone, the dress code for office, the lustre of evening wear, the essence of kajal, the promise of rain," Muraleedharan said.

Muraleedharan credited her children for helping her embrace her complexion, noting how they "gloried in their black heritage" and helped her recognise that "black is beautiful" and "black is gorgeousness."

"As a four-year-old, I apparently asked my mother whether she could put me back in her womb and bring me out again, all white and pretty. I have lived for over 50 years buried under that narrative of not being a colour that was good enough. And buying into that narrative. Of not seeing beauty or value in black. Of being fascinated by fair skin. And fair minds, and all that was fair and good and wholesome. And of feeling that I was a lesser person for not being that – which had to be compensated somehow. Till my children, who gloried in their black heritage. Who kept finding beauty where I noticed none. Who thought that black was awesome. Who helped me see. That black is beautiful. That black is gorgeousness. That I dig black," she said.

Muraleedharan took over as chief secretary on August 31 last year after V Venu retired from service. A 1990-batch Indian Administrative Services officer, Muraleedharan previously served as additional chief secretary (planning and economic affairs).Get the latest lifestyle updates on Times of India, along with Navratri Wishes, Eid Messages and quotes !